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Seeing Sounds

Awesome Tapes From Africa

  • Events, Paris
  • Thu 12 Nov 2026, 19:00 → 20:00
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Cover Seeing Sounds Awesome Tapes © Jaime Massieu
Cover Seeing Sounds Awesome Tapes © Jaime Massieu

Location

Studio Marie-Claude Beaud

Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain

Porte Saint-Honoré

Directions

Price

15€ | 10 €

Infos

Duration : 1h

Seeing Sounds is a series of events dedicated to the dissemination of recorded music. Conceived for the Marie-Claude Beaud Studio, the project offers a moment dedicated to a physical and collective listening experience, facilitated by a sound installation specially developed for the occasion.

This Seeing Sounds session echoes Ibrahim Mahama's exhibition, whose work explores the circulation of people, objects, materials, and narratives between Ghana and the rest of the world. Through a selection of rare and emblematic recordings, Brian Shimkovitz will offer an exploration of highlife, a genre that originated in Ghana at the beginning of the 20th century. This significant genre blends Ghanaian rhythms and musical traditions with Western instruments and jazz influences, giving rise to music that is at once festive, sophisticated, and deeply rooted in local culture.

Throughout the session, he will trace the evolution of highlife, its numerous ramifications, and its lasting influence on popular music in West Africa and beyond. More than just a history of highlife, this encounter invites us to listen to music as a space where memory, identity, migration, and transmission intersect, making listening a sensitive extension of the questions raised by Ibrahim Mahama's exhibition. 

Concept and Musical Programming: Souleymane Said

Bio Awesome Tapes Brian Shimkovitz © Georgina Fakunmoju

Brian Shimkovitz

Brian Shimkovitz is the founder of the label Awesome Tapes From Africa, established in 2006 following research conducted in Ghana focusing on highlife, one of West Africa's most emblematic musical genres. For nearly twenty years, the label has played a crucial role in the rediscovery, preservation, and dissemination of music often absent from traditional distribution channels.

By collecting tapes from musicians, collectors, or local markets, Awesome Tapes From Africa helps to bring to light an exceptionally rich sonic heritage, while developing a model based on close collaboration with artists and their rights holders. 

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