The second Norient City Sounds Online Special travels to Beirut, Lebanon, a city that continues to witness an aggravating financial and economic crisis in the midst of prolonged political and social turmoil. Plunged in darkness and reeling from traumatic events that have occurred since 2020, the city and its artists and musicians have resisted in various ways during this difficult time. The title of this edition, «Beirut Adrift», evokes a sense of loss and disorientation but also a drift in the city’s new sonic and musical terrains. The talented contributors of this edition have responded to these sounds through this generous collection of essays, sound pieces, mixtapes, photographic series, sound walks, and more. Curated by Rayya Badran.

Contents: Interactive Map
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Norient City Sounds: Beirut (Map)

Hannes Liechti 22.07.2022 | 23:26
  • Beirut Adrift.
    Beirut Adrift
    Compilation
    A very personal selection of tracks from Beirut, Lebanon, that captures the shifts from sorrow to riotous urges, from surrender to escape, from remembrance to lapses of memory.
  • badran_snap_september-playlist_maria-uthe.jpg
    Norient Playlist 09/22: Beirut
    Playlist by Rayya Badran
    Listen to this playlist of artists from Beirut. This selection features new and older releases by musicians across musical genres.
  • Photo: Rayya Badran.
    No End and No Beginning
    Introduction by Rayya Badran
    An introductory text to the Online Special «Norient City Sounds: Beirut». Special curator and writer Rayya Badran asks: what are the sounds of the aftermath of a collapse?
  • photo: Christopher Baaklini.
    We Want More Britney! A Dance Party in Pre–COVID-19 Beirut
    Short Essay by Rabea Hajaig
    In this short essay, Rabea Hajaig recalls his experience as a Friday-night DJ at Bardo, the famous, now closed, queer bar in Beirut, Lebanon, its dance floors awash with a complex interplay of music.
  • Filmstill: Farah Awada: «The Tidal Surge» (Lebanon 2022).
    The Tidal Surge
    Virtual Soundwalk by Farah Awada
    Lebanese artist Farah Awada was recording and filming in Beirut during its most turbulent events and most silent times. Her short video synthesizes these moments in a montage that avoids linear narration.
  • Photo: Mira Adoumier.
    In the Core of the City, at the Exact Midpoint of the Night
    Poetic Text by Carine Doumit
    This poetic text by Carine Doumit is inspired by «The Night Came About», a film co-written by the author and filmmaker Mira Adoumier. It recounts the fictional encounter of two characters from the film, following an equivocal transformation of Beirut at night.
  • photo: Liliane Chlela.
    Thank You for Holding
    Mixtape by Liliane Chlela
    Invoking the struggle of women composers and producers in the city of Beirut, Lebanon, producer, DJ, and performer Liliane Chlela produces a mix that reflects the breadth and richness of their music whilst highlighting the challenges they must overcome.
  • The Devil on Cassette Tapes
    Quotation by Rami Sabbagh

    «We deemed ourselves fortunate when the government thought we carried the devil on cassette tapes.»

  • Night in Beirut, April 2022 (photo: Tamara Saade).
    From the Bottom of a Reactor
    Sonic Diary by Majd Shidiac
    In this diaristic essay, Majd Shidiac conjures up his affecting responses to the sounds and compositions of musicians and practitioners that register the systemic violence the country has seen in the past few years.
  • Filmstill: Nour Ouayda: «Not All Things that Shine Are Beautiful» (Lebanon 2022).
    Not All Things that Shine Are Beautiful
    Virtual Soundwalk by Nour Ouayda
    Filmmaker Nour Ouayda dwells on the details of the city of Beirut, Lebanon that she encounters on her walk toward the sea. Instead of looking upwards, her camera turns to the fast pace of her walking feet until she arrives at her destination.
  • First iteration of «Automobile», a sound performance for cars by Joe Namy at Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, 2012 (photo: Joe Namy).
    In Defense of Loud Music
    Essay by Joe Namy
    In this essay, artist Joe Namy discusses the culture of car sound-systems which exists in Beirut and across the world to delve deeper into the meaning of bass and its role in community life.
  • photo: Jad Atoui.
    Beirut in the Belly of the Whale
    Sound Piece by Jad Atoui
    Jad Atoui’s sound piece is a composition rife with electromagnetic frequencies, hums, and other machine sounds which continue to envelop the city of Beirut and its sleepless residents.
  • Photo: Sandy Chamoun.
    I Am in the Middle of the Sea, Deal with It
    Mixtape by Sandy Chamoun
    Singer and composer Sandy Chamoun draws from an array of musical genres from the region and beyond in this spellbinding mixtape where she assembles tracks that give voice to feelings of pain, loss, and rage.
  • photo: Mayssa Jallad.
    Songwriting in the Throes of an Uprising
    Short Essay by Mayssa Jallad
    The 2019 October protests in Beirut took place after singer/songwriter Mayssa Jallad returned to Lebanon. This short essay reflects on the role of songwriting and singing as tools for resistance and derision during the uprising.
  • photo: Nour Raad.
    Melody for a Fallen City – in Three Parts
    Mixtape by Ziad Nawfal
    Producer, DJ, radio host, and record label owner Ziad Nawfal presents a moving mixtape which bids farewell to his native city of Beirut. True to his mission of promoting music from Lebanon, Nawfal includes some of his favorite local musicians, interspersed with field recordings.
  • An Active Nuclear Power Plant
    Quotation by Majd Shidiac

    «I take notice of the looping eruptions, as if propelled in an active nuclear power plant.»

  • About Bass
    Quotation by Joe Namy

    «There is something fundamentally human about bass.»

  • Dissonant State
    Photo Series by Caroline Tabet
    How can sound permeate an image? With her wandering lens, Caroline Tabet portrays the sounds of the city of Beirut still reeling from the compounding crises that have dulled it.
  • design: Barış Doǧrusöz.
    10 Video Clips from Beirut
    Playlist by Rayya Badran
    Ten music videos that can give you a sense of the breadth of musical genres coming from Beirut, Lebanon and the diaspora today. The selection focuses on productions made from 2020 to 2022, all of which explore personal or political matters.
  • Design by Barış Doğrusöz.
    The Impossible Sound Banks of Beirut
    Short Essay by Jana Saleh
    Field recordings and sampling are at the center of this short essay in which performer and music producer Jana Saleh explains why her inability to use recordings of Beirut’s momentous events has led her to think differently about musical composition.
  • Google image screenshot.
    A Walk in the Summer
    Sound Piece by Ziad Moukarzel
    In this sound piece, Ziad Moukarzel uses the recordings taken on a walk through Beirut, Lebanon, as a point of departure for this composition, which seamlessly blends exterior and interior sounds during one the most acute fuel crises the country has faced.
  • Spontaneous Songwriting
    Quotation by Mayssa Jallad

    «The demands of the uprising called for spontaneous songwriting to the tunes of local songs.»

  • Filmstill from Rami Sabbagh’s film «Imperfect Unless Performed in Blood» (2018).
    A Taste of Metal in My Mouth
    Essay by Rami Sabbagh
    In a text that fleshes out past events from Rami Sabbagh’s life in Beirut, the filmmaker discusses the often perilous entanglement of politics, music, and sound.
  • The Space of the Dance Floor
    Quotation by Rabea Hajaig

    «The space of the dance floor became a place for boundaries to be pushed, and limits to be broken.»