An Orientalist samples documentary footage from Irish filmmaker Bob Quinn, known for his work exploring the cultural connections between Ireland and the Arab world. Quinn’s theory, developed notably in his documentary series Atlantean, challenges conventional Western narratives by proposing that Irish identity, music, and traditions share ancient roots with North African and Arab cultures.

By weaving Quinn’s footage into An Orientalist, BADABADA deliberately fractures and reclaims the traditional “Orientalist” dynamic - the binary of observer and observed, colonizer and colonized. In Quinn’s framing, Irish people did not study Arab culture from a position of superiority or exoticism, but rather to recognize a  cultural hybridity. In this sense, BADABADA’s use of Quinn’s work becomes a form of "meta-Orientalism" - a reflection on how the gaze toward "the Other" inevitably reveals something about the self.

By blending Palestinian and Irish histories, and challenging the rigid separations that colonial narratives create, BADABADA flips Orientalism inside out: the Irish and Arab subjects are no longer passive objects of study, but active participants in a shared story of survival and resistance. The track An Orientalist humorously, but sharply, exposes how the act of "studying the Other" is often, at its core, a study of oneself.

Track 1: An Orientalist (Live in B7L9)

BADABADA is a Tunis-based duo formed by Emad Lulu (Palestine) and Milena Minta (Ireland), exploring the historical connections between their homelands.

Their name plays on the Arabic phrase باد ابادة, meaning "they committed genocide." It mimics the absurd, childlike sounds of the English language failing to encapsulate a foreign reality. Specifically, BADABADA is a symbol of how Western media narratives sanitizes, infantilizes, and in turn, creates consent for the ongoing atrocities they commit in Gaza today. Through their sound, BADABADA plays with this surreal reality, slipping through the broken lens through which both their cultures have been perceived by imperialist powers throughout history. 

BADABADA uses electronic music to fuse Maqamat, Irish traditional melodies and curated samples. Their sound is the reflection of a shared history of resistance against settler colonialism and oppression, blending traditional elements with modern electronic sound design to create a multi-genre musical experience.

Track 1: An Orientalist (Live in B7L9)

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