How does Syrian death metal sound in the midst of the civil war? Where is the border between political aesthetization and inappropriate exploitation of death?

  • Destroyed military vehicles in Bucha, Ukraine, after Russia's invasion in February 2022 (Photo: REUTERS/Serhii Nuzhnenko, March 1, 2022)
    «My role as a composer is to surface truth»
    Interview by Hugo Emmerzael
    How can music capture the violence of war without turning it into spectacle? Grammy Award-winning composer Sam Slater talks about scoring documentaries like «Chernobyl» or «2000 Meters to Andriivka», blending frontline sounds, ghostly voices, and self-built instruments.
  • Focused Listening on Soundwalk
    Quotation by Anna Khvyl

    «During focused listening on soundwalks we can sink our attention into the depths of the sounds.»

  • Sound Walk by Anna Khvyl, Rotterdam 2023 (photo: Ran Perry).
    We Listen, but Other Agents Are Always Listening Back
    Introduction by Philipp Rhensius, Katía Truijen
    When talking about listening in the broadest sense, listeners are usually at the center of attention. In this dialogic essay, Rewire Festival’s context curator Katía Truijen and Norient’s editor Philipp Rhensius what happens when the sound listens back.
  • A popular song on TikTok in Mali (screenshot: YouTube).
    Contentious Entertainment on TikTok
    Short Essay by Luca Bruls
    An expanding group of Malian TikTokers amuses its audiences with funny virals, influenced by the country’s war-torn context. Here, our author asks: what can these audiovisual snapshots tell about the precarity between conflict and entertainment?