https://www.thomasburkhalter.ch/home-old daily 0.75 2022-05-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320604421-OC6E8A2S0HQDTVLCC876/001-Music-Melodies-In-My-Head.jpg Home - Music: Melodies In My Head (upcoming) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320605866-FZ4YGOS80TR16EU26UF2/002-Podcast-South-Asian-Sound-Stories.jpg Home - Podcast: South Asian Sound Stories (upcoming) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320612358-XEWVZR6INBGB219PH29P/003-Photo-Diary.jpg Home - Photo Diary (ongoing) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320561667-WCRHLGLJHXSBAU18SBTG/004-Film-Contradict.jpg Home - Film: Contradict (2020) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320562847-RZTRZ7EXDT5WMXSJBZYF/005-Norient-The-Now-In-Sound.jpg Home - Curation: Norient.com (2002 – ongoing) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320570763-Z0XVLZLKM4QYUBC0JT71/006-Strategy-Norient-Festival.jpg Home - Strategy: Norient Festival (2010 – ongoing) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320571179-B9TFRM1I79NTFTTNS7PE/007-Workshop-Sri-Lanka.jpg Home - Workshop: Thattu Pattu – Goethe Institute Sri Lanka (2021) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320572351-DV4A5OWVWHLOXD2W31DE/008-Teaching-University-Fribourg.jpg Home - Teaching: University of Fribourg (2021) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320578331-KO6V0KHJFSPHNNKY2LH1/009-Podcast-Timezones-Nairobi.jpg Home - Podcast: Timeszones - Episode Nairobi (2021) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320577543-NYN5S1OH34GSSK6RLR4W/010-Book-Beirut.jpg Home - Book: Transnational Platforms in Beirut, Routledge (2013) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320582272-QDN1UEYWX5GBPJB0SH72/011-Book-The-Arab-Avantgarde.jpg Home - Book: The Arab Avant-Garde, Wesleyan University Press (2013) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320583737-X36O5QKJRDMIFXVME1OU/012-Book-Seismographic-Sounds.jpg Home - Book: Seismographic Sounds, Norient Books (2015) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320591602-5XQ6LKFDPH8D281N4GNH/013-Theatre-Clash-Of-Gods.jpg Home - Theatre: Clash Of Gods (2018) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320597121-8UIRF7C5XENQ1YOM1S11/014-Exhibition-Seismographic-Sounds.jpg Home - Exhibition: Seismographic Sounds, Norient (2015-2017) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320596551-R1FCQTOLUGRGQZVJ8WPU/015-Performance-Sonic-Traces-Arab-World.jpg Home - Performance: Sonic Traces From the Arab World (2013) https://www.thomasburkhalter.ch/film daily 0.75 2025-02-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/b8811ea8-8d31-4c55-bd56-7a9bc8ec169d/004-Film-Contradict.jpg Film - Make it stand out Contradict - Ideas for a New World (2020) Winner of Berner Filmpreis 2020 When two friends collect money for the so-called “suffering in America” in the streets of Accra, is it for fun, political provocation, or a prophecy? Two Swiss filmmakers will answer these questions with the help of seven musicians from Ghana – M3NSA, Wanlov The Kubolor, Adomaa, Worlasi, Akan, Mutombo Da Poet, and Poetra Asantewa – who have written new songs and produced video clips especially for the documentary film Contradict. Tomorrow’s ideas and trends are emerging more decentralized than ever in a globalized world. What do global developments and shifts in values look like from the ground up in Ghana and the African continent? How do we want to confront and contradict those changes? Can new visions for the future become global realities? A film by Peter Guyer and Thomas Burkhalter Webpage: https://www.contradict-film.com/ Stream On Demand: Filmingo + myfilm.ch Festival and Cinema screenings: see here TV screenings: Al Jazeera “Witness”, SRF - Swiss National TV. World Sales: Magnetfilm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/95591abd-97de-4e2c-ada8-de9e8a81aef0/Kuljit-Bhamra%2C-London-2019-T.-Burkhalter.jpg Film - Make it stand out Buy More Incense - A documentary About British Asian Musicians (2000) Winner of competition, Muzyka i Swiat, Krakow Thomas Burkhalter and Michael Spahr's documentary from 2000/2001. A trip through the Asian Music Scene in Britain feat. Bobby Friction, Aki Nawaz/Fun-Da-Mental, DJ Ritu, Kuljit Bhamra, Johnny Kalsi, Nitin Sawhney, DCS, Nasha and many more. With lots of bhangra and "Asian Underground". Webpage: Norient Stream On Demand: YouTube https://www.thomasburkhalter.ch/music daily 0.75 2025-06-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/34491e01-a702-470e-9c6d-a9cc87e76d74/flamingo_final+3.jpg Music - Make it stand out Melodies In My Head Melodies In My Head is the new duo by anthropologist, author, and audiovisual artist Thomas Burkhalter (founder and director of the platform Norient) and music producer and musician Daniel Jakob (Dubokaj, Dejot, Filewile). On their debut album Joy Anger Doubt, the duo delves into the emotional landscapes of the present day—their own, as well as those of participating artists from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the UK. Themes like hope, joy, ecstasy, fear, doubt, depression, anger, and trauma weave through the songs, tracks, and skits, crafting a multi-layered portrait of a rapidly changing world. The music oscillates between pop, club, underground sounds, kitsch, and trash. Some of the lyrics are excerpts from ethnographic interviews that Burkhalter has conducted over the last fifteen years, while others are based on fictional characters. The album was mixed in Gothenburg by Christoffer Berg (Depeche Mode, Fever Ray). Featured musicians: Sophie Adam (singer, Zurich, aka Namaka, Nin Lil), Kacey Moore (singer, Accra), Christophe Jaquet (singer, Lausanne), Joy Frempong (singer, Berlin, aka OY), Balbir Bhujhangy (singer, Birmingham), Chad (singer, Biel), Renee Van Trier (performer, Tilburg) Interview clips from: Joseph Kamaru aka KMRU (Nairobi), Emma Nzioka aka Coco Em (Nairobi), Boutross Munene (Nairobi), Hitman Kaht (Nairobi), Mr. Lu (Nairobi), Leon Omondi aka Debe (Nairobi), George Githuma Njogu aka Baby Elephante (Nairobi), Victor Munyasya (Nairobi), Ali Gul Pir (Karachi), Garo Gdanian (Lebanon), DJ Ritu (London), Jenny Mbaye (London), Michael Calandra Achode (London), Federico Campana (London). The interviews were conducted and recorded by Thomas Burkhalter in Lebanon, Ghana, Kenya, and the UK over the last fifteen years. All singers and interviewees receive remunerations, royalties, or shares of the proceeds. The goal is to find new ways of collaborating between the so-called Global North and Global South. This vision was influenced by British anthropologist Tim Ingold. In his book Why Anthropology Matters, he writes that today it is about learning from others, gaining insights into other perspectives, motivations, narratives, experiences – to get ‘under the skin of the world’ and tell new stories. Ingold sees the future of anthropology in speculative, experimental, and artistic formats. Burkhalter wrote about his approach extensively – for example, in his article ‘Norient: From Tastemaking to Multimodal Storytelling’ in the book Politics of Curatorship, 2023. Burkhalter is the director of Norient, which he founded in 2002. Norient is an audio-visual gallery and community platform for contemporary music and sound, quality journalism, cutting-edge research, projects, and events like the Norient Festival. Norient conceives music, sound, and noise as seismographs of our time, facilitates space and place for thinkers and artists from currently sixty countries to tell new and different stories of the now and tomorrow. The goal is to support (sub)cultural diversity, broaden horizons, and open dialogue across people, continents, and disciplines. «Ethnographic interviews & experimental pop make up this debut from Swiss producer Daniel Jakob and Norient founder Thomas Burkhalter» Bandcamp, New + Notable https://www.thomasburkhalter.ch/photo-diary daily 0.75 2022-07-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1656852001495-VVUSKTWCLYB5FHX3S7SE/Schiermoonikoog.jpg Photo Diary April 2022, Schiermonnikoog, Netherlands https://www.thomasburkhalter.ch/contact daily 0.75 2025-02-09 https://www.thomasburkhalter.ch/home daily 1.0 2025-06-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653345862873-6MGHS5TI43UXR7PJU6NV/009-Podcast-Timezones-Nairobi.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/7ca5403f-c9e9-4f53-a09a-2e5a45b582f7/A%2BB.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653345856500-I5J8IHZT6HNFJ9FEEI1V/008-Teaching-University-Fribourg.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320596551-R1FCQTOLUGRGQZVJ8WPU/015-Performance-Sonic-Traces-Arab-World.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/dbfb131b-11ae-40d3-b840-8937a66801a7/The-Arab-Avat-Garde-by-Thomas-Burkhalter-Kay-Dickinson-Benjamin-J-Harbert.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/fbbd4511-be90-4ee0-a747-5e9102a98744/Seismographic+Sounds.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/08688438-9a52-46fb-9628-dd93d2290965/NORIENT-FESTIVAL-2022-POSTER.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653345855827-UV2UTTKBAKTFQHGOTC52/007-Workshop-Sri-Lanka.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/ceac7734-b9a0-4986-8df8-8db3b2888f6f/20250113+212520+035+Farbig+Nachbelichten.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/db6b95ca-f96b-47da-96ac-b0ae1a7d3daa/Home-is-Heart-front-cover.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/fcbe271d-0e19-47f7-a95a-931081146e45/flamingo_final+3.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320591602-5XQ6LKFDPH8D281N4GNH/013-Theatre-Clash-Of-Gods.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320597121-8UIRF7C5XENQ1YOM1S11/014-Exhibition-Seismographic-Sounds.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/a7a15d38-c942-49fe-9d14-0adcbdd7af0b/Local-Music-Scenes-and-Globalization---Transnational-Platforms-in-Beirut---Book-by-Thomas-Burkhalter.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/9fd63782-03b7-4e74-aced-7ecc6a8c5afb/Long+Take+-+Cover+Art+-+Square+s.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/a252544b-4f72-4775-8b19-f4a9e25ebc23/Contradict+Plakat+A1_Berner+Filmpreis.jpg https://www.thomasburkhalter.ch/biography daily 0.75 2025-06-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/45baccd1-a82a-408a-b7b6-de47bd532190/tb2.jpg Biography - Make it stand out Thomas Burkhalter, PhD, is an anthropologist, multidisciplinary artist, and writer from Bern, Switzerland. He is the founder and director of Norient (Norient.com – winner Special Prizes for Music 2025 – Swiss Music Prizes) and the Norient Festival. Currently, his focus lies on his new music/AV duo, Melodies In My Head, and the podcast Long Take: Life as an Artist. Burkhalter teaches regularly at universities and leads workshops for arts institutions. 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). 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). His work combines personal and international perspectives, often in close collaboration with artists and thinkers worldwide. Burkhalter has led various research projects funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and taught at universities in Berlin (Humboldt), Fribourg, Oldenburg, Paderborn, Karlsruhe, Basel, and Bern. He has written academic and journalistic articles and produced radio features on music in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe for journals, blogs, newspapers, magazines, and radio stations (e.g. Popular Music and Society, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Swiss National Radio SRF, Die Zeit, TAZ, SWR2, Der Bund). His experimental radio feature Gqom Edits – A Durban Visit was nominated for the Prix Europa in 2017. He works across various forms of art, including the audio-visual performances "Sonic Traces: From the Arab World" and "Sonic Traces: From Switzerland"; the exhibition "Seismographic Sounds – Visions of a New World" (e.g. ZKM Karlsruhe, CTM Berlin, Base Milano, 2015–2017); and numerous documentary films (e.g. "Ghana is the Future" (2014) and "Buy More Incense – British-Asian Musicians in the UK" (2000)). He has also contributed as an event organizer (e.g. concert series at Schauspielhaus Zürich, 2018), curator of CD compilations (e.g. "Golden Beirut: New Sounds from Lebanon", Outhere Records), and cultural funder (e.g. Musikbeirat Goethe Institut, 2018–2024; jury member of the Schweizer Musikpreis, 2014–2018; board of trustees of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, 2002–2010). https://www.thomasburkhalter.ch/media daily 0.75 2025-02-09 https://www.thomasburkhalter.ch/books daily 0.75 2025-06-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/905e3fff-6b93-47ca-a435-ccf55d7a01fe/Out-of-the-Absurdity-of-Life.png Books - Make it stand out Das erste Buch des Online-Netzwerkes Norient diskutiert Zeitfragen und Trends im globalisierten Musikschaffen zwischen Europa, Afrika, Lateinamerika, Asien und den USA. In diesem Buch hinterfragen Journalistinnen und Wissenschaftler, Künstlerinnen und Fotografen Protest und Provokation in den USA, Ghana und England. Sie tauchen ein in die schrillen Partywelten von São Paolo, zeichnen die Neuerfindung des syrischen Synthesizer-Pops nach und diskutieren das Provokationspotenzial lateinamerikanischer Kopulationstänze. Journalistisch und wissenschaftlich. Auf Deutsch und Englisch. Mit kritischem Geist und Liebe zur Nische. Info: TB/Theresa Beyer (Ed.): Out of the Absurdity of Life – Globale Musik. Norient 012, Solothurn 2012. Info and shop via Norient. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/09340d97-cb94-4dd2-affe-ad82f4ec7a26/arabavantgardethomasburkhalter.jpg Books - Make it stand out From jazz trumpeters drawing on the noises of warfare in Beirut to female heavy metallers in Alexandria, the Arab culture offers a wealth of exciting, challenging, and diverse musics. The essays in this collection investigate the plethora of compositional and improvisational techniques, performance styles, political motivations, professional trainings, and inter-continental collaborations that claim the mantle of "innovation" within Arab and Arab diaspora music. While most books on Middle Eastern music-making focus on notions of tradition and regionally specific genres, The Arab Avant Garde presents a radically hybrid and globally dialectic set of practices. Engaging the "avant-garde"—a term with Eurocentric resonances—this anthology disturbs that presumed exclusivity, drawing on and challenging a growing body of literature about alternative modernities. Chapters delve into genres and modes as diverse as jazz, musical theatre, improvisation, hip hop, and heavy metal as performed in countries like Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and the United States. Focusing on multiple ways in which the "Arab avant-garde" becomes manifest, this anthology brings together international writers with eclectic disciplinary trainings—practicing musicians, area studies specialists, ethnomusicologists, and scholars of popular culture and media. Contributors include Sami W. Asmar, Michael Khoury, Saed Muhssin, Marina Peterson, Kamran Rastegar, Caroline Rooney, and Shayna Silverstein, as well as the editors. Info: Thomas Burkhalter/Kay Dickinson/Benjamin Harbert (Ed.): The Arab Avant Garde: Musical Innovation in the Middle East. Wesleyan University Press: Middletown 2013. Info and shop via Wesleyan University Press and Norient. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/124bfa69-f603-422b-a926-cb225941f6da/liechti-burkhalter-rhensius_sampling-politics-today_2020.jpg Books - Make it stand out As a practice performed by human beings, music is connected to politics in manifold ways. One way of bringing the political into music is the technique of sampling. With this method, music producers take sound snippets from external sources and incorporate them into new musical compositions. In this first issue of the Norient Sound Series, we examine how political contexts of our time are transformed into musical production. Among many further accounts, we follow the sampling of car horns in Indonesia, read about an Italian refugee project that uses smartphones as sampling resources, and reflect on ethical questions such as: Can one sample sounds of war? With case studies from all around the world, this Norient Special approaches sampling as a tool for critical thought and a way of alternative storytelling. Info: Thomas Burkhalter/Hannes Liechti/Philipp Rhensius (Ed.): Sampling Politics Today (Norient Sound Series 1). Norient: Bern 2020 (Digital/Open Access). More info and shop via Norient. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/290cb8a4-68c0-4a66-9b55-046520ac6c50/Seismographic+Sounds.jpg Books - Make it stand out «Seismographic Sounds – Visions of a New World» introduces you to a contemporary world of distinct music, sounds and music videos. Scholars, journalists, bloggers and musicians from Bolivia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Switzerland and forty-six other countries discuss artistic expressions that may not make big headlines yet, but anticipate major changes to come. Produced in oftentimes small studios from Jakarta to La Paz, Cape Town to Helsinki, these works experiment with the new possibilities of the Internet age and illuminate new spaces beyond the confines of commercialism, propaganda, and bigotry. They foresee a changing geography of multi-layered modernities, far beyond old ideas of North versus South, West versus East. Discover this through a collage of articles, quotations, photographs and lyrics. Info: Thomas Burkhalter/Theresa Beyer/Hannes Liechti (Ed.): Seismographic Sounds – Visions of a New World. Norient: Bern 2015. More info and shop via Norient. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/7266a6aa-b150-4d2e-beea-7ebc91bee318/Home+is+Heart+front+cover.png Books - Make it stand out The new Norient book Home is Where the Heart Strives explores what place means in relation to music and sound. 85 contributors from 38 countries map their sonic landscapes of migration, war, queerness, and home through essays, poems, articles, artworks, photos, and songs. From a metalhead smuggling banned tapes across the Syrian border to an oasis in the mountains of Bogotá where people gather to vogue, we are looking for places where differences don’t dissolve but resonate. Order via Norient Books HERE Imprint [NB009] Home is Where the Heart Strives Philipp Rhensius, Janina Neustupny, Thomas Burkhalter, Hannes Liechti, and Vinzent Maria Preuß (eds.) Norient Books, 2025 with contributions by Lendl Barcelos, Basil Anliker aka Baze, Marina Benetti, Persis Bekkering, Birds WG, Penelope Braune, Thomas Burkhalter, Kadallah Burrowes, Sinatra Chumo, Juliana Cuervo, Sumangala Damodaran, Ronja Falkenbach, Faravaz Farvadin, Šejma Fere, Vera Fonseca, Chandra Frank, Sally Garama, Rehab Hazgui, Sizo Hlope, Umi Hsu, Andra Ivănescu, Devangana Kalita, Paul Kammies, Raphael Kariuki aka djRPH, Paola LaForgia, Sasha J. Langford, Lutivini Majanja, Chris McGuinness, Elia Meier, Luigi Monteanni, Zahra Motallebi, Jesse Munene, Isaac Abraham Williams aka Isaac Mutant, Natasha Narwal, Janina Neustupny, Saba Niazmand, Kai Oh, Shaahin Peymani, Vinzent Maria Preuẞ, Nazifah Raidah, Philipp Rhensius aka Alienationist, Urs Rihs, Rami Sabbagh, Tanasgol Sabbagh, Sergio Salazar, Justin Oliver Salhani, Nate Sloan, André Santos, Diana Santos, Ali Sayah, Tillman Severin, Studio Flux, Anubhuti Sharma, Majd Shidiac, Jorgé Aarón Silva Rodríguez, Thasil Suhara Backer, Suvani Suri, Gisela Swaragita, Shzr Ee Tan, Wiwi Tri, Fujiko Urdininea, Maria Uthe, Upendra Vaddadi, Abhishek Vidyarthy Singh, Johann Voigt, Elijah Wald, McKenzie Wark, Arief Wibisono, Ytasha Womack four colors, softback 16,5 × 23,5 cm, 314 pages ISBN: 9783952544464 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/c61f3bbe-0549-4696-b213-267e4a69a834/beirutbook1200x800.jpg Books - Make it stand out This book offers the first in-depth study of experimental and popular music scenes in Beirut, looking at musicians working towards a new understanding of musical creativity and music culture in a country that is dominated by mass-mediated pop music, and propaganda. Burkhalter studies the generation of musicians born at the beginning of the Civil War in the Lebanese capital, an urban and cosmopolitan center with a long tradition of cultural activities and exchanges with the Arab world, Europe, the US, and the former Soviet Union. These Lebanese rappers, rockers, death-metal, jazz, and electro-acoustic musicians and free improvisers choose local and transnational forms to express their connection to the broader musical, cultural, social, and political environment. Burkhalter explores how these musicians organize their own small concerts for ‘insider’ audiences, set up music labels, and network with like-minded musicians in Europe, the US, and the Arab world. Several key tracks are analyzed with methods from ethnomusicology, and popular music studies, and contextualized through interviews with the musicians. Discussing key references from belly dance culture (1960s), psychedelic rock in Beirut (1970s), the noises of the Lebanese Civil war (1975-1990), and transnational Pop-Avant-Gardes and World Music 2.0 networks, this book contributes to the study of localization and globalization processes in music in an increasingly digitalized and transnational world. At the core, this music from Beirut challenges "ethnocentric" perceptions of "locality" in music. It attacks both "Orientalist" readings of the Arab world, the Middle East, and Lebanon, and the focus on musical "difference" in Euro-American music and culture markets. On theoretical grounds, this music is a small, but passionate attempt to re-shape the world into a place where "modernity" is not "euro-modernity" or "euro-american modernity," but where possible new configurations of modernity exist next to each other. Info: Thomas Burkhalter: Local Music Scenes and Globalization – Transnational Platforms in Beirut. Routledge: New York 2013. Info and shop via Routlege and Norient. https://www.thomasburkhalter.ch/podcasts daily 0.75 2025-01-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/fe6b4300-e3f8-44ce-9fdc-4fbcc63eee8d/TIMEZONES_NAIROBI_72.jpg Podcasts - Make it stand out TIMEZONES - EPISODE 1 NAIROBI'S NEXT GENERATION MUSIC PRODUCERS AND PERFORMING ARTISTS SPEAK OUT. In recent years, small-scale studios in Nairobi have begun producing music locally, and some of their output reaches millions of listeners in Kenya, or create buzz and noise in international niche music scenes. Their producers and musicians are turning old hierarchies upside down, often calling for social and political reforms. But they’re also facing a lot of resistance. Released October 1, 2020 Featuring: Baby Elephante, Blinky Bill, Boutross, Coco.em, DJ Raph, Hitman Kaht, Kamwangi Njue, Karun, Janice Iche, Jinku, Joseph Kamaru (KMRU), Manch!ld (debe), Moroko Kalahari, MR. LU (XPRSO), MUNYASYA and Wambui Kamiru A podcast by Thomas Burkhalter Director, idea, interviews: Thomas Burkhalter Music: Thomas Burkhalter, Daniel Jakob Additional Samples: Joseph Kamaru, Boutross + soundofnairobi.net Additional Voiceovers: Kacey Moore, Selasia A. Djameh Trailer Voiceover: Nana Akosua Hanson Editing: Thomas Burkhalter, Daniel Jakob Mastering: Adi Flück, Centraldubs Graphics Cover: Šejma Fere The Timezones Podcast Series is co-initiated and co-produced by Norient and the Goethe Institute. Listen via Bandcamp, Spotify and many other platforms. Check the full Timezones Podcast Series. Info via Norient. Listen via Bandcamp, Spotify and other platforms. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/88d12782-cced-453f-ab9f-1268c2378da5/acqunwza-min.png Podcasts - Make it stand out I Often Work at Night Angolan producer Nazar grew up in Belgium, spent his teens in Angola, and is now based in the UK. In this interview, he tells us how he translates episodes from his biography into his music. He talks about war, anger, discrimination, and loneliness, his father’s political activism and war diary, and mental health issues within the music community. An experimental podcast full of samples from his 2020 album Guerrilla and snippets from the interview, conducted in London. A podcast by Thomas Burkhalter and Daniel Jakob Released January 4, 2021 Featuring: Nazar Music: Nazar Editing: Thomas Burkhalter, Daniel Jakob Graphics Cover: Mr. Lu Listen via Norient and Soundcloud. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/05e3eb9a-80b1-4110-a239-f7e8d90987b8/burkhalter-dejot_kmru_mr-lu.jpg Podcasts - Make it stand out 2:36 PM Nairobi It’s Kamaru, Joseph Kamaru, KMRU, in my workspace, my safe space in Rongai, 2:36 PM on the 24th of February, in Nairobi. I’m usually just here. I wake up and come to my desk. – An experimental podcast full of samples from KMRUs music, and snippets from an interview conducted in his house in 2020, just before the COVID-19 Pandemic. Currently, sound artist and experimental ambient musician KMRU lives in Berlin. He released several albums and performs at renowned international festivals. The Guardian named him one of the best new artists of 2021. A podcast by Thomas Burkhalter and Daniel Jakob Released October 18, 2021 Featuring: Joseph Kamaru (KMRU) Music: KMRU Editing: Thomas Burkhalter, Daniel Jakob Graphics Cover: Mr. Lu Listen via Norient and Soundcloud. https://www.thomasburkhalter.ch/curation daily 0.75 2025-02-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/5a74136d-9644-458f-8a5f-def31950a604/Norient+Film+Festival.jpg Curation - Make it stand out Norient Festival The Norient Festival explores the contemporary world through music and sound. Founded 2010 by Thomas Burkhalter (director of Norient, ethnomusicologist and AV-artist) and Michael Spahr (video artist, co-director of editions 1 to 4), the Norient Festival (former Norient Musikfilm Festival) from the beginning intended to present deep stories, research and thought from across the globe through captivating, experimental and at times challenging films, AV performances, concerts, DJ sets, video lectures, and other digital formats. After the 10th edition, festival director Thomas Burkhalter decided to hand over the curatorial direction and decision making to an international and multidisciplinary group of people that currently are the artistic directors and the new faces of the festival. Thomas Burkhalter is new the strategic director of the Norient Festival. Info: Norient Festival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/1653320597121-8UIRF7C5XENQ1YOM1S11/014-Exhibition-Seismographic-Sounds.jpg Curation - Make it stand out Further Curations to be updated - check via Norient Curations for now. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/628b95405fedd0510575faee/969b8c11-e22a-4f1d-b6d1-ed1f380bd7dc/NORIENT+SCREEN.jpg Curation - Make it stand out Norient - The Now In Sound Norient is an audio-visual gallery and a community (of practice) for the sound of the world: for contemporary music, quality journalism, cutting-edge research, projects, and events like the Norient Festival. Norient conceives music, sound, and noise as seismographs of our time, facilitates space and place for thinkers and artists from currently fifty countries to tell new and different stories of the now and tomorrow. The goal is to support (sub)cultural diversity, broaden horizons, and open up dialogue across people, continents, and disciplines. Thomas Burkhalter is the director of Norient. He founded the platform in 2002. Info: https://norient.com/