Description:
An ethnographic look at the techno and house music of the Arab diaspora in Canada
This book analyses electronic music soundscapes as a way of exploring the lived experiences of cosmopolitan, Arab-identified individuals living in Toronto and Montreal. By deconstructing the soundscape into various 'Arabscapes' samples of Arabic music in house and techno tracks, examples of Arabic language performance, Orientalist conversations, and sonic responses that jam Orientalist messages, Fulton-Melanson argues that Arabscapes 'sound' the Arab diaspora in multicultural Canada in the way they unveil the experience of memory and nostalgia, presence and absence, racism and (mis)interpellation, and the various subtle realities that one must consider when ethically navigating such cultural complexities.
Brief description: Jillian Fulton-Melanson is based between Toronto and Casablanca. She holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from York University and has training in ethnomusicology, education, and music performance. She is a member of various education and research teams at York University.
Review Quotes:
Arab Techno for the People pulses with the rhythms of complex, interconnected lives. Conceptually capacious and eloquent, Fulton-Melanson weaves together threads of fieldwork vignettes, interviews, conversations, embodied experiences, and chance encounters into a vivid tapestry of insightful storytelling. This book captures the throb and flow of Arab techno worlds in Toronto and Montreal through snapshots, sketches, sounds, and stories that speak to the complexities of diasporic dancefloors, buzzing with connection and tension, yearning and release.
- Luis Manuel Garcia-Mispireta, author of Together Somehow: Music, Affect, and Intimacy on the Dancefloor (2023)