In one of the smallest stores inside the Old City of Jerusalem, Jerusalemiti, Mahdi Qarash, continues to preserve the profession of collecting and selling cylinders and sound tapes, in which more than half a century has annihilated.
Qarash, 70, said – in his interview with Al -Jazeera Net – that he opened his store in Jerusalem In 1972, despite the decline in the demand for this type of audio recordings, after digital media and the Internet became the broader source of listening.
The small shop includes hundreds of tapes and cylinders that fill its walls and roof, which were collected by a lot of years from several years from several Arab countries, and include rare copies of the voices of singers and reciters that are difficult to find anywhere else, he said.
Qarash pointed out that his passion began before the establishment of the store, as he was traveling to a number of Arab countries to collect cylinders, as he was recording music and lyrical parties and what was shown on TV screens, until he owned a large number of these tapes that prompted him to open the store.
He explained that he could not leave his work, because he is his favorite hobby and made his effort and life in his way, and he said that he continues to open his store on a daily basis for two hours to feel the pleasure of this profession, and he concluded his speech by insisting on staying in the city of Jerusalem in which he was born and brought up.