Sonic Interventions

Epizodes

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  Echoes between Cameroon and Germany 17.06.2026 42min

  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 of Cameroonian music accessible in Kribi, and her general investment in creating listening spaces.
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  Unlikely Witnesses to History 17.03.2026 40min

  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.
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  Mit und gegen das Archiv (in German with English Intro) 20.02.2026 39min

  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 Möglichkeit mit Sound gewaltvolle Geschichte anders zu erzählen und davon, wie ihr Audiowalk seit fünf Jahren Menschen versammelt.
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  Fabrics of Change 21.01.2026 44min

  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 celebration of, the working class in Ghana and how bold fabric and sonic artworks, also by Theresa Weber, challenge and transform post/colonial (church) spaces.
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  Podcasting Oral history in the Kitchen 19.07.2024 33min

  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.
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  Centering Eastern Peripheries 28.06.2024 31min

  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.
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  From Private to Public: Entering the Polish Drag Scene (in Polish) 14.06.2024 25min

  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.
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  Portraits of Queer Joy 10.05.2024 26min

  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. Our guest host is in conversation with co-curators Ola Kamińka and Wojtek Zrałek-Kossakowski. They touch upon reclaiming representation and queer resourcefulness as forms of intervention.
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  From Ethnographic Colonialism to Sound Collages 15.03.2024 29min

  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.
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  Song and Gender in Zulu Cultures 01.03.2024 32min

  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.
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  Invoking South African Histories 15.02.2024 28min

  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.
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  Contemporary Vibrations of Xhosa Traditions 01.02.2024 33min

  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 Blueprint Studios in Johannesburg.
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  Resounding Rhythms 27.10.2023 23min

  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.
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  Voice Machines 13.10.2023 22min

  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.
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  Vocal dis/obedience 29.09.2023 35min

  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.
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  Archival silences 15.09.2023 29min

  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.
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  Chicago Field Trip 19.04.2023 25min

  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.
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  Stimmbezirke (in German) 15.03.2023 35min

  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.
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  Music as Retroactive Reparations 01.03.2023 31min

  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.
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  Sounds of Rest 15.02.2023 32min

  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!