More Here Now

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More Here Now
More Here Now

Making field recordings is like tapping into an alien world. For our writer, it feels less like experiencing, more like becoming time itself.

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Design: Ali Sayah

DIY or Die: Budapest Beneath the Surface

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DIY or Die: Budapest Beneath the Surface
DIY or Die: Budapest Beneath the Surface

Episode 11 of the «Timezones» podcast series delves into Budapest’s independent arts and music scene in the wake of the latest Hungarian parliamentary elections in April 2022.

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Quote: Lilla Lőrinc
Design: Šejma Fere
Sound: Gábor Kovács

The Unending Trials of Finding a Better God

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The Unending Trials of Finding a Better God
The Unending Trials of Finding a Better God

In this sonic fiction, our writer depicts the Moroccan avant garde band Nass El Ghiwane as straying birds in search of a different life.

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Design: Ali Sayah

Norient Playlist 10/22: Budapest

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Norient Playlist 10/22: Budapest
Norient Playlist 10/22: Budapest

Listen to this playlist with a selection of tracks from the city’s underground producers.

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Design: Maria Uthe
Sound: Fullogic

Norient Playlist 09/22: Beirut

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Norient Playlist 09/22: Beirut
Norient Playlist 09/22: Beirut

Listen to this playlist of artists from Beirut. This selection features new and older releases by musicians across musical genres.

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Design: Maria Uthe
Sound: Sharif Sehnaoui

No End and No Beginning

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No End and No Beginning
No End and No Beginning

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?

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Sound: Omar Itani

The Impossible Sound Banks of Beirut

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The Impossible Sound Banks of Beirut
The Impossible Sound Banks of Beirut

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.

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Melody for a Fallen City – in Three Parts

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Melody for a Fallen City – in Three Parts
Melody for a Fallen City – in Three Parts

Producer, DJ, radio host, and 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.

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Sound: Jad Atoui

We Want More Britney! A Dance Party in Pre–COVID-19 Beirut

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We Want More Britney! A Dance Party in Pre–COVID-19 Beirut
We Want More Britney! A Dance Party in Pre–COVID-19 Beirut

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.

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Songwriting in the Throes of an Uprising

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Songwriting in the Throes of an Uprising
Songwriting in the Throes of an Uprising

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.

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Sound: Jana Saleh

A Taste of Metal in My Mouth

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A Taste of Metal in My Mouth
A Taste of Metal in My Mouth

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.

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Sound: Omar Itani