Since May 2020, I have been contributing regularly to web-based radio stations by creating radio shows based on different concepts and approaches. The bulk of this work has been in three radio shows that have appeared on Radio Alhara and Radio Ma3azef.
The Invention of the Backbone.
The Invention of the Backbone was an 8-part radio series for Radio Alhara. Each episodes presents elements of my personal sound archives in situations and spaces that represent some kind of an activity that takes place in society (e.g., visiting government offices for some bureaucratic need, walking around shopping malls, watching sporting events, attending public mass gatherings, being at funerals, etc). Each of the recorded elements behave as a backbone to an approximately 40-minute improvised piece of music in which I use varying analogue and digital electronic music tools and techniques. The result is an obscure radio show in which one has to listen carefully to make out what archival material I am referencing, and what musical process I am using to flesh-out the archival sounds. The show ran between May and December 2020, with a new episode being presented every two weeks.
SUPER VILLAGE SURVEY 2000.
I created SUPER VILLAGE SURVEY 2000 for Ma3azef Radio. For this particular show, I made mixes of music in which I played folk music from around the world interspersed with the idea of ‘avant-garde music’ from the 1950s-1960s. The result is a blend of music with no clear markers between what is avant-garde and what is folk. The reason I did this at the time was because I felt that a lot of the emerging web-based radio stations places more emphasis on electronic dance music, and I wanted to counter that with something subversive yet different. The show ran between August and December 2020 for a total of 5 episodes. Each episode is approximately 2 hours in duration.
Counter-Assemblage by Hasan Hujairi + The New Music Ensemble of Manama
Counter-Assemblage by Hasan Hujairi + The New Music Ensemble of Manama is my longest-running show to date. It started in January 2021, and as of January 2022, it is still running. The show aims to serve as a platform for myself and for a fictional music ensemble that I created back in 2018. The show is promoted as if it is being developed by me and a music ensemble with varying musical interests. The result is a monthly series of musical anecdotes that sound like they could be made by an individual with the help of a group of people.