Cassette tapes were originally developed by Lou Ottens and his team at the Dutch technology company Phillips in 1963 and they became hugely popular as a format for pre-recorded music. They were also available as ‘blank’ tapes, which allowed for personalised home recordings of music. This home recording functionality of cassette recorders was deployed by members of the Scottish-Pakistani community who used them as an audio messaging system to communicate with their relatives abroad. Tapes were relatively cheap, re-recordable, and in many instances provided a solution to problems with literacy, in particular for many women from a lower socio-economic background who were unable to read or write letters that would have been penned in Urdu - the national language of Pakistan. Cassettes allowed them to record messages in their own languages which included Punjabi, Pothwari, Pahari, and Mirpuri allowing for their voices to be heard directly and literally.

Messages were recorded on a variety of tape lengths (the most commonly used being the ‘C60’ allowing 30 minutes of audio to be recorded per side) and the cassettes were sent between families either via the postal system or in the relatively rare instances when a family member or trusted friend would be visiting from abroad, they would be delivered by hand. Cassettes would be listened to individually or collectively by the intended receivers, with messages being recorded and returned similarly. By the late 1980s however, advances in telecoms technology made the use of cassette tapes communication obsolete.

Surviving ‘tape letter’ cassettes are quite rare as many of the cassettes that were intended for safe-keeping by older members of the community were re-recorded over by younger family members glad to have the opportunity of a free cassette. Multiple recordings on the same cassette, with the subsequent degradation in audio quality, meant that many were unlistenable and also discarded. Despite the rarity, some cassettes do exist, and the Tape Letters Scotland project has sourced a number of these surviving cassettes allowing an insight into this pragmatic practice of recording messages on magnetic tape.

Some cassettes were intended for individual listening, and others for group listening. Some contained intimate messages between lovers, some contained messages between parents and their sons or daughters. Some were recorded in secret, some contained domestic chatter on the weather and an unfamiliar climate. They all contain deeply human stories though, and these ‘tape letters’ can be considered significant artefacts both as objects and as oral/aural moments in a crucial time for the migrant Pakistani community. They were recorded “in the moment, and of the moment” and are sonographic snapshots providing an unvarnished insight into private familial spheres of life at the time.

Tape Letters Scotland

Team

Director

Wajid Yaseen

Project Coordinator

Syma Ahmed

Community Engagement Officers

Tabassam Niamat
Adeel Ibrahim
Mumtaz Unis
Saverra Khan

Company Producer

Caitlin Evans

Oral History Advisor

Alison Chand

Translation Services

(PK) Nouman Saeed
(UK) Hubbiah Rafaqat

Exhibition Designer

Kevin Lloyd

Photographer

Miriam Ali

Videographer

Basharat Khan

Learning Resources

Nuzhat Uthmani

Podcast Producer

Steve Urquhart

App Development

Stephen R Cooper at millipedia

App Design

Andrew S Walker at Periscope

Website

Paul Ros

Digital & Marketing Officer

Hubbiah Rafaqat

Social Media Videos

Amna Afzal

PR

Susie Gray at Premier

Partners

National Lottery Heritage Fund
National Library of Scotland
City of Edinburgh Council
Tramway, Glasgow
Dundee Central Library

Volunteers

Iman Afaq, Aqsa Baig, Miriam Ali, Anisah Ali, Afshan Saleem, Zunaira Faisal, Amarrah Ahmad, Farheen Arshad, Rabia Begum, Maniza Iqbal, Amna Afzal, Amarah Butt, Ayisha Hussain, Anjum Afzal, Sarona Hussain, Smeera Farooq.

Archive Contributors

Abdul Latif Aziz, Akeel Ahmad, Aqsa Mohammed, Asghar Mohammed, Assia Ali, Bashiran Bibi Irshad, Dean Mohammed, Erm Murad, Faria Khan, Ghulam Zhorah, Gul Sameen, Humera Adnan, Izaz Ur Rahman, Jamila Aziz, Jamila Bibi, Kalsoom Rasul, Kausar Arshad, Kausar Ilyas, Kauser Riaz, Khadijah Khurram, Khalida Hussain, Kulsum Farooq, Kursheed Begum, Maqsoodah Begum, Mariam Ali, Mirza Muhammad Saeed, Mohammed Khan, Mohammed Azam Gondal, Mohammed Farooq, Mohammed Ishaq, Munwar Sultan, Musarat Anwar, Musarat Begum, Mussarat Arshad, Mussarat Jahan, Nadira Saddiq, Naila Waseem, Naseem Akhtar, Naseem Hashmat, Nasim Hussain, Nasreen Akhtar, Nasreen Ali, Nassir Ellahi, Nazia Majid, Nazir Fatima, Nisa Amir, Parveen Akhtar, Parveen Sajid, Rabia Begum, Razia Pracha, Rehana Ahmad, Ria Din, Rukhsana Ali, Sabeeha Nazami, Saima Begum, Saira Chaudhry, Sameena Kauser Younus, Samina Akhtar, Samina Ali, Seriya Iqbal, Shabana Shami, Shaheen Akhtar, Shakila Gulzar, Shamim Aktar, Shamim Sharif, Sharifan Mohammed, Shavana Abdul-Jabbar, Shenaz Ahmad, Shubnum Suleman, Sienah Hayat, Suriaya Hussain, Suraya Sharif, Surriaiya Begum, Wazir Ahmed, Zahida Qateel, Zebunnisa Shahid.

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Tape Letters England

Team

Wajid Yaseen
James Ibrahim-Haddrell
Rosa Schling
Nouman Saeed
Susan Nicholls
Shazia Khan
Ameena Malak
Shafia Fiaz
Armani Syed
Dan Lyndon-Cohen
Marianne Marplondon
Paul Kendell
Pau Ros
Maryam Wahid
Suna Afshan
Majid Yaseen
Farah Nazir
Olivia Bernhardt Brogan
Leona Fensome
Oliver Sanders
Lucia Scazzocchio
Tim Palm
Rehman Anwar
Ifza Tindal
Sebah Chaudhry
Farha Bi
Imran Arif
Madiha Sadiq
Balaj Meer

Partners

On The Record
Bishopsgate Institute
RichMix
Kala Sangam
Ort Gallery
Manchester Museum
People’s History Museum
Glasgow Zine Fest
ChameleonEye Films
FrameVR/Virbela Labs
Citizens Archive of Pakistan
National History Museum Pakistan
South Asian Heritage Month
Partition Education Group

Primary Funders

National Lottery Heritage Fund
Arts Council of England
Audio Content Fund

Volunteers

Flora Rustamova, Hajira Liaquat, Claire O’Halloran, Rachel Lister, Callum Duff, Alex Goodall, Laura Dow, Uzma Gulbahar, Umair Ahmed, Sophie Jones, Shanthi Govender, Sarah Bashir, Robin Skyer, Lucy Meechan, Joanna Shaw, Hirra Ateeq, Ellie Murphy, Jennifer Pearson

Archive Contributors 

Abda Khan, Adeeba Zafar, Akhtar Begum Tindall, Arshad Mahmood, Asaf Hussain, Asim Rafiq Mirza, Asma Mirza, Azim Butt, Aziza Din, Baba Ali Mohammed, Babu Tariq, Babu Tariq Mirza, Bashaarat Hussain, Basharaat Mehmood, Embreen Hashmi, Farah Nazir, Farkhanda Parveen, Ghazala Naseer, Hajra Nazli, Halima Jabeen, Hatana El-Jarn, Hukum Daad Khan, Imran Mirza, Irfan Nazir, Javid Iqbal, Kaleem Arshad, Kamar Javeed Mirza, Karamat Iqbal, Khalid Mahmood, Khalida Begum Khan, Liaquat Zaman, Liaqut Zaman, Maajid Hussain Mirza, Masooma Malik, Mehboob Hussain, Mirza Munir, Mohammed Akram, Mohammed Ghalab, Mohammed Hanif, Mohammed Idrees, Mohammed Munir Mirza, Mohammed Naveed, Mohammed Shakeel Akram, Mohammed Younis, Mohammed Zareen, Nadima Vasi, Naseem Akhtar, Nasim Akhter, Nasreen Hussain, Nazam Din, Nazim Din, Nazim Younis, Omer Hayat, Raja Murtaza Khan, Razaq Ishaq, Riyaz Begum, Saajid Hussain Mirza, Saeed Ahmad Jaan, Saeeda Begum, Saiqa Zafar, Sajid Gulzar, Sajid Hussain, Salma Hamid, Sameer Hussain, Sarwar Ibrahim, Sardar Jabeen Ibrahim, Shahnaz Akhtar, Shams Rehman, Suhail Khan, Tahira Rafiq, Talat Bhat, Tariq Javeed Mirza, Tariq Khan, Tariq Mehmood, Uwais Ali, Wahid Hussain, Zareena Jabeen Darr.