Norient Playlist 4/23: Nairobi

Norient Playlist 4/23: Nairobi.
Norient Playlist 4/23: Nairobi
Norient Playlist 4/23: Nairobi

Listen to this playlist of various artists from Nairobi, Kenya, and their current releases. Curated by EA Wave (East African Wave) from Nairobi. EA Wave is a producer-driven music label/collective pushing the boundaries of East African art.

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Hearing in the Borderland

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Hearing in the Borderland
Hearing in the Borderland

Hearing or listening is not a mere execution of the ear’s physiology. It is culturally relative. Yet, whenever hearing happens, the borderland between the audible and inaudible has already been crossed. Read an essay exploring the multiple potentials of acoustic perception.

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Design: Maria Uthe

The Invention of the Mechanical Clock

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The Invention of the Mechanical Clock
The Invention of the Mechanical Clock

How one measures time influences how one thinks. In his unedited essay draft, commissioned by the MaerzMusik Festival 2023, the composer Jakob Ullmann reflects on how the mechanical clock in Western Europe has influenced the composition and making of music.

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Design: Maria Uthe

Teach Yourself to Fly: 5 Sonic Meditations

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Teach Yourself to Fly: 5 Sonic Meditations
Teach Yourself to Fly: 5 Sonic Meditations

With her series of word pieces «Sonic Meditations», the U.S.-composer Pauline Oliveros proposed a way to cultivate community, self-awareness and emotional health through listening and music-making. Read the first five lessons here.

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Design: Maria Uthe

In Search for New Vocabularies

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In Search for New Vocabularies
In Search for New Vocabularies

While working on the collaborative publication «All In It Together», Norient’s editor Philipp Rhensius and Rewire’s context curator Katía Truijen enter into a conversation over email where they strive to learn from the various contributions.

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Design: Anja Kaiser, Jim Kühnel

The Soundcape Speaks

Design by Anja Kaiser, Jim Kühnel.
The Soundcape Speaks
The Soundcape Speaks

Listen to composer, radio artist, and sound ecologist Hildegard Westerkamp’s audio piece, in which she turns to her archive of sound recordings, inviting us to listen to the environment across time and space.

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Design: Anja Kaiser, Jim Kühnel

Through Space and Time

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Through Space and Time
Through Space and Time

For Indigenous people, listening to music can function as an act of kinship, where identities are strengthened and acknowledged through building relationships with their environment. Read an essay by Indigenous musicologist and pianist, Renata Yazzie.

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Design: Anja Kaiser, Jim Kühnel

An Equal Sound

Design by Anja Kaiser/Jim Kühnel.
An Equal Sound
An Equal Sound

Read this essay by artist, researcher, and writer Budhaditya Chattopadhyay on how a critical engagement with Global Souths, diasporic and Indigenous artists and thinkers, and their listening cultures could contribute towards equitable planetary conversations.

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Design: Anja Kaiser, Jim Kühnel

Destroy With Your Own Hands

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Destroy With Your Own Hands
Destroy With Your Own Hands

What happens when a record player is played with acrylic nails instead of a needle? Read an essay by the scholar and writer Peggy Kyoungwon Lee in which she evokes a world that refuses to be reproduced.

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Design: Anja Kaiser, Jim Kühnel

Mapping Memories

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Mapping Memories
Mapping Memories

To memorize a place and its emotional attachment to it, a form is needed. This is what our writer, Gisela Swaragita, is reminded of when listening to Liew Niyomkarn’s music, in which the musician captures moments of her childhood with field recordings.

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Design: Anja Kaiser, Jim Kühnel

More to Sound than Meets the Ears

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More to Sound than Meets the Ears
More to Sound than Meets the Ears

Read this essay by artistic researcher, and curator Heloisa Amaral, on modes of listening and the possibility of multiphonic attention.

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Design: Anja Kaiser, Jim Kühnel