South Asian sounds have long occupied a place in the market of sample libraries while being advertised as «world» sounds. Here, the case of Sohan Lal is discussed, a Punjabi singer whose voice ended up in such a sample library and was used in many popular songs.
The «Beating Heart Project» repurposes ethnomusicological recordings from the International Library of African Music to raise money for charitable projects. A discussion of the project’s sampling ethics and the supposed unequal power relations inherent in EDM.
The song «Apesar de Você» by Chico Buarque is one of the most iconic protest songs published in the context of the Brazilian military dictatorship. A sound collage made from clippings of the word «despite» in various instances of Brazilian pop music.
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?
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.
