Sonic Interventions

In the last episode of season 5, Jan Dammel is in conversation with musician and sound artist Elsa M’Bala. They talk about Cameroonian anti-colonial organisers in Berlin during the interwar period, such as Victor Bell, and what it means for Elsa to work with sound archives in European universities and museums. Learn more about her ongoing project Kribi Archives, which makes ethnographic recordings...

Artist and researcher Rehema Chachage is in conversation with Jan Dammel about mixed-media installations in Johannesburg, Leipzig and Stade. They discuss Rehema’s long-term engagement with her matriline, how songs can serve as “unlikely witnesses to history”, and how the marigold speaks to both colonial uprooting of plants to Tanzania and intergenerational transmissions.

Hörspielmacher:in Joel Vogel und Musiker Vincent Bababoutilabo sprechen über gemeinsame Projekte wie ihren dekolonialen Hörspaziergang zurückERZÄHLT (2020), der Akte des Widerstands von 106 Personen aus den damaligen ‚deutschen Kolonien‘, die im Sommer 1896 im Berliner Treptower Park arbeiteten und lebten, ins Zentrum stellt. Sie berichten von ihrem Umgang mit dem (kolonialen) Archiv, von der Mögl...

Season 5, curated by Jan Dammel, focuses on artistic interventions in Germany that deal with colonialism and its ongoing legacies. This first episode features multi-disciplinary artist Percy Nii Nortey and curator Nadja Ofuatey-Alazard, who collaborated on the group exhibition “Colonial Ghosts – Resistant Spirits” in Berlin’s St. Nicholas Church. Learn more about Nortey’s dialogue with, and celebr...

In the last episode of this season, Adriana Raczykowski is in conversation with Polish artist and curator Patrycja Rozwora, who founded the Kitchen Conversations Podcast. Patrycja talks about her podcast practice and Eastern European and Central Asian narration in the arts.

Mala Herba and dogheadsurigeri from the Oramics collective meet with Adriana Raczykowski to talk about the politics of the dance floor and sonic spaces curation. Guided by the motto “Your periphery is our center”, they address Western hegemony in contemporary electronic subcultures.

In this episode in Polish language, Adriana Raczykowski is in conversation with Lulla La Polaca, who is widely recognised as the oldest Drag Queen of Poland. She traces back her roots as a performer in times of PPR, and talks about musical inspirations, the importance of friendship and community, and her hopes and wishes for younger generations of drag artists in Poland today.

Season 4 of Sonic Interventions (episodes 14-17) takes listeners to Poland, and is guest-curated by Adriana Raczykowski. She is in conversation with Polish artistists, activists and curators who intervene into society through curation, drag performance, visual arts, and podcasting. This episode features 100Lesb.com, a portrait cycle of one hundred Polish lesbians and non-binary people in Warsaw. O...

This conversation with Zara Julius concludes our third podcast season dedicated to South African sound art and cultures. The artist shares thoughts on and samples from her exhibition “Whatever You Throw At The Sea” (Weltmuseum Vienna, Austria), and critically reflects on (post)colonial structures in museums and archives in relation to her artistic research.

In this episode recorded at the University of Pretoria, Prof. Nompumelelo Zondi, gives insights into her book on women’s song in rural Zulu culture. She presents an understanding of song as a medium of resistance and resilience, and uses her own voice to share examples.

This episode features cellist, composer, and scholar Dr. Thokozani Mhlambi, who talks about the role of radio, music traditions as cultural archives, and baroque cello in the context of South Africa. He discusses and shares excerpts of his “Zulu Song Cycle” and the production “Hail to the King” about Dingane kaSenzangakhona.

Our third season centers South African Sound Cultures and is curated by our main host Dr. Layla Zami. In this episode, she is in conversation with multi-instrumentalist and composer Sky Dladla. Dladla speaks of her love for Indigenous Xhosa instruments, the intersection of traditional and contemporary performance culture, and her collaboration with artists such as Zolani Mahola. Recorded at Bluepr...

Season 2 closes with a conversation between Victoria Pham and Emma Lo. Victoria Pham introduces us to the many intersections of her work as an evolutionary biologist and artist. The conversation focuses on rhythm and listening in Pham’s research and practices, and Pham's and James Nguyen's open source project RE:SOUNDING.

This episode features Rully Shabara, an experimental vocalist based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Emma Lo talks with him about Xhabarabot Voice Machines, an ongoing project in which Shabara engineers interactive instruments from his own vocal samples. They discuss issues of consent in sampling, appropriation and self-exploitation, and open source technologies.

This episode features Anjeline de Dios, a cultural geographer and vocal artist from Manila, Philippines. Emma Lo talks with her about voices, disobedience, well-being, and sonic conceptions of space. They engage with how voices are shaped and how to connect with one’s own voice.

Season 2 engages with Asian (diasporic) perspectives and opens with artist-scholar Dr. meLê yamomo in conversation with Prof. Dr. Doris Kolesch, Dr. Layla Zami, and Emma Lo who curates this new season. In this episode, they discuss sonic relationalities and archival practices. Learn more about yamomo's projects 'Echoing Europe’, the Decolonial Frequencies Festival, and DeCoSEAS.

This episode discusses Nick Cave's exhibition Forothermore and features a conversation with scholar-artist Dr. Meida Teresa McNeal and curator-artist Danny Dunson. A timely meditation on listening, Black bodies, house culture and visual arts, enriched with sound excerpts from Dr. Zami's research field trip to Chicago.

In this episode in German language, musician Natalia Kiës and photographer Elias Wessel discuss the project “It’s Complicated - Ist möglicherweise Kunst". The conversation facilitated by Dr. Layla Zami addresses information overflow, photography as painting, and the possibility for sound art to intervene into social media algorithms.

This episode presents BRICKS (A 20-YEAR MUSIC TOUR OF REPARATIONS), and features playwright Charlene Jean, performer Mercy Kelly, and host Dr. Layla Zami. A conversation about decolonial spirituality, matriarchs, gentrification, Black time, and queer performance strategies, enriched with lively audio samples from the performance.

Recorded on the historical site of the Weeksville Heritage Center, this episode welcomes Najee_ (interdisciplinary artist and yogi) and Erica Harper (VP of Learning and Engagement at WHC). The conversation with Dr. Layla Zami addresses restful practices and restorative sounds, African-American liberation history and the meaning of community. An episode full of emotions and information!

Dr. Layla Zami is in conversation with fellow artists-scholars Mendi and Keith Obadike, a married Igbo Nigerian American couple who create music, writing, and art. In this first episode, they discuss alternate ways of listening that allow us to perceive something beyond the surface. Learn more about their work, such as 'Frequency' and 'Timbre', which were inspired by a lively African-American lite...

#sonicinterventions is launching just on time for Black History Month 2023! In each episode, host Dr. Layla Zami interviews artists and scholars who create and think about sound art, performances, music, audio walks, and other artistic forms. The first season centers projects based in New York and Chicago. Listen to our conversations and field recordings, and learn more by subscribing to our podca...