The OneBeat Podcast

 In this sixth episode of Season 2 we take a deep dive into the musical vaults of OneBeat, spanning over 10 years, and guided by the voice and reflections of Johannesburg-based intergalactic kwaai-diva Umlilo. We visit music created over the last 11-years of OneBeat, spanning programs in the United States, the Balkans, Istanbul, Turkey and Beirut, Lebanon. We hear from some of the artists involved in making this incredible collabor...

“It's also like, uh, some kind of a devil loop, because it's exactly a hundred years ago that there were those philosophers' boats that the Soviet authorities just threw out of the country. People like intellectuals, cultural people, artists, film directors… And now it's like a hundred years later and people are fleeing in the same directions. You know, Georgia, Turkey, Armenia.”

In this fifth episode of Season 2 we return to a conv...

“It's only the tangible objects that are being returned to their places, but these intangible [sounds], or like the ephemera, how would one return it? [...] You can give them back to the people.”

In the final part of a diptych series guided by Kenyan composer and FSN collaborator Nyokabi Kariũki, we meet KMRU, one of the leading ambient electronic artists in the world today. The conversation traces KMRU’s journey from how place infl...

“What role does sound play when it comes to archiving our history, and our culture? Can sound tell us things about our past that other forms of archiving cannot?” 

Kenyan composer and Found Sound Nation  collaborator Nyokabi Kariũki investigates these questions through the lens of Kenyan musicians and music-lovers who work with sound and music to share, archive and even foretell the stories of their culture. In this first episode of...

“I can’t listen to music. Since day one, since February 24. I tried, but I just cannot…For some people, they find our music helpful. But this is not for me right now.” 

This is the second in a series of interviews focusing on music and musicians in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine. The last episode focused on Margot Kulichova, a Ukrainian musician currently based in Lisbon; and while Margot has felt the excruciating weight ...

“I just want to remind myself and everybody around us to be strong and hopeful, and act. Because if we don't do it now, it might be too late and the price might be too high to pay.”

The second season of the OneBeat Podcast begins with the powerful voices of our OneBeat Fellows who have been affected by Russia’s war on Ukraine, with the first being singer-songwriter and music organizer, Margaryta “Margot” Kulichova, who also releases...

The eighth episode of The OneBeat Podcast is the first of a two-part series that features the perspectives of OneBeat 2015 alumnus Bajram aka “Kafu” Kinolli and his wife and collaborator, Milica Milović. The two have led festivals and music residencies, including OneBeat Balkans in 2019 and 2020, in the belief that collaborative art-making is vital to counteracting racism and divisive nationalism in the Balkans. In the first part, ...

In the seventh episode of the OneBeat Podcast, meet Anton Maskeliade, an adventurous Moscow-based electronic musician who has been a pioneer in many ways: in addition to being one of the first artists in the world to feature leap motion gesture control technology in his music, he is the founder of a Maskeliade Music School, which he believes is doing its part in challenging and changing the strict and hierarchical methods of music ...

The sixth episode of the OneBeat Podcast brings us to Durham, North Carolina to meet artist, activist and Afrofuturist Pierce Freelon. Born and raised in Durham, Pierce grew up in an artistic home, surrounded by creative mentors (and parents) who were dedicated to building and strengthening community through their artistic practice. Pierce embraced that philosophy in his pursuit as a hip hop artist, educator and organizer, first tr...

This month we visit Accra, Ghana for a conversation with the multifaceted artist Poetra Asantewa. Poetra is so many things: A spoken word artist. A vocalist. An organizer. A feminist. A builder of community. Poetra has a vision -- a vision for creating a better future, through literature, art and community; for archiving and reshaping our past through storytelling, creative expression and conversation; for telling and retelling our...

In this fourth episode of the OneBeat Podcast, we travel to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and speak to composer, theremin player, and self-proclaimed time traveler through sound, Ng Chor Guan. We first got to know Guan as an artist who loves to think about and work with technology, and is in fact optimistic about the potential of technology to bring humans closer together, not further apart. In this charming conversation with Guan, we lea...

In this third episode of the OneBeat Podcast we travel to Bogotá, Colombia and speak to the powerhouse musician and feminist activist Daniela Serna. Daniela is a percussionist, cultural producer and founding member of the celebrated pan-Latin band LADAMA. Dani takes us on her musical journey from being a shy girl with a bell, to traveling to the pacific coast of Colombia and immersing herself in the music of that region, and now be...

“How do we bridge the gap between protesters and the artists? How do we bring this all into one consolidated effort?”

In the OneBeat Podcast’s second episode, we connect with 2019 OneBeat Fellow Justin Harrington (a.k.a Demeanor); a 23-year old banjo-playing rapper from Greensboro, North Carolina. The conversation follows his journey into the seemingly separate worlds of old-time music and hip hop, and he breaks down a range of dive...

In this debut episode of the OneBeat Podcast we introduce listeners to the people who make OneBeat possible from the U.S State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, to the founders of Brooklyn-based arts organization Found Sound Nation, and the many incredible musicians who have participated in OneBeat and form a growing global network spread out over 52 countries around the world. 

We talk about the mission that ...