The Life in Music of Three Experimental Musicians (in Serbia and Switzerland)

TIMEZONES_SABAC BELGRADE ZURICH_snap2_350
The Life in Music of Three Experimental Musicians (in Serbia and Switzerland)

«Timezones» – Episode 2. An electro-acoustic composition based on the interviews with the three artists Mara Miccichè, Branko Džinović, and Vukašin Đelić, the close friends and collaborators of the podcast producer, who have never met each other.

share
Design: Šejma Fere

Sound Politics of Video Calls

 schulze-the-sound-politics-of-video-calls_sejma_fere.jpg
Sound Politics of Video Calls

The pandemic-driven changes have produced new sensory dissonances: While some urban spaces became eerily quiet, ubiquitous video calls turn the domestic into a public space flooded by multiple voices and sounds. What do these sonic worlds tell us about the social? 

share
Design: Šejma Fere
Remix: Sukitoa O Namau

Nairobi’s Next Generation Music Producers and Performing Artists Speak Out

Timezones Nairobi
Nairobi’s Next Generation Music Producers and Performing Artists Speak Out

Nairobi’s next generation music producers and performing artists speak out – Episode 1 of the new Timezones Podcast Series, co-initiated and co-produced by Norient and the Goethe Institute.

share
Design: Šejma Fere

«The Idea of Representation Is Dangerous»

Graphic Snap FAF Interview
«The Idea of Representation Is Dangerous»

Norient met with Firas Abou Fakher of the indie rock band Mashrou’ Leila who is among the progressive voices of the young Lebanese generation, to talk about Lebanon’s complicated history, clichés about the Arab world, and the role of music in times of change.

share
Quote: Firas Abou Fakher
Design: Šejma Fere
Sound: Mashrou’ Leila
Remix: Sukitoa O Namau

Pushing Critical Thought: Sampling Politics Today

Sampling Politics Today: Artwork by Studio Flux
Pushing Critical Thought: Sampling Politics Today

In this Norient Special, we examine how political contexts of our time are transformed into musical production. With case studies from all around the world, this Norient Special approaches sampling as a tool for critical thought and a way of alternative storytelling.

share
Design: Studio Flux
Photo: Various
Sound: Various

Sampling Sounds of War

Norient Snap by Studio Flux
Sampling Sounds of War

What are the political implications and ethical concerns of sampling sounds of war? This is a question raised by «The End of Silence», a 2013 record from Matthew Herbert based entirely on a six-second field recording of the Libyan civil war. A critical examination.

share
Design: Studio Flux
Photo: U.S. National Archives
Sound: Matthew Herbert/Sebastian Meyer

Gear Talk Mixtape by Ale Hop

Gear Talk Mixtape Snap by Ale Hop
Gear Talk Mixtape by Ale Hop

How does the relationship of artists with their gear affect the composition? Listen to a mind bending mixtape-collage with statements about gear in electronic music compostion, eerie sounds and weird loops by the Peruvian musician and sound researcher Ale Hop.

share
Design: Alejandra Cárdenas, Ale Hop
Sound: Alejandra Cárdenas, Ale Hop

Building Kinder Worlds – Mental Health in Ghana

Norient Snap by Heinz Reber
Building Kinder Worlds – Mental Health in Ghana

2,816’000 people are suffering from a mental disorder in Ghana. In her essay, Ghanaian journalist Akosua Hanson reflects on how the perspective of wholesomeness in African philosophies could tackle this problem.

share
Design: Heinz Reber
Photo: Thomas Burkhalter & Peter Guyer

Manele – Memeified Music

Manele Snap
Manele – Memeified Music

The Romanian music genre manele has recently undergone a very postmodern reception. Widely shared through memes seemingly ironically, the genre could also be the predecessor of a new counterculture.

share
Design: Robert Crahmer
Sound: Busted Fingerz

DisOrient – An Orientation

Official artwork for «DisOrient – Welcome to the Hall of Mirrors» (Design: Ali Sayah 2020)
DisOrient – An Orientation

The Norient Special «DisOrient» presents contemporary music videos from the Middle East as well as Central and South Asia, that challenge Orientalist stereotypes. Project curators Dara Shikoh Channa and Theresa Beyer know this is a sensitive topic.

share
Design: Ali Sayah
Sound: Mashrou' Leila, Rehab Hazgui, Manizha

Self-Orientalism in Arab Pop Music

Norient Snap by Ali Sayah
Self-Orientalism in Arab Pop Music

When Saad Lamjarred’s hit song «Lm3allem» topped the charts, little attention was given to the self-Orientalist imageries that were propagated by this song. If anything, this music video is another invitation to further endorse the global trend of Orientalist consumerism.

share
Design: Ali Sayah
Sound: Ali Sayah