The Sonic Turn

The Sonic Turn

September 23, 2025

Written by:

Dragoș Rusu

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The Attic launches The Sonic Turn, an interdisciplinary initiative that places sound at the centre of understanding contemporary cultural and socio-political phenomena.

The project focuses on a growing paradigm shift in international research and public discourse: understanding and using sound as a tool for knowledge and critical reflection. This reorientation positions sound as a critical mode of investigation, a material force, and a site of power. Through debates, presentations, discussions, concerts, articles, and a podcast series, The Sonic Turn opens a dialogue on the role that acoustic experiences play in shaping and deconstructing memory, identity, and the social body.

November 1st at Control Club: Al. Ehtifal, Praed, Yunis

The Sonic Turn - November 1st at Control Club: Al. Ehtifal, Praed, Yunis
The Sonic Turn - November 1st at Control Club: Al. Ehtifal, Praed, Yunis
The series of events debuts November 1st at Control Club in Bucharest, with an evening of concerts featuring Praed (Lebanon/Switzerland), Yunis (Egypt), and Al.Ehtifal (Romania/Syria/Iran/India) — three international music projects oriented towards improvisation and experimentation, with a strong transcultural and political dimension.

Tickets to the event on November 1st at Control Club can be found HERE.

Praed’s music blends Arabic popular styles, free jazz, and electronic experimentation. Active since 2006, the group has built a far-reaching global network of collaborators in numerous artistic constellations. Its members are Raed Yassin (keyboards, laptop, electronics, vocals) and Paed Conca (clarinet, electric bass, electronics). Their work delves into Arabic popular music (Shaabi) and its connections with international psychedelic genres such as free jazz, space jazz, and psychedelic rock. Praed’s research highlights how these traditions reflect the complex structures of Egyptian society, revealing deep cultural links between Shaabi sounds and the trance-based “Mouled” music performed in religious ceremonies. The hypnotic, psychedelic effect of this music invites comparisons with other popular traditions worldwide that embrace sonic delirium.

Ahmed Younes, known as YUNIS, is an experimental producer from Kafr El-Dauwar, Egypt. A self-taught musician, he has developed a profound interest in traditional trance music and rituals. He co-founded Kafr El-Dauwar Records (KDR), an independent digital label dedicated to cultivating, supporting, and releasing contemporary and experimental music from his hometown, a city that struggles to find artistic and cultural support in the region.

The Al.Ehtifal Project is a fluid collective of musicians who challenge conventions through musical improvisation. Centered on integrating spontaneous ideas into live performance as a form of communication, the project contests the dominant musical landscape and established norms through authentic artistic expression born from a need for experimentation. Its rotating lineup features musicians from Romania, Syria, and Iran: Andrei Raicu, Ariadna Ene Iliescu, Bogdana Dima, Lehel Vitalyos, Mohamad Zatari, and Sara Eslami.
The Sonic Turn
The Sonic Turn

November 14-15 at TNB - The Sonic Turn International Conference

Between November 14–15, 2025, The Attic presents The Sonic Turn international conference, taking place in the Small Hall of the National Theatre Bucharest. For two days, theorists, anthropologists, artists, and ethnomusicologists will explore the cultural, political, and ecological dimensions of sound and listening through presentations, performances, and discussions.

The Sonic Turn brings together ten Romanian and international guests, each with a unique practice in sound studies and related arts: Cătălina Tesăr (RO), Cosmin Nicolae (RO), Delia Grigore (RO), Holger Schulze (DE), Ian Nagoski (USA), Manja Ristić (RS), Maria Balabaș (RO), Salomé Voegelin (CH), Simina Oprescu (RO), and Stefan Fraunberger (AT). In addition, the conference program will feature a discussion curated by the Iscoada platform, on the theme Sonic Surveillance in Techno-Feudalism.

Their research covers diverse topics – from the aesthetics and politics of the sound of war to listening as a decolonial practice, from collective memory to cultural identity and sonic activism.

Between September 2025 - January 2026, the vast subject will be explored through a series of articles and podcast episodes via The Attic website, bringing together the perspectives of artists, journalists, and researchers that are invited to contribute. These materials will examine, from multiple angles, how sound shapes cultural, social, and political experiences.

By opening up to a wider public while also engaging with academic research, The Sonic Turn aims to deepen the understanding of how we listen, stimulate critical reflection, and position Bucharest within the international circuit of debates on sound, memory, and identity in contemporary culture. Together, we ask: What does it mean to think with and through sound today – and how might the future look and sound, through this renewed attention to the subject? By bringing together a diverse range of voices and perspectives, The Sonic Turn encourages interdisciplinary dialogue.

The Sonic Turn is a cultural project co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or the way its results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding beneficiary.

Institutional Partners: Pro Helvetia Arts Council, Austrian Cultural Forum, Goethe-Institut
Media Partners: CIMRO, Iscoada, IQAds, Antropedia, Utopia Balcanică

Credits: (in alphabetical order)
Andrei Rusu - Wed Developer, Editor
Cristian Călin - Art & Visual Identity
Dragoș Rusu - Curator, Editor, Audio Producer
Irina Radu - Communication
Lavinia Ionescu - Contract Management
Maria Raicu - Production
About the Author

Dragoș Rusu

Co-founder and co-editor in chief of The Attic, sound researcher and allround music adventurer, with a keen interest in the anthropology of sound.

@dragos_rusu_
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