Eduardo Navas considers the political implications of sampling as a cultural variable in relation to aesthetics and labor in juxtaposition with the emergence of machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Starting out with sampling the choral tradition of Sacred Harp, the producer COOL FOR YOU came to understand that practices such as «sampling as critique» are invariably marked by contradictory attachments to their sources and therefore require a more complex analysis.
Sampling is an approach to composing music «with» others by incorporating audio fragments from various sources. Anthropologist Nicolas Puig discusses sample-based tracks by the Palestinian artist Osloob, who lived in Lebanon until he moved to Paris in 2014.
The encounter between experimental club music and mainstream pop has become ubiquitous in the sampling practices of avant-garde electronic musicians of the 2010s. These practices have worked to question the inclusivity of electronic music scenes, our author argues.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Six international curators from the Norient community have researched contemporary music videos that re-imagine, parody, or deconstruct Orientalism. Here is the shortlist by curator Neil van der Linden, who predominantly focuses on videos from Saudi Arabia.
With four main notes only, the video game «Prince of Persia» tries to build a soundscape that illustrates a mysterious and timeless «Orient». Composer Rehab Hazgui took the Orientalist motive and turned it on its head to create a spooky deconstruction of musical stereotypes.
