SONIC AGENCY – ARIEL WILLIAM ORAH – “JIKALAU”

Jikalau,
Jikalau Petaka ini tak terlaksana
Mau kubawa kemana hasrat dunia?

Atur melantur tak ujung terukur
Dilema abadi mencari makna struktur

Manusia hidup mencari makna
Merangkai kata merajut kelana
Bara asmara tak kunjung reda
Dikala tua sungkanlah muda

Apa adalah tanya tanya
Kenapa selalu buatku terpana
Kemana arah bisa kuraba
Siapa yang kini bisa kusapa

Jikalau,
Jikalau Petaka ini tak terlaksana
Mau kubawa kemana hasrat dunia?

If,
Restoring humanity as easy as delivering humiliation,
Where to put my clarity in this overwhelming globalization?

What if?
All of this never happened. I wouldn’t be me.

If only..

–

Ariel William Orah is a musician,sound artist, and cultural practitioner. He was born in Bandung, Indonesia and has been  living and working in Berlin, Germany for the past 13 years. As part of his artistic practice, Orah works with various sound constellations,media,techniques and formats. After regularly composing music for theater, dance, and film, Orah also began to conceptualize, compose and direct his own experimental theater music pieces in 2021 with GAUNG, (Ballhaus Naunynstrasse,2021,2022), and follow up by ARYATI (Hauptstadtkulturfonds,Uferstudios, 2022), KIAMAT (Musikfonds e.V.,2022), SCAR-CITY (Ballhaus Naunynstraße,Berliner Projektfonds Kulturelle Bildung,2023), and the ongoing piece “Melancholic melody of the new economic” (Ballhaus Naunynstraße, 2004). Orah has released numerous solo albums and performed  under the pseudonym ravenative and is actively involved in various sound constellations such as grau&, soydivision ensemble, böseblick ensemble, RANGKĄ, and OKNUM. In addition to his work as an artist, he is also active as a curator and artistic researcher, especially in the field of performing art and sound.

For the last six years, Orah’s work centered on a collaborative platform and artist group sōydivsion, which he founded in 2017 and the platform has been curating, organizing and involved in more than 180 artistic formats to date – ranging from event series, performances, workshops to residencies and festivals in Berlin and all over the globe. He also co-founded and actively involved in Mutating Kinship Lab (Think Tank Lab for Asian Diaspora Artist-led, supported by Fonds Dastellende Künste since 2022 and 2023) and L-KW (empathy driven sonic syndicate focus on sonic activism and diaspora).