Most long-term residents in Qatar are familiar with the country’s iconic landmarks and buildings – show them a photograph of Souq Waqif and recognition are instant. But what if they could identify landmarks or neighbourhoods in Doha through sound and not visual imagery?

Well, that’s exactly what a workshop co-conducted by two faculty members at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar) focused on.

Art Foundation programme Director Simone Muscolino and Graphic Design Associate Professor Michael Hersrud have collaborated with Hadeel Eltayeb, the Curator in Residence at the Fire Station, for a series of workshops aimed at creating a sonic map of Doha by generating a collective audio archive of places and memories.

The workshops, collectively titled ‘I licked the sugar off the walls of my memory’, involved sound design artists and enthusiasts from the wider community. The workshops were free, open to the public and held at the Fire Station and VCUarts Qatar.

Participants also went on sound recording field trips across the city and its suburbs, capturing audio specific to a location or activity. The recordings were then combined to form an abstract sonic landscape that takes a listener on a journey through Doha.

Both Hersrud and Muscolino are experienced in audio design. They lead Sonic Jeel (Jeel means ‘generation’ in Arabic) a lab investigating sound, noise, electronic music, and audiovisual media within the context of Qatar and the Gulf region, at VCUarts Qatar.

A world outside

According to the proposal shared by Eltayeb, the title of the workshop comes from a Nizar Qabbani poem which speaks to the sweetness of nostalgia, be it in audio or visual form. She said that the practical elements of the workshops showed how as humans, our memories of a specific geographical location are intertwined with our personal responses to visual, audio or other stimuli of the place, forming an invisible thread that connects us to a world outside of ourselves.

Hersrud and Muscolino noted that public response to the workshop announcement has been encouraging.

We were surprised and delighted to see the number of sound design enthusiasts in Doha, Hersrud said.

We put out a call to fill around a dozen places and around 25 people responded. This means Doha has a promising community of sound artists.

Hersrud said it was a wonderful experience for the participants as well as for them, with a lot of discussions around the connection of memory, sound and place. It was a great start and he said they certainly plan to conduct similar workshops in the future.

Feedback

For most participants, the idea of a sound design workshop was new. According to Abdul Basit, a visual merchandiser currently in an internship programme at the National Museum of Qatar, the workshop announcement was unexpected.

He said he was surprised to hear that VCUarts Qatar was offering workshops in sound design. Basit said he always associated the university with fine arts, graphic design and interior design. But he found the purpose and practical elements of the workshop engaging.

He covered the New and Old Msheireb neighbourhoods.

He said it was a revelation that a locality had so much to offer in terms of sound alone.

I noticed noises I’d normally overlook: the sound of water dripping from an A/C outlet into a bucket, of a plastic bottle being kicked around by a man who was walking along the sidewalk, of cats outside a hotel lobby, of dry leaves and grass, and of the mechanical whirr of a sewing machine.

What was unforgettable though, was recording the memories of a person who lived in the old Msheireb neighbourhood back in the 1990s. The person spoke with warmth and longing and shared how he used to go cycling with his friends and swim in the local water tanks with his brother.

Looking back, I feel happy that I was part of a workshop that taught us how sound can help save the memories of space in relation to its whereabouts.

The field trips were the highlight for the Museums and Galleries Curator from Tunisia, Amal Boukadida.

She said he used his mobile phone to record natural sounds at Souq Waqif, including human conversations and singing, children laughing, vendors calling out their wares, birds chirping, and ambient noise such as the hum of air conditioners and coolers, and even chairs scraping.

Boukadida, who has an MA in Curating and Art Exhibition from Tunisia’s Higher Institute of Fine Art, said it was fun to go back to the studio, edit the recordings and add soundtracks to make something memorable that can be archived.

She added, that attending the workshop was a fantastic way to connect with locals who share your interests but have distinct traditions and cultures.

It was an excellent opportunity to experiment with various techniques and learn more about a variety of musical instruments and sound equipment.

To learn more about the different workshops and programmes on offer at VCUarts Qatar, visit their website at qatar.vcu.edu.

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