In an era where the face of a loved one is just a few taps away, it can be difficult to grasp the enormity of uprooting yourself and bidding farewell to home in a time when physical distances were not so easily bridged. But those who came before us were resourceful in their efforts to close those gaps.

The voice, with its distinct textures and idiosyncrasies, holds the uncanny power to conjure faraway worlds. For Pakistanis who migrated to the UK between the 1960s and 80s, recording and sending cassette tapes across continents became a means to stay connected. Like voicenotes of their time, these tapes carried stories, songs and sometimes even soundscapes of a city or a household, audio snapshots of life from across the world. Families waited months, even years, for a single tape to arrive. Long after the practice faded, these tapes were lovingly and carefully preserved, relics of cherished connection. 

Tape Letters Scotland is an oral history of that period. Drawing directly from first-hand interviews and the informal conversations which were captured, this podcast weaves together a portrait of a displaced community. Wives and mothers speak of sisters whose faces they’ve forgotten; children recall sending newly rehearsed nursery rhymes; a grandmother clings desperately to a family she cannot see or touch, their memory alive only in the grainy sounds emanating from the tapes. 

The podcast keeps it simple, staying true to the voices and stories of those who wish to reminisce, allowing raw emotion to work its magic. The narrative around immigrants has too often focused on survival and hardship, with more personal and everyday stories forgotten. Tape Letters Scotland is a laudable attempt at going deeper. Within these accounts lies a softer, more intimate truth: of the ways people fought to clutch a thread that led home. 

Episodes of Tape Letters Scotland are available now on the Tape Letters site.