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Paper short abstract

This essay follows the movement of air as it becomes voice and song, as it inscribes itself in the body and echoes through time and space. It is based on research about sound recordings in former German East Africa and explores the role of sound in knowledge production.

Paper long abstract

The essay is the continuation of the 'first round' of a broken record (published here: https://www.moussemagazine.it/publishing/aaron-amar-bhamra-celine-mathieu-fugue-johanna-schindler-book-2025/), inspired by an actual broken wax cylinder once used to record indigenous vocals and instrument play in former German East Africa. Following the movement of vibrating air inscribed in the turning cylinder with a stylus and reproduced from these traces as audio tracks, the text suggests linearity, yet shifts slightly with each sentence, sometimes with each word, just to conclude a circle and begin again, or so it seems. The essay combines academic writing (my own and quotations) with popular cultural songs to reflect on the role of sound and voice in knowledge production, on embodied knowledge related to air, on echoes of the past as well as on colonial knowledge production.

“… how do you still trust the track which you believe someone composed and while you’re not sure whether that someone is present you’re definitely sure it’s not you, how do you stick to the imagecategory in your mind when the ground is shaking and your vision shifting and the sound dizzying and the air thickening, did you really think transparency was going to solve the issue, …”