Sounds of Places: Sonic & Social Research for Palestinian Narratives

We sat down with sound artist and producer Ibrahim Owais to talk about Sounds of Places, a multifaceted project that conducts sonic and social research into specific topics and locations within Palestine. Run by Wonder Cabinet in Bethlehem, the project’s first release was centered around the Cremisan Valley, the last remaining green space in Bethlehem, which the Israeli occupation is currently trying to seize control of.

As part of the effort to raise awareness around this issue, Ibrahim and Wonder Cabinet worked with Yara Asmar, a Lebanese multi-instrumentalist who cannot enter Palestine due to her nationality, to remotely design an installation called Wind Chime, where a massive chime was placed in the valley for people to sit inside, swing in, and interact with the landscape.

At their hypnotic performance at Le Guess Who?, Ibrahim Owais and Yara Asmar, joined by Alabaster DePlume, set out to transport listeners to the valley using recordings from Wind Chime, along with live sonic improvisation and experimentation