The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare multiple problems of music-making worldwide. A central one is the need to constantly stay creative in a market that cries for endless innovation. Based on experiences at the OneBeat Virtual residency in New York for 70 musicians from different countries, the Norient Special «Re-Making Tradition» entails six essays. They question the notion of tradition in music, discuss political biases of Cultural Diplomacy, and propose new ways of creating and practicing music collaboratively.
  • «Selfportrait» of the Lagos-based music producer and singer-songwriter Rex Okechukwu Opara Jr., a.k.a. Raldie Young, and participant of the OneBeat residency program in New York, 2021.
    Radical Unintentionality
    Short Essay by Rim Jasmin Irscheid
    Artists’ residencies are often aimed towards results in order to bulk up institutions’ portfolios. But what happens if the only goal is unintentionality? An essay inspired by a workshop in the «OneBeat» program.
  • «Dream Selfportrait» by Sara González Salamanca, a composer, vocalist, and improviser based in Chía, Colombia, and participant of the «Radio Building» workshop OneBeat residency program in New York, 2021.
    I Listened, Therefore I Was
    Short Essay by Monika Żyła
    Songs can entail memories about who we are. In an essay inspired by the «OneBeat» workshop «Everything Old is New Again», our writer reflects on the role of music as a source of one’s own biography.
  • Collage by Connie Fu, a Seattle-based sound artist, producer, and synthesist, and participant of the «Radio Building» workshop OneBeat residency program in New York, 2021.
    Connect or Divide: The Ambivalence of Radio
    Short Essay by Gisela Swaragita
    As a teenager, our writer experienced a natural disaster, and the only radio nearby united the survivors. Yet, as she learned in «OneBeat»’s Building Radio workshop, radio can also have dividing effects.
  • Self portrait of Marija Mitrovi, a Montenegro-based contemporary pianist, multimedia artist and researcher, and participant of the OneBeat residency program in New York, 2021.
    A Sonic Approach to Participatory Action
    Short Essay by Constanza Bizraelli
    In this essay, the composer Constanza Bizraelli reflects on the potential of technology to channel sound practices as participatory action, inspired by a workshop of the «OneBeat» residency program.
  • Self portrait of the Kaštela-based clarinetist and educator Ivana Bandala, who is a participant of the OneBeat residency program in New York, 2021.
    Ways of Doing Things Better
    Short Essay by Monika Żyła
    Musicians operate in a market that demands constant innovation and productivity. Inspired by the «OneBeat» residency program, our writer calls for new modes of artistic production, based on sharing rather than competition.
  • Selfportrait of Teagan Faran, a multidisciplinary musician from Buffalo, NY, and participant of the OneBeat residency program in New York, 2021.
    The «Problem» and Potential of Tradition
    Short Essay by Rim Jasmin Irscheid
    The term tradition has often reinforced an essentialist relationship to origins. In an essay inspired by the «OneBeat» residency program, Rim Jasmin Irscheid is struck by musicians using musical heritage as empowerment.