28.11.25
NAM03 w/ Abu AMA
NAM – Non-Aligned Music
Issue 03 w/ Abu AMA
Abu AMA surely speaks to many truths without needing to say a single word or to reduce political complexities. His dissident dub echoes in solidarity with social struggles throughout the Middle East and carries the dub virus along routes of western conquest and forced migration. Abu’s bass orientalism neither romanticizes “Eastern“ culture through mystical and exotic soundscapes nor is it servile to power by complying with consumer-friendly aesthetics. His music explores the rough and dreadful edges of the dub continuum and, for the careful listener, leaves traces pointing to underground societies in Libya or kurdish resistance movements in Rojava.
When Abu invokes Ishara, at first, it remains ambiguous whether he is making a deep historical reference to Mesopotamian civilization or condemning the hypocritical exploitation of Arabic culture for profit in an otherwise islamophobic environment, as exemplified in the Ishara swimming pool of his hometown, Bielefeld. Ishara, meaning „sign“ in Arabic, most definitely points the way into abyss. Abu’s basscore channels ghosts telling us stories of dread, war, and exploitation, but it also invites us into a hidden enclosure where sonic disciples can rehearse a world that fits many worlds. His sonic vision surely aims at drawing attention to the demons of western modernity, but it also allows us to tune in to forms of cultural co-existence that hold pain as much as they hold joy and mutual appreciation.
Links
Collabs on Insta
Visuals
- Graphics: Theo Ferreira Gomes
- Fonts: BBB Poppin TN & PicNic, licensed via Typothèque Bye Bye Binary
- Donate here: typotheque.genderfluid.space