Musicians are coming up with excellent ways to fight Donald Trump’s inhumane and ineffective approach to running a country. Over the weekend, Grimes and Sia pledged to match donations to the American Civil Liberties Union and the Council on American-Islamic Relations following the president’s executive order banning immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. The order inspired Four Tet not only to donate $1,000 to the ACLU but to explore music from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. He has now compiled his favorites into a 354-song Muslim-majority mega mix spanning nearly 30 hours. Spliced in with Kourosh Yaghmaei and Saria Al Sawas are a few more familiar tracks by A Tribe Called Quest, Mariah Carey, Aphex Twin, and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith.
“been checking music from trumps banned countries today… mainly @Folkways recordings,” Kieran Hebden wrote on Twitter last night, tagging the folk/world label acquired by the Smithsonian after founder Moses Asch’s death in 1986. “Recording with @OSouleyman in Brooklyn a few years ago and it not being allowed anymore got me thinking about it.” Omar Souleyman is a Syrian wedding singer who went on to perform at Glastonbury and record remixes for Björk.
A few of Kieran’s followers have been replying at the producer with their own suggestions — including Sudanese artist Sinkane, who directed him to a YouTube rip of a tape he grew up on back home. Check out the sprawling work-in-progress below.
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Text Hannah Ongley
Image via Instagram