Anusheh Anadil – Slow Revolution

Podcast

In this episode of Long Take: Life as an Artist, we meet Anusheh Anadil Anadil — musician, artist, cultural activist, and social entrepreneur from Bangladesh. She was the lead singer of the band Bangla, which rose to immense popularity in both Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. The group revolutionized popular culture by bringing traditional spiritual folk songs - especially those inspired by the philosophy of Fakir Lalon Shai - to urban youth. Tune in now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or other platforms!

Anusheh’s music blends folk traditions with themes of feminism, freedom, spirituality, and social revolution. As a cultural activist, she founded Jatra Bangladesh, a creative hub that promotes Bangladeshi arts, crafts, and folk music. Through her work, Anusheh advocates for cultural revival, women’s empowerment, social activism, and reconnecting with roots through music and art.

In this interview, she reflects on her family’s involvement in the Bangladesh Liberation War and in the country’s artistic scene. She also talks about her personal journey of leaving behind heroin and city life. She recalls how Kingkortobbobimuro (2002), the debut album by Bangla, became a nationwide success while she was still in rehab. Anusheh emphasizes her belief that nature should not be treated as a commodity, and she dreams of singing songs that could grow flowers, nurture trees, or cleanse rivers.

Credits

Host: Thomas Burkhalter
Sound: Daniel Jakob, Melodies In My Head
Mix and Mastering: Daniel Jakob
Graphic Design (Cover): Pamuditha Zen Anjana
Photography: Ørjan Ellingvåg
Editorial support: The Norient team and Rebecca Favale
Support in Dhaka: Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo

Listen to the full episode on YouTube and find outtakes in this YouTube playlist.

The podcast «Long Take: Life as an Artist» dives into deep conversations with artists from across the globe, focusing on musicians and sound creators. Hosted by Norient founder, anthropologist, writer and audiovisual artist Thomas Burkhalter, it explores the personal journeys of these artists – their aspirations, successes, challenges, creative processes, and perspectives on the world. The podcast is minimally edited, offering authentic portrayals of each artist, revealing the person behind the art. It serves as a valuable, freely accessible resource for anyone researching music, sound, culture, and politics.

The podcast is funded by

Biography

Thomas Burkhalter, PhD, is an anthropologist, multidisciplinary artist, and writer from Bern, Switzerland. He is the founder and director of Norient and the Norient Festival (winner Special Prize for Music 2025 – Swiss Music Prizes). Currently, Burkhalter's focus lies on his new music/AV duo, Melodies In My Head, and the podcast Long Take: Life as an Artist. He is a co-editor of the 2025 released book Home is Where the Heart Strives (Norient Books). Burkhalter has co-directed documentary films, including Contradict (Berner Filmpreis 2020, Al-Jazeera Witness), and created AV/theatre performances. He is the author and co-editor of several books, such as Local Music Scenes and Globalization: Transnational Platforms in Beirut (Routledge) and The Arab Avant Garde: Musical Innovation in the Middle East (Wesleyan University Press). His experimental radio feature, Gqom Edits – A Durban Visit, was nominated for the Prix Europa in 2017. Burkhalter teaches regularly at universities, leads workshops for arts institutions, and, since 2022, has produced the Norient Mixtape for Swiss National Radio SRF3. He currently serves on the board of the ERC/UKRI-funded project Beyond 1932 (King’s College London), Echographies: Journal of Sound Ethnography (Chicago/Zürich), and C:Pop – Transdisciplinary Research Center for Popular Music Cultures and Creative Economies (University of Paderborn). Burkhalter’s work combines personal and global perspectives, often in close collaboration with artists and thinkers from across the world. Follow him on Instagram, Research Gate, Academia.edu, Bandcamp, Spotify, or Meta.

Published on August 19, 2025

Last updated on August 19, 2025

Topics

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Tehran: A Gateway Wandering Beyond by Khamoosh

Tehran: A Gateway Wandering Beyond

Podcast

by Khamoosh

Episode 22 of the TIMEZONES podcast series, initiated and produced by Norient, comes from Tehran and is an introspection on where an artist or artistic journey finds its existence – where it starts and ends, how it emerges, unfolds, or even falls into silence. Produced by the Khamoosh collective and participatory research project, this episode features artists of diverse communities who reflect on their ways of living and on their practice.

Tehran is at the crossroads for the stories told in this episode – whether as a place to return to or escape from. Members of Khamoosh reflect on the question: who is an artist? They do so through letters, conversations, interviews, and by holding space for one another. Sonic elements emerge from a collective effort, drawing from the group’s rich sonic archive.

Tune in now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or other platforms!

Full English transcript of episode 22

Credits

A podcast by Khamoosh

Participating members:
Golnoosh Heshmati (curation, recording, research, interviews)
Khorshid Parsi (research)
Maryam Fazeli (sound production)
Maryam Ramezankhani (research, recording, interviews)
pantea (recording, research, sound production)
Ramin Mahmoudi (research, recording, interviews)
Saghar Afzalnia (translations)

Produced by Norient

Featuring: Fatemeh, Sadra Amouei, Phaaroos, Shirine Moasser, Khamoosh

Complete list of sound credits used in the episode

Artistic Editor: Abhishek Mathur
Project Management: Abhishek Mathur
Outreach/Press: Janina Neustupny
Video Trailer: Karrl
Additional Images: Amirhossein Heshmati
Jingle Voiceover: Nana Akosua Hanson
Jingle Mix: Daniel Jakob
Mastering: Adi Flück, Centraldubs
Artwork: Šejma Fere

Listen to the full series on

→ Listen to further TIMEZONES episodes

Featured Artists

Khamoosh is a participatory artistic research project that mediates conservation and restoration by exploring the sonic heritage of Iran through recorded sounds of everyday life; sounds less heard or even silenced. Their methodology is guided by an ongoing process of learning by doing, community-based participation, collective artistic practice, and research as a network. They come together in the shared intimacy of sound through the tools of technology and time. Hearing the relationship between sound and language is an ongoing process formed by both well-known and unknown contributors as well as by non-humans, broadening the listening sphere of their extended collective. Their combined practices include music, anthropology, linguistics, and audiovisual design. Follow them on Instagram.

Fatemeh, born in 1957, is a calligrapher based in Tehran who prefers to remain anonymous. She studied medical laboratory at Tehran University and worked as a medical laboratory technician for 37 years. After retiring, she started calligraphy.

Phaaroos is an artist who fluidly navigates between the north and south of Iran. Sometimes, he creates sculptures, and other times, he writes poetry.

Sadra Amouei is a performer and actor based in Babolsar and Tehran. He holds a bachelor's degree in acting and directing from Bahonar University of Kerman and is currently pursuing a master's degree in acting at the University of Art in Tehran. Follow him on Instagram.

Shirine Moasser, born 1963, is a painter and textile designer based in Tehran. She studied Persian miniature painting under Abbas Moayyeri's supervision and pursued painting at Beaux-Arts de Paris and textile design at École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle. Follow her on Instagram.

Images of Tehran and surrounding regions by Amirhossein Heshmati

Amirhossein Heshmati, born in Tehran in 1961, is a photographer and electrical engineer. He captures both realistic and abstract elements of nature, inspired by his mountaineering in the Alborz Mountains, while also documenting Iran's diverse urban and natural landscapes. Follow him on Instagram.

Get more insights on Iran and the Iranian Diaspora on Norient.

Online contributions: read, listen, and watch more on the Norient digital archive.

Klangteppich Magazin a printed edition of the ongoing collaboration with Berlin-based Klangteppich festival and archive of lively perspectives on contemporary music-making in Iran and the Iranian diaspora.

Trailer

by Karrl

The TIMEZONES podcast series plunges into the world of artists and their practices, asking: what does living and working in culture and the arts involve in different countries, cities, and contexts today? The artists’ thoughts on their moods, their social, political, and intellectual realities and their philosophies (of life) have been worked up into experimental audio collages.

The podcasts run the gamut of formats and content, from straight journalism to experimental and documentary approaches, ethnography and fiction, sound art, and improvisation. The Timezones series endeavors to create new artistic forms of storytelling, listening and exchange across the boundaries of geography, time zones, genres, and practices.