Sickness Diary - an exploration of chronic illness and disability justice with interdisciplinary artist Anna RG

In this seventh episode of Season 2, Kyla-Rose speaks with artist Anna RG, about her navigation of chronic illness, since contracting COVID in the early days of the pandemic. 

Anna, who lives currently in Lenapehoking/Brooklyn, spent the first chapter of her musical life in communities of Appalachian folk musics, a fiddler, banjo player, and researcher – her duo with ballad singer Elizabeth LaPrelle combined the old songs with storytelling and puppetry. Their collaboration is rooted in a research process, time in archives with old folk song recordings, and interviews with descendents of the singers. The duo’s final album together, The Invisible Comes to Us, drew from songs in field recordings made of European-descended singers in Vermont (land of Abenaki), where Anna grew up. The record, of increasingly experimental arrangements of the ballads, was released on Smithsonian Folkways, and dubbed “A radical expansion of what folk songs are supposed to do,” by The New Yorker.

This conversation took place two years into Anna’s ongoing journey into another community and world, of illness and disability – and a new set of questions about the role of music, and a new awareness about the systemic ways that sick and disabled artists are not as supported as they could be. 

The conversation moves through themes of the particulars of sick grief and experiences of isolation, the challenges and fears uncovered in adapting to a new life, and new musical practice. We speak more broadly, Anna processing her growing understanding of the role of ableism both internal and systemic, and how it shapes possibilities in music performance, practice and education. Inspired by experiences in traditional music, we talk about ideas of music specifically created for the sick, fantasies of bedside concerts, and sick folks as listeners and makers. 

Midway, we follow a short fever dream into one of Anna’s bed-day fantasies, about a center that houses the histories of sick musicians, and dispatches singers to your bed or window. 

Produced and Edited by Kyla-Rose Smith and Anna RG

Mixed by Zubin Hensler

Executive Producers: Elena Moon Park, and Kyla-Rose Smith

Featuring: Anna RG & Sick Center actors Weston Olenecki, Lucia Reissig, Lauren Tosswill, Holly MacDonald, Leticia Ayala, Kaeley Pruitt-Hamm, Nyokabi Kariuki, Daniel Neumann 

A full playlist of songs found in this episode can be found on the Found Sound Nation Youtube

Texts & artists mentioned during this episode: 

• CARE WORK by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
• You Are Not Entitled To Our Deaths: COVID, Abled Supremacy & Interdependence by Mia Mingus
• Carolyn Lazard
• Illness as Metaphor by Susan Sontag

OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, & produced by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation.

 In this sixth episode of Season 2 we take a deep dive into the musical vaults of OneBeat, spanning over 10 years, and guided by the voice and reflections of Johannesburg-based intergalactic kwaai-diva Umlilo. We visit music created over the last 11-years of OneBeat, spanning programs in the United States, the Balkans, Istanbul, Turkey and Beirut, Lebanon. We hear from some of the artists involved in making this incredible collaborative work about the processes that brought them together, and we explore music as a living archive.  

Produced and Edited by Umlilo, Connie Fu, Luisa Puterman and Kyla-Rose Smith

Executive Producers Elena-Moon Park, Jeremy Thal and Kyla-Rose Smith

Final edit and mix by Jeremy Thal 

Featuring Umlilo, Elenna Canlas, Paulo Sartori, Billy Dean Thomas, Barbara Barbara Majnarić, Tatiana Lopez, Muhammad Dawjee, Juliano Abramovay, Marta Kolega and Lyn Rye 

OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, & produced by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation.

“It's only the tangible objects that are being returned to their places, but these intangible [sounds], or like the ephemera, how would one return it? [...] You can give them back to the people.”

In the final part of a diptych series guided by Kenyan composer and FSN collaborator Nyokabi Kariũki, we meet KMRU, one of the leading ambient electronic artists in the world today. The conversation traces KMRU’s journey from how place influenced his music-making, into the way ethics have shaped his field recording practice, and finally, his 2022 project ‘Temporary Stored’. With this album and research project, the sound artist attempts to bring sound back into the conversation around the restitution of art objects back to Africa, which has been a growing topic in the world of museums and archives in recent years. “Sound, too, was a looted object,” KMRU says. This leads Nyokabi to pose the question, “what spaces are right to record? What spaces are better left alone?”

The interview between the two Kenyan sound artists, Nyokabi Kariũki and KMRU, offers a powerful second glance of some of the exciting things bubbling up in the Kenyan music scene; and it shines a light on how sound is an important part of how Africans understand their relationship to place, heritage, and life. 

Listen to our Youtube playlist of music heard across both episodes on sounds from Kenya.

Produced and Edited by Nyokabi Kariũki and Jeremy Thal

Mixed by Jeremy Thal

Executive Producers: Jeremy Thal, Elena Moon Park, and Kyla-Rose Smith

Featuring: Joseph Kamaru (aka KMRU)

OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, & produced by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation.

OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, & produced by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation.

“What role does sound play when it comes to archiving our history, and our culture? Can sound tell us things about our past that other forms of archiving cannot?” 

Kenyan composer and Found Sound Nation  collaborator Nyokabi Kariũki investigates these questions through the lens of Kenyan musicians and music-lovers who work with sound and music to share, archive and even foretell the stories of their culture. In this first episode of two parts, we hear from Jimmy Rugami, a vinyl dealer who has collected thousands of African vinyl records and sells them in the bustling Kenyatta Market; DJ Raph, one of the pioneers of the Nairobi underground electronic scene, whose futurist vision led him to start a digital archive of field recordings of Nairobi taken over the years. Lastly, OneBeat 2013 alumna Kasiva Mutua shares the work she’s done as both a solo musician and the founder of MOTRA music, challenging taboos around who can be the keepers, or preservers, of traditional culture. 

The episode includes vibrant music spanning across decades, from Kenyan household names in the 80s, to some of the present day music bridging folk traditions and technology to create new visions of the future.  Check out the accompanying Youtube playlist here!

Produced and Edited by Nyokabi Kariũki and Jeremy Thal

Mixed by Jeremy Thal

Executive Producers: Jeremy Thal, Elena Moon Park, and Kyla-Rose Smith

Featuring: Jimmy Rugami, DJ Raph, and Kasiva Mutua 

OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, & produced by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation.

OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, & produced by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation.

“I can’t listen to music. Since day one, since February 24. I tried, but I just cannot…For some people, they find our music helpful. But this is not for me right now.” 

This is the second in a series of interviews focusing on music and musicians in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine. The last episode focused on Margot Kulichova, a Ukrainian musician currently based in Lisbon; and while Margot has felt the excruciating weight of war from abroad, Roman Garkavenko, a OneBeat 2014 alumnus, has been in Ukraine since the war began on February 24. In a moving conversation with FSN co-founder Jeremy Thal, Roman shares his story from within Ukraine, from harrowing encounters with Russian soldiers during an attempt to find safety outside of Kyiv, to where he is now — back in Kyiv, living in his apartment, where he volunteers helping Ukrainians who have been displaced. 

As much as this interview touches on the power of music in times of war and revolution, it also highlights what music is not capable of. Roman, who is the bass player of beloved Kyiv-based indie-rock band 5 Vymir, speaks of his mode of survival as a Ukrainian living through terrifying times, and the ways he has learned to cope and support his people. 

Similarly to Margot, Roman has recommended links and resources for ways listeners and the OneBeat community can support people in Ukraine, and refugees around the world:

https://u24.gov.ua/

Check out our Youtube playlist to discover music by Ukrainian bass player Roman Garkavenko and his band, 5 Vymir, found in the podcast episode.

Produced and Edited by Jeremy Thal

Production Assistant: Nyokabi Kariuki

Mixed by Jeremy Thal

Executive Producers: Jeremy Thal, Elena Moon Park, and Kyla-Rose Smith

Featuring: Roman Garkavenko

OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, & produced by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation.

OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, & produced by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation.

“I just want to remind myself and everybody around us to be strong and hopeful, and act. Because if we don't do it now, it might be too late and the price might be too high to pay.”

The second season of the OneBeat Podcast begins with the powerful voices of our OneBeat Fellows who have been affected by Russia’s war on Ukraine, with the first being singer-songwriter and music organizer, Margaryta “Margot” Kulichova, who also releases under the experimental pop moniker ‘Grisly Faye’. Across two emotionally charged interviews taken six months apart (with the first taking place closer to the start of the war this February), the Lisbon-based Ukrainian shares the effect of the war as it unfolds on her family and friends back home; the ways that she as a musician is having to cope with the situation; and her dedication to assisting both incoming refugees and Ukrainians on the ground. Margot candidly questions the relevance of music-making in this time, and explains what keeps her fight for peace going.

In addition to sharing her experience, Margot has also recommended links and resources for ways listeners can support people in Ukraine, and refugees around the world:

https://u24.gov.ua/

Listen to our Youtube playlist of music by Grisly Faye in the episode and beyond, here!

Produced and Edited by Jeremy Thal

Production Assistant: Nyokabi Kariuki

Mixed by Jeremy Thal

Executive Producers: Jeremy Thal, Elena Moon Park, and Kyla-Rose Smith

Featuring: Margaryta Kulichova

List of music in this episode:

Zyma, by Grisly Faye + Pepe Gavilondo (OneBeat 2018 Mixtape)

Patacoreo, by Kike Bejerano (OneBeat Colombia Mixtape)

Snow (Onebeat Balkans Mixtape)

Антрацит. Мюзикл про шахтарів (онлайн)

Слухай ніжно (by Monotonne, feat.Grisly Faye)

A Song Of Nature (Official Soundtrack) by Margaryta Kulichova

Khvylyam, by Grisly Faye

OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, & produced by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation.

OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, & produced by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation.

The eighth episode of The OneBeat Podcast is the first of a two-part series that features the perspectives of OneBeat 2015 alumnus Bajram aka “Kafu” Kinolli and his wife and collaborator, Milica Milović. The two have led festivals and music residencies, including OneBeat Balkans in 2019 and 2020, in the belief that collaborative art-making is vital to counteracting racism and divisive nationalism in the Balkans. In the first part, Kafu sits down with OneBeat co-founder Jeremy Thal in what is a highly affecting reflection of his own story, growing up as a religious Sufi Muslim in a small bucolic city in Kosovo during periods of unrest and war in the 80s and 90s. 

Throughout the episode, we’ll listen to how music accompanies and inspires the best and worst of human behavior; discussing the way that violence has affected the lives of the people of the Balkans, and how music — which has been intertwined with both violence, survival, peacemaking, and even humor — can play a role in healing and uniting people in a still-fractured region.

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of violence and explicit language. 

Produced and Edited by Jeremy Thal

Production Assistant: Nyokabi Kariũki

Mixed by Jeremy Thal

Executive Producers: Jeremy Thal, Elena Moon Park, and Kyla-Rose Smith

Featuring: 

Bajram Kinolli

A full playlist of music featured on this episode can be found here.

OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, & produced by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation.

OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, & produced by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation.