5 Video Clips from Afghan Diaspora

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For Usinesonore Festival 2018 in La Neuveville, Switzerland, on June 2, 2018, Norient collaborated on the creation of an Afghan evening by curating a documentary, a round table, and a party with DJ and Rapper Ismael Hares alias Black Afghan Soundsystem. On this occasion, Norient has reactivated the series Five Video Clips from… and asked Ismael Hares to select his favorite songs that rock every Afghan wedding. His choice: five music videos from the Afghan diaspora in Germany, Canada and the U.S.

Artist: Valy
Track: Panjsher Berawem (Qarsak)

Valy, born in Iran with Afghan parents, but raised in Heidelberg (Germany) is one of the most popular Afghani singers. In this song, Valy is singing about Panjsher, a very well-known place in Afghanistan. He sings about the beauty of its environment, which makes this region so special. He mixes Afghani traditional beats with electro elements.

Artist: Aria Band
Track: Jigar Jigar

On Afghan wedding parties in Germany, these two artists from Cologne are the hottest act right now. In «Jigar Jigar», they mix original Afghani beats with Persian strings and arrangements. They sing about a beautiful woman and how they go crazy for her attractive style. They fall in love with her and try to get in contact with her.

Artist: Sameera Nasiry
Track: Yade Tu

Sameera Nasiry, born in Kabul, but living in San Diego California, is one the few female singers in Afghan pop music culture. She's a newcomer and stands out with a real western sound. In her lyrics she remembers her love and is looking forward to see him soon.

Artist: Saboor Tabish
Track: Qataghani

Video not available anymore.

Saboor Tabish is a famous Afghan wedding DJ living in Toronto. His song «Qataghan» refers to the name of a province in Afghanistan. Qataghani is also a special way of dancing and a type of rhythm in Afghanistan with a long history. The lyrics are about the beauty of dancing to it and of course the beauty of this region in Afghanistan.

Artist: Farhad Shams
Track: Qadake beland

Farhad Shams is a renown Afghan singer, songwriter and musician living in Cologne, Germany. At the age of five he was already performing in children TV channels broadcasted through Afghanistan national television. His song «Qadake beland» must be played at every Afghani party or event. It combines classic Afghani beats with some modern synthesizers. In the lyrics, the singer talks about the tallness of a special woman and how he is falling in love with her.

Biography

Ismael Hares alias Black Afghan Soundsystem is a DJ and Rapper born in Kabul, but raised in Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany). He began his career as a wedding DJ for Afghan communities in Germany. Today, under the pseudonym Malik, he is an established rapper and dancehall musician, collaborating with Gentleman or Richie Stephens. For the final evening of Usine Sonore Festivals he presents a DJ set of current Afghan music and global sounds.

Published on May 27, 2018

Last updated on February 02, 2023

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5 Video Clips from

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Der Musik-machende Mensch im Fokus

by Norient,

Britta Sweers

Die Zeiten, in denen die Musikethnologie die «Musik der Anderen» untersuchte, sind längst vorbei, sagt Britta Sweers, Professorin für Kulturelle Anthropologie der Musik an der Universität Bern. Es geht vielmehr darum, über die Musik ein tieferes Verständnis für die Gesellschaft zu erlangen. Die Musikethnologie hat damit bereits in ihrem Kern einen Praxisbezug und sucht auch immer mehr die Zusammenarbeit mit Akteur*innen ausserhalb des akademischen Elfenbeinturms.

Video: Valentin Mettler
Interview und Redaktion: Elisabeth Stoudmann
Produktion: Norient 2018

Die siebenteilige Videoserie «Musikethnologie in der Schweiz» ist entstanden im Rahmen des Agora-Wissenschaftsvermittlungsprojekt «Communicating Music Research» (gefördert vom Schweizer Nationalfonds), das Norient gemeinsam mit dem Seminar für Kulturwissenschaft und Europäische Ethnologie der Universität Basel durchgeführt hat.

Biography

Britta Sweers ist Professorin für Kulturelle Anthropologie der Musik und Direktorin des Center for Cultural Studies an der Universität Bern. 1999 Promotion (Universität Hamburg); 2001-2003 Hochschulassistentin, 2003-2009 Juniorprofessorin für Ethnomusikologie/ Systematische Musikwissenschaft an der Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock. Zentrale Forschungsthemen sind u.a. Revival und Transformation traditioneller Musiken (angloamerikanische Regionen und Nordosteuropa), Musik und Politik und angewandte Ethnomusikologie.

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Britta Sweers am Institut für Musikwissenschaft Bern

Published on October 13, 2018

Last updated on June 04, 2021

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Musikethnologie in der Schweiz

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Music and War

Virtual Debate

by Norient

War is the most horrible drama of human kind. Yet the noises of war – everything from swords clanging to modern machine guns and bombs – have fascinated musicians and composers for centuries. We asked musicians from the Norient network how to make a war audible. A virtual debate from the Norient exhibition Seismographic Sounds (see and order corresponding book here).

Quotes

«To be honest, I preferred to stand on the balcony, to play trumpet and to record those bombs, rather than to stay in the living room and go crazy. When you play, you shift your brain, and you hear those bombs as sounds, and not as killing machines. Just to continue working helped many of us to stay sane.»

Mazen Kerbaj, trumpet player, about his recording «Starry Night» (Lebanon)

«I never felt the need or desire to translate war into music.»

Sharif Sehnaoui, a free improvising guitarist from Beirut. Since 2000 he has co-organized Irtijal, the International Festival for Experimental Music in Lebanon. He co-runs several labels: Al Maslakh devoted to «publishing the un-publishable» on the Lebanese musical scene; Johnny Kafta’s Kids Menu dedicated to rock-oriented experimentations; and Annihaya, which focuses on sampling, recycling, and the displacement of various aspects of popular culture.

«So we have life imitating art, and art dictating life, and plenty of death.»

Bernard Clarke, Radio Producer, RTÉ Lyric FM (Ireland)

«By sampling footage from contemporary sci-fi and action films, the video emphasizes that ‹the world is at war.› It analyses the violence and destructive culture surrounding us. Does life imitate art and are we heading along the path of what is prophesied in these films? Or will we choose a more sustainable mode? Sources are sampled for demonstrational use only.»

Jude MC, visual artist, producer and director of the «Mecca» video for Nguzunguzu (USA)

«Communities can use silence to protest against the omnipresent noise of politics.»

Kamen Nedev aka Acoustic Mirror, Madrid-based sound artist (Spain)

«In western videos you get an exotic and romanticized version of war: the strong army, the beautiful soldier, the massive weapons. I experienced war: the real noise of it, the smell of fire. War is hell. We shouldn’t make it look adventurous and sexy.»

Zeid Hamdan, Beirut-based musician, producer, founder of the duo Soap Kills with singer Yasmine Hamdan, and is a pioneer of alternative music (Lebanon)

«Pop emerged in western liberal societies that haven’t experienced war on their territory in the last seventy years. For these societies war is not a reality, but just an image. Naturally it can be played with, just like any other image. Maybe we need a whole new musical language to construct a musical response to the reality of war and not just to an image of war.»

Nadav Appel, cultural critic and popular music scholar, Bar Ilan University, Open University of Israel and Sapir Academic College (Israel)

«The Khabees are my personal favorite. They are an anonymous noise/industrial act from somewhere inside Pakistan who seek to explore our fetishist fascination with religion and our everyday reality: terrorism. I like The Khabees because of how uneasy they make me feel. It is easier to dismiss Westerners exploring similar themes. The Khabees’ work, on the other hand, is hard to ignore. No edgy BDSM references, no borderline paedophilia, or rape fantasies. Real death and misery.»

Asadullah, Karachi-based musician, part of Lower Sindh! Swing Orchestra, Myosis and Kafir-e-Azam, and co-founder of the now defunct extreme music blog The Iron Markhor (Pakistan)

Video Debate Credits

Statements by

Nadav Appel, Cultural Critic (Israel)
Meira Asher, Sound Artist (Israel)
Bernard Clarke, Radio Producer, RTÉ Lyric FM (Ireland)
Garo Gdanian, Metal Musician (Lebanon)
Rona Geffen, DIY Musician & Artist (Germany)
Ali Gul Pir, Rap Comedian (Pakistan)
Zeid Hamdan, Musician (Lebanon)
David Opp, Experimental Musician (Israel)
Sharif Sehnaoui, Musician (Lebanon)

Music Video Excerpts
David Opp: «Sakata Helicobtir Min Tiraz Sikorsky» (Israel 2013)
Los Tigres Del Norte: «La Bala» (USA/Mexico 2014)
Nguzunguzu: «Mecha» (USA 2013)

Video Cut: Stephan Hermann, Coupdoeil

Some quotes from this debate were published in the second Norient book Seismographic Sounds.

Published on April 23, 2018

Last updated on August 11, 2020

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Seismographic Sounds

Seismographic Sounds: Debates

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5 Video Clips from Afghan Diaspora

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Der Musik-machende Mensch im Fokus

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Music and War

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