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about

Orientalism derives its name from the eponymous book by the Palestinian-American intellectual Edward Said. My interest in orientalism started with the constant disparity I felt between my experience of being an Arab, and the representations of Arabs which I saw in art, media, and what even claimed to be scientific literature. Those representations of “the Orient” had very little to do with what I know about my own background, my lived experiences, and everything that I have read in Arabic. This piece is a result of my reflections, it is a commentary as well as an artistic response to that phenomenon.

Another interest of mine has been the passage of time, especially the passage of musical time, as opposed to chronometric time. Unlike a traditional string quartet, which seeks to blend the individual player with the quartet, my piece seeks to identify the individual in opposition to the ensemble.

- Sami Seif

Sami Seif is a Lebanese composer and music theorist praised as “a distinctive compositional voice” who creates “intoxicating and fascinating soundworld[s]”. His music is inspired by the aesthetics, philosophies, paradigms, and poetry of his Middle-Eastern heritage. His work has been described as “very tasteful and flavorful” with “beautiful, sensitive writing!”

Originally from the small town of Ashkout in Mount Lebanon, he was born to a non-musical family in Abu Dhabi and he is fluent in Arabic,
French and English. He started out at the age of twelve as a
self-taught musician, composing and playing on special, Arabic keyboards designed to accommodate the microtones of Arabic music. Not having had access to formal music education, Seif taught himself how to read and write music by reading theory textbooks.

Following studies in composition, music theory, and piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music, he is currently a doctoral fellow at the CUNY Graduate Center.

www.samiseif.com

credits

from New Music Festival 02023 Documentation: Saturday, October 14, released December 14, 2023
Performed by
Ellen Lamora, Violin I
Thomas Calletano Gonzalez, Violin II
Will Harding, Viola
Adrian Cervantes, Cello

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The Museum of Viral Memory image

The Museum of Viral Memory Eugene, Oregon

A lifetime in noise & experimental stitched to the last 100 years of electroacoustic, ecoacoustic, concrete magique

Improv jazz come unpinned from time

Conceptual music built from field recordings

Sound art for dreaming, drifting, disappearing

Ritual magick, slow to cast; slow to coalesce

Invocations unintended for human ears

Music in geologic time

Aureality for the non-conscious mind ... more

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