Palestinian repairs old records to revive the Arab Greats

A Palestinian record shop repairman wants to reinvigorate traditional Arabic music, focusing on the great classics of Umm Kulthum, Abdul Halim Hafez, Farid Al Atrash and the likes.

His name is Jamal Hemmou and his workshop in Nablus is one of a kind, repairing old records, now long out of existence due to the prevailing digital music and old record players. His shop is a haberdashery of sorts because of the records and the old gramophones laying around.

His name today is all over the internet and the social media with a big story to tell about the records he repairs and the old players that are in use which are still listened to by the older generations.

Hemmou began learning how to repair record players when he was 17, listening to the great Arab artists of the time as he worked.  “I have more experience than the people with the certificates,” he joked, adding that he is entirely self-taught, and acquired his passion for music from his father .