Outlook Mixtape: Rewind! Family histories discovered on tape

Available for over a year

Three stories of children unspooling the mysteries of their parents’ past. A decade after his father passed away, Wajid Yaseen was aching to hear his voice again. But finding an old cassette tape of his dad singing opened up way more than Wajid expected. He had stumbled across a treasure trove of audio cassette tape letters spanning continents and lifetimes, chronicling overlooked South Asian migrant histories in Britain. Hannah Ha knew her mother could sing. When she took to the stage at karaoke, she always stole the show. But when a chance email revealed she had once been a recording artist called Phuong Tam in 1960s Saigon, Hannah was stunned. She embarked on a two-year hunt to track down her mother’s long-lost recordings – and her rock’n’roll legacy. Tricia Davies Nearn’s father was killed in the Vietnam War when she was just two years old. Growing up without him, she knew there was something missing, even with a loving family around her. Her mother, an ardent fan of musicals, was careful never to play music from West Side Story, for example. It was only as an adult that Tricia would discover an extraordinary archive of tape recordings that would help her to understand why, and to get to know her father better. Presented and produced by Zoe Gelber Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707 (Photo: Cassette tape. Credit: Getty Images)