From Self-Orientalism in Arab music to the sheer exploitation of Brazilian funk music by acclaimed artists: how exotica examine aesthetics playing with the other and cultural misunderstandings.

  • Playlist by Thomas Burkhalter
    Peso Pluma, IAMTRA$H, Mabe Fratti? On this mixtape, Mexican and «Mexican» artists face each other who will probably never be friends in real life.
  • Short Essay by Laura
    To what extent do sampling practices maintain or disrupt an exoticized ideal of indigenous populations? The Brazilian research collective Laura confronts two sampling strategies performed by different artists in Brazil. On one hand, a worldwide EDM artist who repeats the clichés of exotizing cultural appropriation, and on the other indigenous artists who use rap as a mode of enunciation.
  • Short Essay by Luigi Monteanni
    In 2016, the Indonesian practice «om telolet om» related to the playing of bus horns went viral. It has reached the EDM music community and generated several remixes featuring samples from various Indonesian cellphone videos. Here, our author problematizes the phenomenon in relation to global and local cultures and creative production in contemporary music.
  • Introduction by Theresa Beyer, Dara Shikoh Channa
    The Norient Special «DisOrient – Welcome to the Hall of Mirrors» presents contemporary music videos from the Middle East as well as Central and South Asia, that challenge Orientalist stereotypes. A sensitive topic.