Call for Submissions - Volume 30, Number 1
Issue thematic title: Experimental Sound from the Black and South Asian Diaspora
Date of Publication: April 2025
Publishers: Cambridge University Press

Issue co-ordinators: Amit Dinesh Patel (a.d.patel@greenwich.ac.uk)

Deadline for submission: 15 May 2024

Experimental Sound from the Black and South Asian Diaspora

Black and South Asian artists are some of the least represented ethnicities within the worlds of experimental sound. Indeed, as highlighted by Georgina Born and Kyle Devine, experimental sound is “a cultural–educational domain that is generally understood as ethnically unmarked or ‘non-raced’ – as representing the musical-universal, the ‘commonality of humanity’ in music – [but which] is experienced as ethnically White and as linked to an invisible politics of Whiteness” (Born and Devine, 2015, 139). Thus far, this has left very little space for alternative experiences or diverse role models. Black and South Asian experimental studio practices are an example of this exclusion.

Ethnically diverse artists and their narratives have largely been excluded from the traditional discourse. This issue of Organised Sound re-addresses such biased imbalances by providing marginalised artists/scholars and their underrepresented musical and sound practices, which are too often dismissed and excluded, with a space to express their experiences, thereby providing a valuable counterpoint to the normalised White majority discourse.

This issue is open to all, but in particular we actively encourage submissions from historically under-represented groups, inviting them to express their perspectives and build awareness of the rich contribution advanced by existing (and potential) cultural diversity in electroacoustic music and other sonic arts, addressing a significant knowledge gap within the field of experimental sound. Contributions to this are not only needed in terms of diversity and inclusivity but also in restating what can be understood by the term experimental sound. By experimental sound, we refer to innovative creative practices which fall outside of the mainstream including improvisation, computer music, noise, sound art, electroacoustic music, soundscape, soundsystem culture and others.

Potential topics:

• Aesthetics and sonic practices of Black and South Asian artists
• The revolution/evolution of the studio as instrument
• Decolonisation of experimental music
• Sonic cultures of Black and South Asian practice
• Non-European sound art
• Black and South Asian noise-based artists
• Soundsystem culture, the formation of a space for sound experimentation and presentation
• Strategies of inclusion and broadening access

Born, G. and Devine, K., 2015. Music technology, gender, and class: Digitization, educational and social change in Britain. Twentieth-Century Music, 12(2): 135-172.

Furthermore, as always, submissions unrelated to the theme but relevant to the journal’s areas of focus are always welcome.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 15 May 2024

SUBMISSION FORMAT:

Notes for Contributors including how to submit on Scholar One and further details can be obtained from the inside back cover of published issues of Organised Sound or at the following url: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/organised-sound/information/author-instructions/preparing-your-materials

General queries should be sent to: os@dmu.ac.uk, not to the guest editors.

Accepted articles will be published online via FirstView after copy editing prior to the paper version of the journal’s publication.

Editor: Leigh Landy; Associate Editor: James Andean
Founding Editors: Ross Kirk, Tony Myatt and Richard Orton†
Regional Editors: Ricardo Dal Farra, Dugal McKinnon, Jøran Rudi, Margaret Schedel, Barry Truax, David Worrall, Lonce Wyse
International Editorial Board: Marc Battier, Manuella Blackburn, Alessandro Cipriani, Simon Emmerson, Kenneth Fields, Rajmil Fischman, Eduardo Miranda, Rosemary Mountain, Garth Paine, Mary Simoni, Martin Supper, Daniel Teruggi

SUBMISSION FORMAT:

Notes for Contributors and further details can be obtained from the inside back cover of published issues of Organised Sound or at the following url:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/organised-sound (and download the pdf)

Properly formatted email submissions and general queries should be sent to: os@dmu.ac.uk, not to the guest editors.

Hard copy of articles and images and other material (e.g., sound and audio-visual files, etc. – normally max. 15’ sound files or 8’ movie files), both only when requested, should be submitted to:

Prof. Leigh Landy
Organised Sound
Clephan Building
De Montfort University
Leicester LE1 9BH, UK