Recently, dance music producers have attempted to sample Islamic sonic materials and courted controversy with the establishment in North Africa and the Middle East. Is sampling a tool that can be used indiscriminately across cultures? Or are there limits to its reach?
Music scholar and producer Francesco Fusaro discusses one of his sample-based tracks. It is through the voice that dance music has proven a fertile territory for the expression of the political and social concerns that underpinned its history from the beginning.
Music producer Eomac describes how his sampling strategy has changed over time. Starting out, he used any sound available. Now, as an experienced musician, he is confronted by complex ethical questions. Today, he emphasizes the intent behind sampling as key.
Can music production portray nuanced, complex subjectivities relating to reminiscence and retrospection? In an examination of his track «22 – 122», Guy Baron shows how a musical interpretation of an «afterglow» can be made with audio processing and sampling techniques.
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.
