Panel: liberating music technology for Arabic music and beyond

Against the backdrop of AL.FESTIVAL, the Berlin festival centering music from the Arabic world and diasporic communities, we gathered an expert group to discuss liberating technology from some of its Western biases and exclusionary design. Now you can listen back (and read more), with artists ABADIR and Basel Naouri plus Ableton’s Dr. Laurel Pardue, as chatter ranged from critical views of futurism to ways software can mesh with Indonesian gamelan.

On mnjm label, techno finds a new voice in the Arab diaspora

It’s just as dark, just as blistering and powerful, but with sharper details, nuanced rhythms. Arabic-speaking techno from mnjm in Berlin reinvigorates the genre by shedding some of its cookie-cutter repetition and making it come alive all over again.

Peter Kirn - April 25, 2025

In music video, Lebanese duo Rust captures emotions of “Diaspora”

From Beirut to their current home, Prague, Rust – the duo of Petra Hawi and Hany Manja – have created an anthem and reflection on life far away from home. The video came out this week, at a moment when I know many, many diasporas are watching crises unfolding in parallel across the world.

Peter Kirn - October 11, 2024

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