RND: Resynthesising the Traditional

Dragoș Rusu, Nilufer Musaeva, Sri Rama Murthy. Host: Matthias Pasdzierny

00:00

Free entry

The Research Networking Day is an exchange platform for graduate or postgraduate students – as well as independent artists conducting self-guided research – traversing the fields of music, sound, arts, media, design, and related theoretical disciplines. Nine students, scholars, and artists/researchers from a variety of fields of study and approaches will present research addressing one of several themes reflected within three different labs at CTM 2025.

Module 2 is hosted by Matthias Pasdzierny (UdK Berlin University of the Arts) and focuses on the theme of »Resynthesising the Traditional.«

Tulnic: A Mediator Between Oral Traditions, Authority, the Performing Arts and the Reproduction of Gender Relations

Dragoș Rusu (University of Bucharest, RO)

This proposal aims to scrutinise the Tulnic, a woodwind instrument found only in the Apuseni Mountain region in Romania and used in the past as a communication tool, in order to argue that any cultural practice is in constant motion and can be continuously transformed through technological means.

In 2019 I participated in a project within the Europalia Arts Romania festival in Belgium. The project involved the creation of an ensemble of Tulnicărese (women from the Avram Iancu commune in Alba County who play the Tulnic), the composition of an electronic piece by Milan W. that incorporated traditional songs and signals, and the production of two shows by the resulting ensemble in Belgium.

To illustrate how the nationalist discourse of traditions is also reflected in Tulnic culture, I apply Hobsbawm’s concept of invented traditions. Many traditions that »claim to be old are often quite recent and sometimes invented« (Hobsbawm and Ranger, 1992) consciously by historical actors who are often identifiable. What are the implications and outcomes of transforming invented traditions into performing arts through experimental means? The risks relate to the perpetuation of colonial and hegemonic practices, where an entity at the centre borrows and transforms cultural features of an entity located at the semi-periphery. Since the centre cannot exist without the periphery, these risks can turn into opportunities when power dynamics are overturned through a process of translation and decentralisation.

Homecoming

Nilufer Musaeva (Hochschule für Künste Bremen, DE)

Homecoming is an artistic-ethnographic project about my heritage and relationship to the village of Khinalug, located in north Azerbaijan, and which is home to an indigenous minority that speak a unique language. My grandfather comes from there.
 
My first motivation is to observe how a small secluded place deals with the nuances of digitalisation and institutionalisation, and how a trained designer can help a community through these matters. My second motivation is to introduce Khinalug and my relation to it through my stories and those of the village residents.
 
The village on the mountain was too isolated and remote for archaeologists and museologists, such that the first archaeological excavations started only around 2010. Nowadays there are three museums: one governmental and two initiated by the local residents. The villagers are curating these museums by themselves, and so far there is little to no interference from the side of the government. The museums are not white cubes—you can touch and use some of the objects, and there are unwritten stories that are told about the items exhibited, the museum, the future of the village, and archaeological excavations.
 
Now that the village is slowly gaining the attention of tourists and researchers, how can we preserve our local initiatives and curatorial decisions, and most importantly, how can we keep the objects where they were found? Might it be possible to build an alternative environment for those who want to research, publish, exhibit?

IndoFuturism as Sonic Resynthesis: Decolonial Approaches to Electronic Music Production

Sri Rama Murthy (independent artist Hyderabad, IN)

This presentation examines how IndoFuturism can serve as a methodological framework for resynthesising traditional Indian musical elements in electronic music production. Drawing from my practical research through the »Elsewhere in India« project and ongoing experiments with modular synthesis, I explore how traditional Indian musical concepts can be deconstructed and reconstructed in ways that challenge Western-centric paradigms in electronic music. The research investigates three key areas:

Microtonal Systems: How can we adapt electronic music tools to authentically represent Indian microtonal variations? This includes analysis of the limitations of current Western-centric DAWs and the exploration of alternative tuning systems.

Rhythmic Frameworks: Examining the integration of Indian tala systems into electronic music production, moving beyond the constraints of Western metric structures.

Cultural Preservation Through Technology: How can electronic music and generative AI serve as tools for preserving and evolving marginalised musical traditions without falling into exoticization?

The presentation will include practical demonstrations using modular synthesis and examples from my work with traditional musicians, illustrating how IndoFuturism can provide a framework for ethical cultural transformation in electronic music.

Sound artist, ethnomusicologist, DJ and producer, Sri Rama Murthy is one of the initiators of electronic music subculture in India. With experiments spanning two decades, Murthovic has professed his multidisciplinary philosophy of sound through radio shows, live acts, audiovisual IPs, and media productions across genres. With experience in the fields of conservation, education, entertainment, fashion, gaming, hospitality, and many others, he professes the same credo through his studio Nadabramha.

Event Access

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Presented in collaboration with the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK), Freie Universität Berlin, and the Berlin-based network and project space Trust.

The RND module »Resynthesising the Traditional« is supported by SHAPE+, which is co-funded by the European Union and Pro Helvetia. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.