By Bassel Oudat TRADITIONAL Ramadan mesaharatis in Syrian cities have been chanting phrases associated with the uprising in the country. Until last year, Damascus would wake up to the sound of traditional mesaharatis, or Ramadan drummers, calling on people to eat Sohour (the pre-dawn meal) about one hour before fasting begins. The mesaharati's voice is accompanied by the beat of a drum, and his calls have been part of a tradition that goes back some 1,400 years, echoing through the streets of one of the world's oldest inhabited cities. Today, however, in an atmosphere of protests and demands for freedom and democracy in the country, Syrian young people in the cities of Damascus, Aleppo and Homs have volunteered to play the part of the mesaharati, waking people not from their night's sleep but from the tyranny and oppression of the regime. Using online social networks, activists have called this new breed of mesaharati the "revolution's mesaharati", since instead of singing the traditional verses associated with Ramadan he sings phrases inspired by anti-regime demonstrators calling for freedom, democracy and the overthrow of the regime. Video clips of such mesaharatis in Damascus, Aleppo, Hama and other cities have been posted on Youtube. Instead of chanting the traditional, "Wake up to eat Sohour," they chant "Wake up to freedom." Instead of chanting "Get ready for fasting," they sing "Down with the regime". These are the popular demands of the Syrian uprising. The video clips recorded in Duma near Damascus show a mesaharati hurrying down the street in areas besieged by the country's security forces calling at the top of his voice, "Wake up sleepy heads; Bashar Al-Assad is not here forever; he kills fasting people; the blood of martyrs is flooding the streets." He also sings, "Wake up to eat Sohour; freedom is coming to visit you." In the Aleppo clip, the cameraman follows the mesaharati from behind in an attempt to avoid showing his face, seemingly out of fear that he may be recognised by the security agencies. The Aleppo mesaharati's voice is out of tune, but he nonetheless conveys his message to the faithful: "Wake up to freedom, young people; Oh Muslims, mosques are being destroyed; Bashar, you will be tried like Mubarak; God is Great, freedom." Despite the major economic and social changes that have taken place in Syria over recent decades, the mesaharati has remained part of Syria's heritage and has resisted technological progress and consumerism. Lower-class districts in Syrian cities still rely on the traditional mesaharati to wake them up for Sohour in Ramadan. The mesaharati is usually a local man who knows the residents and calls out to them by their first and family names. The nightly mesaharati walkabouts are a blend of tradition and spirituality, and they chime with the younger mesaharatis calling to awaken a nation. The creativity of these volunteer young people gives voice to the tensions on the streets and the people's desire to end the restrictions that have stifled them for decades. The calls of the regular mesaharati are religious or even close to preaching, as he beats his drum to break the silence of the night. Today, because of the country's restless streets, the mesaharati's rounds have become a revolutionary march, calling for the ouster of a regime that has responded to demands for freedom and democracy by killing some 2,200 Syrians.
