Learning From Feminism

Norient Snap by Basma Bader
Learning From Feminism

The #MeToo movement also reveals other discriminations. In music, sexism often works in tandem with exotism. To resist both, the Egyptian musicians Dina El Wedidi and Youssra El Hawary resurrect an old claim: the personal is political.

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Design: Basma Bader
Sound: Basma Bader

Deconstructing Jantelagen

Norient Snap by Ali Sayah
Deconstructing Jantelagen

The Scandinavian code of conduct «jantelagen» encourages modesty and conformity. The movie «Silvana» shows, how the Swedish rapper Silvana Imam celebrates the exact opposite: pride and individuality.

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Design: Ali Sayah
Sound: Silvana Imam

Music and Place

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Music and Place

The relationship between music and place has a long history. This article discusses the academic discourses regarding the relationship between music and place.

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Sound: Aam Taateel

Digitally Famous and Real Life Broke

Norient Snap by Des Flor de Fuego
Digitally Famous and Real Life Broke

In Egypt, the high amount of digitalization has not translated into monetization for most musicians. This is not just because most families live at or below the poverty line. So what does this mean for the future of local artists?

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Photo: geralt/Pixabay

Silence Is the Real Taboo

Norient Snap by SPIME.IM
Silence Is the Real Taboo

In Beirut every gunshot has a different meaning. There are sounds of war and of celebration. The Lebanese musician Serge Yared explains how they are used in music and aestheticized.

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Shizophonia

Norient Snap by Basma Bader
Shizophonia

In this photo series South African photographer Dylan Culhane stages artist Umlilo in collage portraits and evokes a sense of multiplicity.

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Design: Basma Bader
Sound: Basma Bader

When a Rapper Tries to Change the World

Norient Snap by Ali Sayah
When a Rapper Tries to Change the World

An impressive and moving testimonial of rapper and comedian Ali Gul Pir from Karachi, Pakistan, who is faced by death threats due to his art. In the podcast he talks about what makes him feel lonely when living and working as a musician in Pakistan.

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Design: Ali Sayah

Distorted Processes of Becoming

Norient Snap by Faisal M. Khan
Distorted Processes of Becoming

What reads at first sight as a rather classic «coming out» story is not a linear narrative. In the music video «Magic Man» South African artist Umlilo and director Jasyn Howes produce a temporal and spatial disorder through fragments of moving images.

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Photo: Jasyn Howes
Sound: Umlilo
Remix: Dhaka Dub Hierarchy

A Finger to the Establishment

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A Finger to the Establishment

«Nowadays no song is independent», says journalist Manal Faheem Khan from Karachi and explains how the Pakistani music business works. The music video «#Kholo BC» by Ali Gul Pir and Adil Omar might be a rare exception here.

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Design: Ali Kazmi
Sound: Ali Kazmi

Decomposing the Past

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Decomposing the Past

The legendary «Donaueschinger Musiktage» offer in its 2018 edition a different perspective on how we perceive synthesizers. In the commissioned pieces, the composers Marcus Schmickler and Florian Hecker take the sounds from the past to the now.

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Photo: SWR/Donaueschinger Musiktage

Sampling Stories Vol. 19: Kritzkom

Norient Snap by Uno
Sampling Stories Vol. 19: Kritzkom

Berlin-based producer Kritzkom rarely works with samples and, accordingly, on her 2016 techno track «Inner March for Utopia» synth basses and melodies dominate. But if one digs deeper one can find the traces of a sample of the Kurdish national anthem.

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Quote: Marie Drouan (kritzkom)
Design: Uno Design
Sound: Kritzkom
Remix: Annafruit