Displaced families stuck in traffic, March 2026 -- photo Ahmad Badr/NRC

Here are community-led efforts in Lebanon supporting the displaced

With an unprecedented minimum of 450,000 people displaced in Lebanon, community-led efforts are again working to provide basic aid. These often overlap with the very music and creative communities I’ve written about here, in the country and internationally. And they can benefit from your support.

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.

Peter Kirn - October 21, 2025

Sounds Rising: Music from Georgia in days of protests

The Georgian pro-democracy, anti-corruption movement is still in the streets, month after month. Music remains a way to connect those demonstrations with supporters at home and abroad. Tbilisi/Berlin artist Mess)Montage joins as we put together sounds from Georgia (and I write this from soundcheck for a fundraiser tonight).

Peter Kirn - April 10, 2025