Norient: From Tastemaking to Multimodal Storytelling (Part 1)

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Norient: From Tastemaking to Multimodal Storytelling (Part 1)
Norient: From Tastemaking to Multimodal Storytelling (Part 1)

What role and methods can a privileged Western person adopt when curating contemporary music from a global perspective? In his ongoing endeavor to understand the world through music and sound, Norient founder Thomas Burkhalter suggests 13 curatorial principles.

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Being on the Right Side of History

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Being on the Right Side of History
Being on the Right Side of History

For Iranian metal musician Nikan Khosravi, music is a way to articulate protest. Having lived under state repression, metal, as he explains in this personal essay, helped him to stay candid with himself and to express his dark feelings.

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Sound: Casanora

Bass Drums, Cowbells, Tambourines

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Bass Drums, Cowbells, Tambourines
Bass Drums, Cowbells, Tambourines

Woher kommt die Motivation, ein Festival für Musik aus Iran und der iranischen Diaspora zu organisieren? In diesem Text erinnert sich Klangteppich-Festivalmacherin Franziska Buhre an eine prägende Reise nach New Orleans im Jahre 2016.

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Quote: Charles Taylor
Sound: Casanora

Norient Playlist 6/23: Mexico City

Norient Playlist 6/23: Mexico City.
Norient Playlist 6/23: Mexico City
Norient Playlist 6/23: Mexico City

The tracks in the June playlist are a current source of inspiration for the Mexico City-based musician El irreal Veintiuno. It consists of a bunch of tracks somewhere located between experimental electronic music, tribal and dembow.

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Sound: Siete Catorce

Contentious Entertainment on TikTok

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Contentious Entertainment on TikTok
Contentious Entertainment on TikTok

An expanding group of Malian TikTokers amuses its audiences with funny virals, influenced by the country’s war-torn context. Here, our author asks: what can these audiovisual snapshots tell about the precarity between conflict and entertainment?

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Design: Boubacar Sissoko
Sound: Crystal Abidin, Lex Papy
Remix: Luca Bruls

Dimensions of Sonic Pluralism

Snap Artwork by Frederico Floeter
Dimensions of Sonic Pluralism

In this introduction to his book «Sawt, Bodies, Species», Gilles Aubry situates his research project on the sonic dimensions of our environment, tracing alternate genealogies of sound, listening, and technology in North Africa.

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A Wasted Breath Inside a Balloon

Snap Artwork by Frederico Floeter
A Wasted Breath Inside a Balloon
A Wasted Breath Inside a Balloon

Informed by Ramia Beladel’s research on Sufi healing, this sound piece relies on trance and self-reconfiguration. The soundtrack includes sounds recorded during an annual celebration of the local saint in Moulay Bouchta, Morocco.

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Atlantic Ragagar

Snap Artwork by Gilles Aubry
Atlantic Ragagar
Atlantic Ragagar

An experimental film on seaweed and industrial extractivism on the Moroccan Atlantic coast, inviting the spectator into a process of ecological transformation.

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Salam Godzilla

Snap Artwork by Frederico Floeter
Salam Godzilla
Salam Godzilla

A violent earthquake destroyed the city of Agadir, Morocco, in 1960. Shot inside the Salam movie theater and its surroundings, the video essay is a tentative reconstitution of the earthquake as a sonic moment.

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And Who Sees the Mystery

Snap Artwork by Frederico Floeter
And Who Sees the Mystery
And Who Sees the Mystery

A film without images documenting the authors’ research in Tafraout, Morocco, a village where Paul Bowles recorded an ahwash music performance in 1959. In exchange with local musicians, the two artists engage in listening sessions and sonic experiments.

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STONESOUND

Snap Artwork by Frederico Floeter
STONESOUND
STONESOUND

This video is a documentation of a joint experiment in stone sounding in Moulay Bouchta, Morocco, featuring statements by the Moroccan artist Abdeljalil Saouli on the nature of stone and of sound itself.

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Photo: Maxim Tajer & Yosh Ginsu/Unsplash