#zubeyda muzeyyen

[adsmusiconstellations]

DJ Haram - Grace (2019)

https://djharam.bigcartel.com / https://hyperdub.net

[dustedmagazine]

700 Bliss – Nothing To Declare (Hyperdub)

Photo by Isha Dipika Walia

700 Bliss have much to discuss on Nothing To Declare, a lacerating investigation of the current state of America’s culture of racial and gender animus. Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa) and DJ Haram (Zubeyda Muzeyyen) produce a lyrically and sonically complex dive into darkness with ferocious wit, exasperated anger and a deep understanding that one can neither ignore nor dismiss the echoes of histories that warp the present. But this is no mere provocation. Layers of meaning in both words and music reflect the conflict and confusion deliberately sown to distract and complicate resistance to and escape from exploitation, expropriation and excoriation.

700 Bliss respond to the systemic racial and gender violence that girds our structural inequality. They skewer posturing machismo on “Spirit Airlines,” in which Moor Mother demands to know, “What you know about shit, boy?/Huh?/What you know about being lost inside shit?/Huh?” over DJ Haram’s ominous minimal synth drone. “Bless Grips” finds history has not dealt with the dehumanization of African slaves: “Time move, don’t pass.” “Capitol” sees the roots of January 6th in Bush senior’s exploitation of the Willie Horton case during the 1988 presidential campaign. There is also celebration and humor; “Anthology” pays tribute to dancer/activist Katherine Dunham over a muscular kick drum and nimble hand percussion. On the interlude skit “Easyjet” the duo satirize their critics: “I mean, come on, is this even music?/But also this next song, we’re gonna have to mood board it for our next album.”

700 Bliss make a major statement on Nothing To Declare. Chaotic and confrontational, this is the sound of two artists in complete alignment. DJ Haram’s experimental beat-based soundscapes elevate the album beyond genre, and if some may be put off by the vocal distortions and occasional nursery rhyme taunts, these slurring provocations fit with the shifting ground and rules the duo engages. When the music drops and Moor Mother’s voice addresses the listener directly on “Capitol” (“How much blood did we lose this year?/Fireworks of codependence stuffed in murder/The cover-up, the fact, the fold, the star, the eclipse, the fright”) or “Crown” (“A silence is killing us, revealing us/We must fight injustice/Revealing us, can't fall in love with death's kiss/Revealing us, we all drunk with death's wish”), her words resonate with the deadly weight of history. 

Andrew Forell

[theopillault]

Frontlines : DJ Haram, entre anges et Djinns

Des démons, des Jinns, le collectif Discwoman, des productions Noise et un premier EP hautement inflammable (chez Hyperdub)… On a rencontré DJ Haram, la fille qui bâtit des ponts entre la scène de Philadelphie et le Moyen-Orient de ses origines.

Libéré au climax de l’été, Grace, le premier EP de DJ Haram confirme un frisson déjà ressenti par beaucoup : il faut désormais compter sur les productions signées Zubeyda Haram Muzeyyen. Hautement inflammables, parfois anxiogènes, toujours pulsionnels, les tracks et remixes de Grace établissent un pont de lumière noire entre les ballrooms de Philadelphie – où elle sévit depuis une poignée d’années – et le Moyen-Orient de ses origines. Cette dualité culturelle remonte à son enfance dans le New Jersey, où ses bases musicales oscillent alors entre la musique de la diaspora moyen-orientale, introduite par ses parents, et l’écoute passionnée de Sonic Youth : “ce très fort intérêt pour la Noise m’a fait entrer dans la musique par le côté expérimental et improvisé” confie DJ Haram. “Cette même scène Noise était très marquée par l’approche Do It Yourself et autodidacte. La Noise défend l’idée, assez salvatrice côté création, que tu n’as pas à être un musicien professionnel pour t’exprimer et composer. Je me suis alors mise à expérimenter dans cette logique, avec pas mal de constructions sonores. J’ai pratiqué beaucoup de sound design, avant de comprendre comment en faire de la musique. Le Dj-ing est venu plus tard. Pour moi, le Dj-ing, c’est affiner des constructions sonores. C’est comprendre comment la musique doit être structurée. À partir de là, j’ai commencé à faire de petits edits pour mes mixs, avant de commencer à produire mes propres tracks.”

La suite de l’interview parue chez Pan-African-Music, ici.

[didyouread]

White Privilege

A Workshop for Beginners *

* Although (because) they’re the inventors of white supremacy and also the experts in profiting from it, white people are also specialists in not knowing whiteness – hence ‘for beginners.’ The life-threatening (deadly) consequences of white supremacy are the daily lived reality of people of colour globally, yet they remain invisible to those who “believe themselves as white” (Ta-Nehisi Coates). Those who benefit from white racial privilege don’t see (read: un-see, read: ignore) whiteness permanently. Given the comfort which comes with it, not surprisingly white people naturalize their privilege; although unearned, it feels normal to them, as much a given as unremarkable. In utter denial, white people demand “black labour for proof” (Patricia Schor) of systematic and everyday racism, of the real-ness and effects of white supremacy. They also demand the time and labour of people of colour to educate them about their own whiteness. Audre Lorde: “Black and Third World people are expected to educate white people as to our humanity. Women are expected to educate men. Lesbians and gay men are expected to educate the heterosexual world. The oppressors maintain their position and evade their responsibility for their own actions.” Goal of the workshop is to “return the problem of whiteness to white people” (George Yancy) and open the uncomfortable space for those with racial privilege to do the work, self-examine, educate and confront themselves with their privileged, which also always means oppressing, position. What does it mean to undo one's privileged position and take “responsibility for one’s own actions?” The workshop takes the form of a reading-listening session. It will use texts by scholar Peggy McIntosh and by writer Claudia Rankine to name the norm and understand white supremacy as systematic, as a political fiction and investment, as a technology of domination, as spatial and necro-political operation, as terror. Confronting (white) privilege will only be possible, I believe, if we address clearly the context of our conversation, of our gathering. Given the workshop location at an art institution, it will be necessary to discuss the role of culture, its protocols and institutions in the reproduction and stabilization of white supremacy; as well as the complicity/agency for resistance of those working in the field. The reading materials can be found here: – Peggy McIntosh: White Privilege and Male Privilege (1988) – Claudia Rankine: In Our Way – Racism in Creative Writing (2016)

Appletree #2: White Privilege - A Workshop For Beginners With Maria Guggenbichler Appletree is a public program at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, organised by Vincent van Velsen. Wednesday March 27, 4pm Reading Room Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten Sarphatistraat 470, Amsterdam RSVP: here FB event: here

Image above via Deniz Unal / do you mind; and as well via Zubeyda Muzeyyen / DJ Haram.

[chromat]

Celebrate GALENTINES DAY with #ChromatBABES DJ HARAM + BEARCAT

Female friendship is one of the most powerful bonds #ChromatBABES have- supporting, empowering, and protecting each other. That's why for V-Day, we celebrate Galentines Day and feature friends that lift each other up and make each other stronger.

Zubeyda Muzeyyen aka DJ HARAM (in the Patent Garter Cage) and Kerrie Ann Murphy aka BEARCAT (in the Patent Harness Bustier)

Learn what inspires their music, their friendship and their lives.

Photos by Tayler Smith. Hair by Sean Homme, Makeup Artist (while simultaneously modeling!) Kerrie Ann Bearcat Murphy, Stylist Martin Tordby. 

[mishthi]

I find it annoying when all I see on Facebook are links to boring top 10 lists and pseudo self-help pieces like "5 Ways To Be More Interesting." Luckily, today was a winner. A friend of mine posted a link to this mix and its accompanying article on Browntourage, titled "JERSEY CLUB <-> MIDDLE EAST: DJ HARAM’S IDENTITY CRISIS MIX." DJ Haram?! That definitely caught my attention. Is she friends with Sharaab, whom we featured a few months ago, or DJ Sharam? Talk about a future South Asian/Middle Eastern diasporic mashup.  More importantly, DJ Haram is Zubeyda Muzeyyen. Her Identity Crisis Mix reveals skillfully combined Jersey Club music with Middle Eastern instrumentals. It's phenomenally done and the word "tacky" is the furthest thing from my mind. I was bummed to see that she has no West Coast tour dates, but she will be playing in Brooklyn, Providence, Philly, Baltimore, and Boston this month.

Soundcloud

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--Zuha is Bay Area-based radio DJ Crimewave, of BFF.fm. Reach her @Zuha_Wave.

[didyouread]

White PrivilegeA Workshop for Beginners * * Although (because) they’re the inventors of white supremacy and also the experts in profiting from it, white people are also specialists in not knowing whiteness – hence ‘for beginners.’ The life-threatening (deadly) consequences of white supremacy are the daily lived reality of people of colour globally, yet they remain invisible to those who “believe themselves as white” (Ta-Nehisi Coates). Those who benefit from white racial privilege don’t see (read: un-see, read: ignore) whiteness permanently. Given the comfort which comes with it, not surprisingly white people naturalize their privilege; although unearned, it feels normal to them, as much a given as unremarkable. In utter denial, white people demand “black labour for proof” (Patricia Schor) of systematic and everyday racism, of the effects and real-ness of white supremacy, but they also demand the time and labour of people of colour to educate them about their own whiteness. Audre Lorde: “Black and Third World people are expected to educate white people as to our humanity. Women are expected to educate men. Lesbians and gay men are expected to educate the heterosexual world. The oppressors maintain their position and evade their responsibility for their own actions. There is a constant drain of energy which might better be used in redefining ourselves and devising realistic scenarios for altering the present and constructing the future.” Goal of the workshop is to “return the problem of whiteness to white people” (George Yancy) and open the uncomfortable space for those with white racial privilege to do the work, self-examine, educate and confront themselves with their privileged, which also always means oppressing, position. The workshop takes the form of a reading-listening session. It will use texts by writer Claudia Rankine and by scholar Peggy McIntosh to name the norm and understand white supremacy as systematic, as a political fiction and investment, as a technology of domination, as terror, as spatial and necro-political operation. Confronting (white) privilege will only be possible, I believe, if we address as clearly as is possible the here and now of our conversation, of our gathering. Given the location of the workshop, in an art institution in a manor house on Herengracht in Amsterdam’s center, it will be necessary to discuss the role of culture and its institutions in the reproduction of white supremacy as well as the complicity/agency for resistance of those working in the field. The reading materials can be found here:– Claudia Rankine: In Our Way – Racism in Creative Writing (2016)– Peggy McIntosh: White Privilege and Male Privilege (1988) Picture via Deniz Unal / do you mind; and as well via Zubeyda Muzeyyen / DJ Haram.