Between Colonial and Ethical Noise
This chapter of Gilles Aubry’s book Sawt, Bodies, Species offers a short history of sound technology and music industry in Morocco since its introduction by European record companies in the early 20th century. Proposing an intellectual engagement with the colonial sound archive and its metadata, together with the Agadiri singer Ali Faiq, Gilles Aubry initiated close listening sessions to early Moroccan rwais music recorded by the French company Pathé.
Unlike the white Western understanding of modern sound as a practice that reproduces, isolates, and idealizes sound, Gilles Aubry suggests that rwais «sound» is characterized by mediation, distributed embodiment, and collective ownership, as well as by a particularly situated ethical noise. Beyond the re-appropriation of cultural artifacts, the concept of «sonic pluralism» (developed in the introduction of the book) allows for the re-purposing of archival knowledge and technology.
This abstract refers to the chapter «Between Colonial and Ethical Noise: The French Speech Archives, Rwais Sound, and Aural Mediation» (pages 35–86) of the book Sawt, Bodies, Species: Sonic Pluralism in Morocco by Gilles Aubry, published by adocs in 2023. This contribution is part of the Norient Online Special Sawt, Bodies, Species, a joint publication with adocs, extending the physical book into a digital publication with additional video and audio materials. The Open Access publication of this book was made possible with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).
Biography
Published on May 04, 2023
Last updated on April 03, 2024
Topics
How can sound & music be preserved and at the same time evolve in line with the present?
From Beyoncés colonial stagings in mainstream pop to the ethical problems of Western people «documenting» non-Western cultures.
A generative practice that promotes different knowledge. One that listens is never at a distance but always in the middle of the sound heard.
Why does a Kenyan producer of the instrumental style EDM add vocals to his tracks? This topic is about HOW things are done, not WHAT.
