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

Czech and Slovak Anti-Music

Norient Snap by Csenge Csato
Czech and Slovak Anti-Music

Grown on the Czech music platform bandzone, anti-music is a trashy music wave that is about music that nobody wants to listen to: amateurish lo-fi recordings made by funny and nerdy «musicians» who play old and broken music instruments.

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Photo: Bandzone
Sound: Zle

On Native Aliens

Norient Snap by Ali Sayah
On Native Aliens

Sandeep Bhagwati works in various musical traditions and has roots in Asia, Europe and North America. He self-identifies as a Native Alien and claims: to feel unquestioned ties to one’s own place.

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Design: Ali Sayah
Sound: Ali Sayah

The Stars of Musiqa Sha’biyya

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The Stars of Musiqa Sha’biyya

For centuries dabke was a local tradition in Syria, but in the late 1990s, it has become urban. Thereby, the popular dance music was reimaginated and globalized. Under the name «new wave dabke» special stylistic idoms have become noticeable.

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Sound: Aam Taateel