Have managed 154 entries on this blog. How did that happen? I never imagined it would become such a labour of love. I just try to keep it going by scribbling down mundane events with hopefully different or odd angles.
It certainly prompts strong memories of the journey from time to time, and occasional intense desires to be back on the African continent.
One of the triggers for that is music.
I collected quite a bit along the route, was introduced to more on the way, and already had a good smattering of African tracks on my MP3 player as a starter.

So I thought I'd assemble a compilation of meaningful music from each country we wandered through.

Starting with the Middle East, and
Syria
A country now very much in the news, sadly.
Accounts on the internet indicate that the Middle East and North East Africa are now more-or-less inaccessible by overland routes from Europe. Although the occasional truly independant traveller still reports crossing from Turkey to Jordan in a day, albeit not allowed to carry cameras or satnavs of any sort. So we were pretty lucky with our timing.

I can't say we actually came into contact with much Syrian music, but this is a case where I already had a few examples myself. Here are the Youtube versions. Hopefully these will bring a different impression of the country to that presented on the news these days:

This one has many very familiar photos - I want to be back there!
I hope their situation has a peaceful resolution.

Abdullah Chhadeh.

Abdullah Chhadeh and Syriana, his collaboration with Nick Page.
Nick Page also features in Ethiopian tracks later on.

Syriana - more intense memories of Syria.

Next up is Jordan.