It’s not always in a romantic relationship where a heart can break.

How do we grieve in a culture that champions one love over the rest?

Axel Kacoutié attempts to language loss after reuniting with the person who inspired this documentary. Guided by the thoughts and wisdom of friends and an end-of-life practitioner, we hear what happens when we let grief speak.

Featuring the voices of Claire Galligan, Ivor Williams, JN Benjamin, Tej Adeleye, Weyland McKenzie-Witter and Zachary Cayenne-Elliott.

Special thanks to End of Life Doula UK, Tony Phillips, Natasha McAnea-Hill, Jeff Monteen and Maz Ebtehaj

Artwork: Erin Tse
Development Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Sound Design, Music and Mixing Production: Axel Kacoutié
Produced by Axel Kacoutié

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
Originally Broadcast 10th April 2023

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001kwz3

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No Need to Say Goodbye by Axel Kacoutié

Deep within the mind and psyche, this is a psychological and spiritual withdrawal from the toxic workplace culture founded on white supremacy. No Black mind is safe. This piece is a potent concentration of morale erosion that climaxes into a release to the wilderness of autonomy and the freelance world.

Original image by Irene Tønnessen

From the Fugitive Episode. Series 34

Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Produced by Axel Kacoutié
Executive Producer: Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Full Episode

WHITE NOISE By Axel Kacoutié

Experience Liz Johnson Artur’s work with the ear and body. How does sound change how you see the works? What pulses through you when you see the images, braille and thread?

Interludes: Black Balloons is a new soundscape by Shade Podcast and Axel Kacoutié, responding to Artur’s display Time don’t run here. The piece references Artur’s Black Lives Matter protest images and works from her ongoing Black Balloon Archive documenting people in Africa, and of the African and Caribbean diasporas.

The soundscape features the voices of Liz Johnson Artur, artists Imogen Faires and Jamel Alatise from Theatre Peckham, and Research and Interpretation Artist Resident, Marie Smith. The soundscape includes extracts from Poetry as Protest, Protest as Poetry, a poem by Faires and Alatise responding to the display and performed live at Tate Modern in April 2023.

Interludes is an ongoing sound collaboration between Lou Mensah of Shade podcast and the audio artist Axel Kacoutié.

Interludes: Black Balloons 2023

A Sonic Poem, written, composed and produced by Ali Moraly
قصيدة صوتية. كتابة ، تأليف وإنتاج علي موره لي

ما بين العذوبة والعذاب واو، ألفٌ وتاء
أما الجذر فواحد
وكذا المنتهى.
تستمد العذوبة عذابها من حتمية زوالها
وحقيقة طروئها.
ويستمد العذاب عذوبته من أن لُقياه
إدراكٌ للحياة.
واو
واو الوعي، أوّل موانع اتحاد العذاب بالعذوبة 
إذ تَحوْل مرويّات الوعي دون تذوّق عذوبة العذاب
وعذاب العذوبة
فالوعي حيال البقاء
مجبورٌ على صونه
والبقاء يقتضي
ألا نذوق من العذوبة سوى العذوبة، فنرنوا إليها دوماً
وألا نذوق من العذاب سوى العذاب
فننآه أبدا    
ألف
ألف الأنا، ثان الموانع الحاصلة
إذ تحوْل تأوّلات الأنا دون تذوّق عذوبة العذاب
وعذاب العذوبة
فحضورها حائلٌ بينهما
إما أن تحتضن الأنا العذاب
فترتاح النفس ضحيةً
أو أن تَغمُر الأنا النفسَ عذوبةً
فتُلهيها عن عَوْد العذاب
تاء
التاء، ثالث الموانع ومُنتهى العذوبة
في آنٍ واحد
فالظاهر منها مانعْ
والباطن منها مانحْ
الظاهرُ المانع تاءُ التصوّر
إذ يُغلِق التصوّر مجال الوعي
حاجِباً المدى أمام الرؤيا
الباطنُ المانحُ تاءُ التجاوز
تسود،
حينما تؤول الحدود
معابرَ الأزل اللامنتهي
هناك
حيث مقابر الكلمات
ومنابت جذورها

An English interpretation of the Arabic prose

The two Arabic words, عذوبة, which means sweetness, and عذاب, which means suffering, stem from the same triconsonantal root, that is (عَذَبَ (ع ذ ب

Thus, the two meanings share the linguistic root and the twig tips. What sets them apart are three letters:

واو (waw),
ألف (alif),
and ت (ta’).

This prompts a semantic correlation between the two words ;
sweetness derives its suffering from the inevitability of its demise,
Whereas suffering derives its sweetness from the fact that; to suffer, is to be alive.

واو (Waw)
The first letter in the Arabic word for ‘awareness’ (وعي) . It represents the first obstacle to the union between sweetness and suffering.

The narratives constructed by awareness hinder you from savouring sweetness within suffering and suffering within sweetness.

For awareness, ought to maintain survival. 

Survival necessitates that you savour sweetness as nothing but sweetness, thus always yearn for it, while savouring suffering as nothing but suffering, thus, avoiding it for ever.

ألف (alif)

The first letter in the Arabic word Ego أنا, is the second obstacle.
The various interpretations of reality made by the Ego hinder you from savouring sweetness within suffering and suffering within sweetness.

Alas, the Ego could either embrace suffering, allowing the self to find solace at the altar of victimhood, or it could immerse the self in sweetness, diverting its attention from the relentless cycle of suffering.

تاء (ta')
The third obstacle, and simultaneously the utmost sweetness, since it is also the last letter in the Arabic word equivalent (عذوبة) . Its outward aspect serves as a hindrance, while its concealed nature acts as a benefactor.
The outward hindering aspect manifests in the ‘ta’ which is the first letter of the Arabic word ‘perception’ (تصوّر). Since perception draws barriers around consciousness, it blocks the expansion of vision.

The concealed benefactor is represented by the initial letter of the Arabic word ‘transcendence’ (تجاوز). It becomes apparent when finite barriers are viewed as gateways to endless infinity.
There,

where the graveyard of words lies,
and their roots sprout.

Between Sweetness & Suffering ما بين العذوبة والعذاب

letgazalive.com

An 11 hour audio recording of all 7,208 names of martyrs in Gaza, as reported in the 212 page report by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. These voice recordings serve as a poignant resource for solidarity initiatives such as protests, vigils, marches, art, and education.

Let Gaza Live - Audio Memorial

When James Baldwin died at his home in the South of France in December 1987, the world lost a towering intellect and one of America’s literary giants. He was buried in New York a few weeks later. But what remained in France, and still to this day, are thousands of personal and professional effects connected to Baldwin. Journalist Tony Phillips travels to Provence to discover why these items are stored in an Englishwoman’s home on the Côte d’Azur.

Produced by Tony Phillips and Axel Kacoutié
Sound Design by Axel Kacoutié
Original TX: 30/07/2024

BBC Sounds

The Lost Archives Of James Baldwin

The police tell us they are here to protect us. But what if their original purpose was something else altogether? Peabody Award-winning host Chenjerai Kumanyika takes listeners on a journey to uncover the hidden history of the largest police force in the world – from its roots in slavery, to rival police gangs battling across the city, to everyday people who resisted every step of the way. As our society debates where policing is going, Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD explores where the police came from.

From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.

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Introducing: Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD

Ali Moraly is a violinist, composer, educator, podcaster and writer/critic based in Berlin. Born in Damascus - Syria, where he studied at the Higher institute of Music. He holds Masters degree from the University of Music in Karlsruhe-Germany (Musikhochschule) and was commissioned by documenta14 in Kassel, the theatre of Oldenburg and BACH fest in Tübingen. He performed in the middle-East, Europe and the United States. Former member of the West-Eastern DIVAN co-founded by Eduard Said and Daniel Barenboim. He writes treatises and reviews on arts and culture.

Photos Credit: Alexander Steffens

Between Sweetness & Suffering ما بين العذوبة والعذاب

Ali Moraly

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