This project is inspired from the work of Maria Chavez's “abstract turntablism” and Rabih Beaini's technical approach to using the DJ set. In this project I attempt to revisit the notion of a hybrid DJ set.

Performance title: Revisiting the DJ set.

Video of the performance: https://youtu.be/zOlawhdJkEs?si=M7XPtH0DNjJ5KR2c

Technical approach: 

Channel 1: Piezo connected to a running DDR alarm clock via a field recorder. 

Channel 2: A sound piece I composed running through Ableton. It starts at min 10:22 till the end of the set.
This sound piece was composed using recordings of Lebanese / Levantine instruments like the Oud, Nay, Qanun, and Tabla with field recordings from Beirut and Berlin, spoken/broken words in my native tongue, and other acoustic and electro-acoustic sources. 

Channel 3: Playing the Soma Synth Pulsar-23.

Channel 4: loops/tempo change using Sampler/Sampled Mazen Kerbaj Trumpet Solo Vol. 3 on CD.

Using delay, filter effects, and panning of the Pioneer DJM-900 mixer.

Revisiting the DJ set, at ACUD, on 29/07/2023

Untempo Postcards #2: Breath Observation (for voice and hand - blown glass object)

In Breath Observation (for voice and hand-blown glass object), Chantal Michelle captures the acoustic resonances of hollow glass sculptures and merges them with the human voice. The work is part of a series of compositions using the sculptures, which were designed and fabricated by the artist, as instruments in relationship with various wind instruments. Exploring themes of fragility, permeability, and formlessness, the work invites the listener into an intimate space where boundaries between inside and outside blur

Composition, glass object, voice: Chantal Michelle
Voice: Eliana Glass
Mastering: Alexander Stuster
Cover & concept: Miro-Benjamin Lindström

Bandcamp

Untempo Postcards #2: Chantal Michelle – Breath Observation (for voice and hand-blown glass object)

Erika is a DJ/producer from Detroit who is also one half of Ectomorph. Additionally, she is one third of Interdimensional Transmissions…a record label and event series known globally for Return to the Source @ Tangent Gallery every May.

Train Wrecks #086 - Erika

Love Is On My Side w/ Rami Abi Rafi: 23rd April '25

@elenaslmtn & @sanjacozma share jazz, ambient, obscure and psychedelic.

Olenka & Sanja Cozma at migas 14.03.25

"An experimental drift through blurred textures and shifting forms, where sound feels less composed than uncovered. At times, a flicker of dub emerges - brief, like a thought half-remembered - before dissolving back into abstraction. The journey unfolds intuitively, resisting structure, favouring sensation. It’s not about where it goes, but what surfaces along the way."

Kizen records (@kizenrecords) founder Romi (@romi808) has been across the techno scene for decades, developing a vision for music that spans genres and moods. Bringing it all together coherently with a focus on deep, hypnotic sounds, he expresses this vision through Kizen's consistently high-quality output.

INSIJAM – meaning harmony in Arabic – places the essence of chance and encounter at its core. Blending Musique Concrète with traditional Arabic sounds, the performance moves fluidly between experimental, avant-garde, and improvised jazz. 

Curated by Rami Abi Rafi (@ramiabirafi), INSIJAM is a monthly show broadcast on Cashmere Radio, based in Wedding, Berlin. For this edition, Rami invites Romi as a guest artist.

INSIJAM reflects my personal vision of the beauty that emerges from the meeting of diverse musical worlds.

Cashmere Radio is a community experimental radio station based in Wedding, Berlin. Broadcasting underground music, talk shows and live performative arts.

https://cashmereradio.com/shows/insijam/

HOCast #242 - Romi @ INSIJAM Cashmere Radio Berlin

*mix with patches / soldering by  lea fabrikant

May 2025


Includes:

rahok mipo - Lea Fabrikant (2025)

Kraj goritsa mlad nehjenen hodi (At the edge of the mountain, a young, unblemished one walks / harvesting song) · Slavka Ivanova Gulova (Music From Bulgaria , 2014)

W8WTF - Zebra Katz x Boyfriend (Winter Titty EP , 2012)

The love it took to leave you (Unreleased) - Colin Stetson ( A live performance taken from Adult Swim's online festival , 2020)

I Am That I Am - Brion Gysin (Recordings 1960-81 , 1995)

Schumann: Kinderszenen, Op. 15: 7. Träumerei (Arr. Cello & Piano) - Lynn Harrell & Bruno Canino (Andante cantabile , 1988)

When Mama Was Moth - Cocteau Twins (Head Over Heels , 1983)

Nonbinary - Arca (Kick I , 2020)

Slave ft. Twin Shadow - Duval Timothy (Help , 2020)

Faith Made of Silk - Nicolas Jaar (Cenizas , 2020)

Batwings (A Limnal Hymn) - Coil (Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2 , 2000)

Goodbye Pork Pie Hat -  Rahsaan Roland Kirk (The Return of the 5000 Lb. Man - 1976)

Aijā žūžū lāča bērni - mom singing to Noa (Live recording, 2019)

Birkat Hailanot (Blessing for the trees) - Lea Fabrikant (2025)

Cassarina - Chris Watson (Star Switch On , 2002)

Retreat - Ill Considered  (Ill Considered III , 2018)

Being Held - The For Carnation (The For Carnation , 2000)

Iguana (feat. Boi Ecchi) - Michael Swissa (2019)

Many Rivers to Cross - Jimmy Cliff  (The Harder They Come , 1972)

asufat bituim #195

Love Is On My Side w/ Rami Abi Rafi: 28th May '25

Love Is On My Side w/ Rami Abi Rafi: 25th June '25

Love Is On My Side w/ Rami Abi Rafi: 23rd July '25

From electronic free jazz and IDM ballads over ambient & hypnotic techno, to influences from traditional music, French DJ @laurabcr has been steadily making her mark in contemporary electronic music, and has been a major contributor to the scene thanks to her label On Board Music and her monthly Rinse show.
Catch Laura BCR every 1st Monday of the month, from 00h to 02h [CET] on rinse.fr

Rinse France Podcast

Download

Laura BCR invite Patrick Russell - 04 Janvier 2021

Rami Abi Rafi’s work captures the essence of his migratory experiences. Born in the UK and of Lebanese heritage, he nowadays bridges between two burdened and deeply absorbing cities: Berlin and Beirut. The journey from London to Beirut, and current presence in Berlin, breathes the life into his work and inspired him to harmonize these influences in the different facets of his oeuvre.

As a DJ, Sound Artist, and Photographer, Rami's practice reflects a life lived at the crossroads of cultures and places. Subtly confronting and surprising, his works aim to empower imagination as they retell stories through music. They are an invitation to explore themes of memory, time, migration and forced existential exile. 

His first live performance was in Madame Claude’s infamous EXPERIMONTAG nights, one of the strongholds of Berlin’s experimental music scene. From there he appeared at Tresor’s New Faces, Silent Green, OHM, and ELSE and established a presence in Berlin's night culture. Rami has also made a name as radio host through monthly residencies on Radio Alhara, Noods Radio, and Cashmere Radio. 

Insijam, his show on Cashmere Radio focuses on the essence of chances and encounters. In Arabic, Insijam means harmony, and in this show different sounds peacefully coexist and enhance each other. Musique Concrète naturally merges with traditional Lebanese music, spoken words, and improv jazz. In these performances, Rami forms an auditory journey that deeply resonates with feelings of displacement and the eternal quest for belonging. To deliberately bring about this sentiment, Rami is versatile in using media - tapes, recordings and vinyl collected in the fragmented places that influenced him, are puzzled and layered together. They build fluid structures that bring people together and make them belong- through the experience of listening. 

For “love is on my side” on Noods Radio, Rami showcases Cold Wave, Post Punk and Synth tunes with a focus to offer a space for reflection. 

"Layali Insijam" on Radio Alhara, is a continuation of the INSIJAM project by documenting Folk music from Lebanon by highlighting musical plays and instrumental pieces. Radio is an important vessel of self-expression for Rami, and in his words, working with Radio made him a better listener and DJ.  

Moreover, Rami’s sound projects extend to sound art by amplifying chairs and manipulating samples of traditional Lebanese instruments. The Oud, Nay, Qanun, and Tabla intertwine with electro-acoustic elements, field recordings from Beirut and Berlin, and spoken words to evoke a sense of contemplation. 

But his examination of places and spaces and their significance for one’s identity and sense of belonging doesn’t stop here. As a photographer Rami’s current focus is on taking urban pictures. He seeks to find a deeper understanding of boundaries. They either separate or unify public and/or private realms, giving birth to spaces, which Rami coins as a “diasporic field”. Within these newly human-defined spaces, the pictures serve as a mirror. They capture and reveal these for Rami so important themes of remembrance and displacement.

Rami’s pursuit of harmonizing a fusion of influences - may it be via sound or visual art - acts as a reminder to embrace the beauty of chance encounters and form deep contemplations about belonging and the fluidity of cultural identity.

Written by Theresa Baumel -

Revisiting the DJ set, at ACUD, on 29/07/2023

rami abi rafi