What does diverse cultural mean at asambura?
We see ourselves as a diverse, culturally connecting chamber ensemble. There are six different levels of diverse cultural dialogue, which we summarize in our asambura C6 formula:
I. collective: Improvisation, interaction, interpretation: the artists of asambura have different cultural backgrounds and actively incorporate them.
II. composition: The composition processes various cultural influences and traditions, elementalizes and conceptualizes them. Musicians can participate in these cultural traditions through the interpretation.
► further thoughts: composing as relighting with asambura
III. concept: classical music interacts with music from a cultural tradition
IV. context: Our music acts as an artistic mirror to reflect important social issues such as discrimination, solidarity with refugees and other social concerns. We are committed to promoting a more respectful coexistence.
V. collaboration: with other art forms such as dance, projections and abstract color compositions, often with artists from diverse cultural backgrounds.
VI. contact: with the listeners, in conversations with a variety of mediation formats, composing and improvising together,
Multicultural – intercultural – transcultural or metacultural?
As a diverse cultural, “interreligious” and post-migrant avant-garde ensemble, we have explored the concepts of “multiculturalism”, “interculturalism” and “transculturalism”.
Discussions about how to talk about and conceptualize “culture” are, of course, nothing new. The dilemma lies in the fact that “culture” has long been understood as a homogeneous, self-contained, externally definable entity whose members and practices can be assigned without any doubt. Conversely, this would mean that mixing and exchange between cultures is only possible to a limited extent. This does not adequately reflect our reality and quickly leads to a stereotyping of “cultures” and their members. However, if we abandon the idea that there are certain cultures that have certain overarching characteristics, this makes communication about cultures and their characteristics, similarities and differences considerably more difficult.
In our discussion about culture, we looked at a text by Wolfgang Welsch (2009), among others. Among other things, he discusses the terms “multiculturalism”, “interculturalism” and “transculturalism”.
He defines multiculturalism as the idea and ideal that cultures exist side by side but do not influence each other (e.g. guest workers who have little or no contact with other areas of society due to housing conditions, working conditions, everyday structures, etc.).
Interculturality pursues the goal of strengthening intercultural dialog and thereby creating an understanding of different cultures for each other, without these cultures influencing or changing in themselves (e.g. the other is and remains different and I understand them, but do not integrate them into my own). This aspect also plays a role in Edward Said’s accusation of Orientalism).
He proposes transnationalism as an alternative concept. This concept breaks away from the idea that cultures are homogeneous and clearly distinguishable from one another, focusing instead on the way they influence each other, intertwine, and share commonalities. This is reflected, among other things, in global movements, such as those concerning climate protection or feminism, as well as in historical movements, like the influence of “Ancient Greek culture” by preceding and neighboring cultures (Egypt, Babylon, Phoenicia, etc.).
Additionally, transnationalism assumes that each person has multiple cultural roots and thus belongs to various cultures in a unique composition. Welsch justifies this by pointing out that, through increasing contact with people of diverse origins, languages, and systems, we are constantly in exchange, which influences us. Furthermore, we belong to various groups in our everyday life, each with its own cultural symbols, rituals, values, and identities. These groups include, for example, our profession, interest groups (such as musicians), or a specific social class. As a result, each individual is a part of different groups with their own cultures, which, in turn, are heterogeneous.
We see the concept of transculturality as an adequate reflection of reality. At the same time, aspects of both intercultural and meta-cultural dialogue play an important role in our work, especially when musicians can experience dialogues through compositions inspired by various cultures. We want to engage in dialogue with different cultural traditions, using complexity reduction to make dialogue possible. We are aware of the danger of stereotyping and continuously engage with our ideas, formulations, and associations. On the other hand, holding on to the idea of distinct cultures with certain characteristics allows for overlap and contrast, which brings an artistic added value.
In our works, we try to break up and re-contextualize the stereotypes projected onto symbols, sounds, instruments, and traditions from various cultures through musical processing, thus enabling and stimulating a new perspective and critical engagement.
STEREOTYPE
Our engagement with different cultural and religious traditions, views, narratives, sounds, texts, images, and much more works in two directions: on one hand, we try to constantly look beyond our horizons and allow ourselves to be inspired. This engagement manifests itself in our artistic work and may sometimes not be immediately perceptible as such. For example, in LUX PERPETUA and KALEIDOSCOPIA, there is the piece Campanula, which is inspired by bell sounds on various levels. The different tempos of a church bell “ringing” are processed, which arise from the varying speeds at which the bells of different sizes strike. Additionally, the unique sound structure of bells is captured, such as the seemingly eternal echo.
This inspiration and its source are so subtle that, for most listeners, it likely works more subconsciously.
On the other hand, we wish to use certain sounds to create a specific intercultural context and use symbols that trigger associations with specific, predefined thoughts, traditions, and even stereotypes, which we simultaneously break through by processing the symbols and embedding them in new contexts – a musically translated intercultural dialogue. One example is the “Muezzin motif,” for instance, in MessiaSASAmbura, which is meant to evoke the vocal aesthetics of a muezzin and, thus, Islamic contexts and the associations that come with it. However, the intention is not to simply reproduce the motif, but to process it: through the method of sound production (e.g., a combination of multiphonics on an alto flute and a glissando motif on the electric guitar), it is embedded into a new, extended context. In our view, this is not a reduction to a stereotype but an attempt to show its diversity (sonically, religiously, and culturally), to open new perspectives on it, and by embedding it in a context, to highlight both the compatibility and the benefits of contrasting different motifs and (musical) traditions. The musical abstraction is also a symbol of not simply “seizing” an element, e.g., the specific sound of a muezzin’s voice, through reproduction, but reflecting on our own associations using our musical means.
Note: A symbol always has multiple levels: on one hand, its original form and function (e.g., the flag as an indication of a country), and on the other hand, a symbol always triggers associations with things connected to it (e.g., knowledge, beliefs, associations, and also stereotypes that one associates with the country, its people, and the “culture” of that country). Additionally, there are other, artistic levels of a symbol: the form, the colors, the acoustic properties of the object. We process objects on all three levels, with the first and second levels being difficult to separate from each other.
Musik as a Medium for Diverse Cultural Dialogues – Opportunities and risks
Music is a medium through which communication is less concrete than in verbal exchange. However, it presents a unique opportunity to open new levels of communication. With our music, we aim to make intercultural and interreligious exchange experienceable in an innovative way, thereby opening a new communicative, non-verbal level for exchange, which can, in turn, serve as a starting point and an initiation for verbal exchange at a societal level.
This approach is, on one hand, beneficial, but on the other hand, also debatable. This begins with the fact that we work with symbols, which, through their processing, are meant to trigger engagement with the topic, but could also be understood as colonial exploitation and exoticization of a (musical) culture. Therefore, we must continually ask ourselves to what extent we could be accused of “Orientalism” and cultural appropriation.
How do we deal with music being perceived differently? Does ASAMBURA work without the societal connotation?
Especially in choreographic and scenic collaborations, we have already experienced that the stereotypes we processed were received as reproduced and that their deconstruction was ignored. This would reverse the overall message of our artistic and ethical statement and the impact of the composition. It is important to us to always acknowledge these critical perspectives and discuss them together. We seek this dialogue through introductory talks, discussions, program booklets, our encounter projects (partly in the area of mediation), texts on our website and social media, and, in the future, in a podcast.
However, it is not necessarily required to gather additional information to understand the Asambura music, as we focus on the sonic, non-verbal level. A concert introduction and a program booklet are intended as listening aids to open up “new listening horizons,” to introduce our musical language, and make it more accessible. Nevertheless, an introduction and program booklet also carry the risk of depriving the audience of an unbiased, open hearing experience (which is important!) and pushing affective communication levels, which go beyond language, into the background. Therefore, for listening to and experiencing our music without written accompaniment (e.g., through a program booklet), it becomes all the more important that the reflection on the processed elements and symbols, and the breaking with the mere adoption of stereotypes, is clearly represented in the music itself!
It is important to mention that we do not claim to reflect cultures and religions in their entirety in our projects. This is impossible due to their complexity and heterogeneity. However, we allow ourselves to be inspired by aspects, practices, phenomena, and views and process them musically. Especially when engaging with “Islam” on a musical level, the accusation might arise that a large part of Sunnis and Shias, as well as other groups such as the Ahmadiyya, regard music as forbidden in Islam, that it does not appear in their religious services, and thus a musical representation of Islam is not possible. However, there are also Islamic music traditions, such as in Sufi traditions, Alevi religious services, and the rituals of the Shia ʿāšūrāʾ festival. Additionally, we process not only direct musical religious traditions but also other acoustic aspects of rituals, such as the different time layers that occur when, for example, prayers or recitations are performed in their own meter in a Jewish service. (cf. Missa Melasurej).
In doing so, we consciously leave some differences side by side, as inspiration for new perspectives on the “familiar” cultural traditions and as a vision of coexistence of these traditions on equal terms. The reinterpretation of the Babel parable into an appreciation of cultural diversity illustrates this approach.
As the Asambura Ensemble, we want to convey a societal dimension with our music, aimed at dialogue, encounter, and appreciation of diversity. Therefore, we begin all our concerts with a brief introduction as an offering of “listening aid” and to broaden the audience’s listening perspectives.
Our musical processing of diverse cultural and interreligious dialogues leads to the abstraction of sound elements, which are allowed to interact, while simultaneously conducting these dialogues on a level that opens up from the verbal to the emotional-affective. In this way, we aim to convey aspects of dialogue that would be difficult to express in a conversation—music opens new dimensions! We see ourselves as a dynamic collective that engages in dialogue with others in a respectful manner. We continue to learn, develop, and constantly question ourselves and our projects with the goal of contributing to mutual understanding through mediation perspectives.
© 2025 asambura ensemble