The TIMEZONES podcast series plunges into the world of artists and their practices, asking: what does living and working in culture and the arts involve in different countries, cities, and contexts today? The artists’ thoughts on their moods, their social, political, and intellectual realities and their philosophies (of life) have been worked up into experimental audio collages. Season 1 looks into contexts in Nairobi, Belgrade/Sabac/Zurich, Delhi, the Bay Area, and Rio de Janeiro.
The podcasts run the gamut of formats and content, from straight journalism to experimental and documentary approaches, ethnography and fiction, sound art, and improvisation. The TIMEZONES series endeavours to create new artistic forms of storytelling, listening and exchange across the boundaries of geography, time zones, genres, and practices.
+++ Purchase Season 1 on Bandcamp now! +++
Tracklist
01 – Thomas Burkhalter:
Nairobi’s Next Generation Music Producers and Performing Artists Speak Out
02 – Svetlana Maraš:
The Life in Music of Three Experimental Musicians (in Serbia and Switzerland)
03 – Suvani Suri and Abhishek Matur:
Imagining Worlds and Making Meaning With Four Artists From Delhi
04 – Lara Sarkissian:
The Bay Area’s Interdisciplinary Artistic Blueprint
05 – Steph Kretowicz:
The Soul of a City (Bay Area Bonus Track)
06 – Vivian Caccuri:
Staying Creative Between Beauty and Chaos in Rio de Janeiro
07 – Daniel Limaverde:
Grabbing for a Worldview in Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro Bonus Track)
The Episodes
E01 Nairobi
Nairobi’s Next Generation Music Producers and Performing Artists Speak Out
In recent years, small-scale studios in Nairobi have begun producing music locally, and some of their output reaches millions of listeners in Kenya, or create buzz and noise in international niche music scenes. Their producers and musicians are turning old hierarchies upside down, often calling for social and political reforms. But they’re also facing a lot of resistance.
A podcast by Thomas Burkhalter
E02 Belgrade/Sabac/Zurich
The Life in Music of Three Experimental Musicians (in Serbia and Switzerland)
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.
A podcast by Belgrade-based composer and sound artist Svetlana Maraš.
E03 Delhi
Imagining Worlds and Making Meaning With Four Artists From Delhi
Heeding to the COVID-19 pandemic, they share observations and open spaces of thought where new meanings and speculative realities are constantly being formed, un-formed and re-formed. The composition interweaves these conversations into fragments of found sound, musical renditions and sonic textures, contemplating the ever-shifting edges of truth, experience, the real, and the fictional.
A podcast by Suvani Suri and Abhishek Mathur
E04 Bay Area
The Bay Area’s Interdisciplinary Artistic Blueprint
There is an unspoken blueprint in the Bay Area arts and music communities allowing artists an organic crossover between practices and languages. A hybridizing of mediums that arises from spaces of deep experimentation. From the Bay Area’s openness and curiosity to the limitations of physical spaces to work and gather in – leading to the creation of multipurpose spaces that host artists across visual art, performance, and music, thus resulting in crossovers.
A podcast by Lara Sarkissian
E05 Rio de Janeiro
Staying Creative Between Beauty and Chaos in Rio de Janeiro
Behind the picture-postcard landscapes and the stereotypical images of carnival, beaches, and beautiful women lies an enigmatic and broken city: Rio de Janeiro. Rio’s musical and creative identity, such as samba and carnival, seems to be ever transforming and flirting with traditional forms, yet at the same time, those forms have a history of struggle, intimately connected to Afro-Brazilian musical and religious expressions. In a challenging historical moment of crisis, a pandemic and political ruthlessness, artists in Rio are integrating those identities with the most immediate needs and perceptions of reality. The goal is to stay alive, sane, and, most of all, creative.
A podcast by Vivian Caccuri
Trailer Season 1
Imprint and Credits
[NT008]
Podcasts by Thomas Burkhalter, Svetlana Maraš, Suvani Suri and Abhishek Mathur, Lara Sarkissian, Vivian Caccuri
Co-initiated and co-produced by Norient and the Goethe-Institut
Featuring: Baby Elephante, Blinky Bill, Boutross, Coco.em, DJ Raph, Hitman Kaht, Kamwangi Njue, Karun, Janice Iche, Jinku, Joseph Kamaru (KMRU), Manch!ld (debe), Moroko Kalahari, MR. LU (XPRSO), MUNYASYA, Wambui Kamiru, Mara Micciche, Branko Džinović, Vukašin Đelić Mochu, Pallavi Paul, Gagan Singh, Suhail Yusuf Khan, 8ULENTINA / Esra Canoğulları, Nadia Shihab, Sofía Córdova, Khatchadour Khatchadourian, Greekor Greg Nemet, Thiago Lanis, Domingos Guimaraens and Ynaiê Dawson (Opavivará), Cabelo Cobral Coral, Thaís Delgado, Bruno Carvalho, Sabrina Fidalgo
Artistic Curation/Editors: Thomas Burkhalter, Svetlana Maraš, Abhishek Mathur, Suvani Suri
Project Management: Hannes Liechti
Jingle Voiceover: Nana Akosua Hanson
Jingle Mix: Daniel Jakob
Mastering: Adi Flück, Centraldubs
Artwork: Šejma Fere
Video Trailer: Emma Nzioka
The TIMEZONES Podcast Series is co-initiated and co-produced by Norient and the Goethe-Institut.
The work of the artistic editors Suvani Suri and Abhishek Matur is supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.
