Image and Sound

OFFBEAT Film: Musical Brotherhoods
Saturday, May 23, 4-8 PM
Spațiul OFFBEAT, Floor 1, Room 3
MALMAISON OPEN DOORS 11
Atelierele Malmaison

Musical Brotherhoods from the Trans-Saharan Highway
Documentary, directed by Hisham Mayet, produced by Sublime Frequencies, USA, 2008
Runtime: 56:29', English

"Filmed in 2005 by Hisham Mayet predominately at the Jemaa Al Fna in Marrakesh Morocco, 'Musical Brotherhoods of the Trans-Saharan Highway' captures an assortment of spectacular musical dramas presented live and unfiltered on the home turf of the world's most dynamic string and drum specialists performing and manifesting the ecstatic truth. Ancient mystical brotherhoods have been flourishing for centuries in and around the cities of Marrakesh and Essaouira in Morocco where the trade caravans have gathered from their long journeys across the Trans-Saharan Highway. This is some of the last great street music on Earth. A must see for string aficionados looking for inspiration as electric ouds, banjos, mandolins and the Gnawa sentir peel flesh from bone right before your eyes!"
www.sublimefrequencies.com

Hisham Mayet (b. Barbary Coast of North Africa) is a filmmaker, photographer, musical researcher and sound adventurer based in Portland Oregon. Together with Alan Bishop (member of the defunct cult band Sun City Girls), Hisham is co-founder and co-owner of the Sublime Frequencies label, where he has realized various documentary films and music recordings. He has traveled all around the world documenting many obscure scenes, from eastern psyche pop to Sahel post folk, from ancient to more futuristic.
https://electramagazine.fundacaoedp.pt/en/editions/issue-7/week-tangier-hisham-mayet

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is a collective dedicated to exposing obscure sounds and sights from global frontiers. Through film, field recordings, and radio, they document music and cultural expressions overlooked by academia and industry, driven by an aesthetic of extra-geography and soulful research.
https://sublime-frequencies.bandcamp.com/

This screening is held exclusively for educational purposes, with the kind permission of Hisham Mayet. The film will run in a continuous loop.

Credits (film still): 'Musical Brotherhoods from the Trans-Saharan Highway' (SF 2008)

OFFBEAT 3.3. Hisham Mayet
Lecture & Listening Session
Tuesday, 26.05.2026, 19:00 h
Goethe-Institut Bucuresti
Free Entrance!

Lecture: I am Libya
A swan dive into a sonic exploration of music and ritual from western Libya. A phantasmagoria of sound, meant to in equal measure, illuminate and confound the listener. Recordings made on location in Tripoli, Sabratha, Tajoura and Ghadames in Libya from 2001-2008 by Hisham Mayet.

Listening Session: An unreleased audio document (forthcoming for publication in late 2026 on Sublime Frequencies) showcasing a variety of field recordings, radio transmissions, street phonography, analog vinyl and cassette recordings all juxtaposed in a dizzying array of cathartic sensory overload.

Hisham Mayet is a filmmaker, photographer, musical researcher and sound adventurer. Together with Alan Bishop Hisham is co-founder of the Sublime Frequencies label. He has traveled all around the world documenting many obscure scenes, from eastern psyche pop to Sahel post folk, from ancient to more futuristic.
https://electramagazine.fundacaoedp.pt/

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is a collective of explorers dedicated to unearthing and exposing obscure sounds and sights from global frontiers. Through film, field recordings, and radio, they document music and cultural expressions overlooked by academia and industry, driven by an aesthetic of extra-geography and soulful research.
https://www.sublimefrequencies.com/

An Alternative History of Music