QF artists are sending a new soundwave across Doha

An experimental and imaginative experience is emerging in Doha’s art scene – and it goes by the name of Sonic Jeel.

Born in and supported by Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar) – a Qatar Foundation partner university - the multidisciplinary platform aims to create more awareness about contemporary culture related to electronic music, sound installations, and audiovisual approaches, while working alongside the wider creative community in Doha and the region.

Sonic Jeel defines themselves as a collaborative initiative made up of artists investigating sound design and audiovisual media within the context of Qatar and Gulf Region. The group is made up of VCUarts Qatar faculty members Michael Hersrud, Associate Professor, and Simone Muscolino, Director of Art Foundation, with other VCUarts Qatar faculty, students, and alumni joining in.

They describe their ambition as building a platform for “exploratory research production and distribution of experimental sonic work in support of the growing creative local industry.” And their energetic sound is heavily influenced by the unique experience they are living in Doha. “Our work is deeply influenced by the place in which we reside, the sounds we hear around us, and the people we meet,” said Muscolino. “It's kind of embedded in the creative process.”

Both group members recognize that being a professor is not just delivering information to students, but fostering exchanges through conversation and work that ultimately influences each other culturally and creatively. “It’s a special experience,” said Hersrud. “We are fortunate to collaborate with an international pool of students and faculty at VCUarts Qatar, and I'm happy that this mix of culture can be heard in the unique sounds that Sonic Jeel has produced.”

Simone added, “Working in an art and design university, we are more engaged with the visual creative community, but we hope to expand that network to connect with others in Qatar and the region who are interested in contemporary sound, sonification and electronic music.”

Over the past year, Sonic Jeel has worked closely with Hadeer Omar, Assistant Professor at VCUarts Qatar and an independently practicing new media artist. Hadeer is a primary collaborator with Sonic Jeel and has been integral to several recent performances, specifically contributing her expertise of projected video and light to create immersive spaces. “We are all faculty at VCUarts Qatar and have many overlapping interests, so there is a lot of exchange that happens daily and we contribute to each other's research,” said Omar.

The artistic collective are passionate when it comes to showcasing their work and have participated in multiple local and international art events over the past year. “Sound is often intangible, so we attempt to connect our sound production to something physical — that could translate to an object, or activating a space for an event, similar to what we did for Printed Matter’s Virtual Art Book Fair in New York.” said Hersrud. “It was a pre-recorded choreographed audiovisual performance involving several students and alumnae. We filmed in three physical locations, but the final work was an online virtual event.”

Another physical event that took place was the activation of the historical site Al Koot Fort near Msheireb Properties and Souq Waqif in March 2021. The project was part of the Tasweer festival, supported by Qatar Museums and initiated by Hadeer Omar. “The concept of the installation at the fort was to take inspiration from nearby surroundings and bring them inside the fort through sound and visuals — to reactivate the fort which has not had visitors for several years” explains Omar.

Sonic Jeel worked onsite at the fort with Hadeer for several - months. “Together we went on adventures of Souq Waqif to capture sounds as source material. From the crackling of food in street vendors, chiming of bells, conversations of people, or the trotting of horses — all these recordings were the starting point to create our compositions,” said Hersrud.

“It was wonderful to work with Hadeer, she filmed the Souq using 360-degree cameras, and other cameras with unique close-up lenses and in extreme slow motion, this created a dream-like feeling we were trying to achieve. Through several exchanges between us, the sounds and visuals were remixed and paired together to transform the fort into a surreal sensory experience. We wanted attendees to experience familiar sights and sounds, but in a completely new way.”

Sonic Jeel took to a virtual stage in July 2021 for their first full live performance via the online edition of the London-based Shubbak festival, a live program of events led by contemporary artists across the Arab world. In partnership with Getfadaa, an online platform connecting artists and spaces around the world, and Msheireb Downtown Doha’s Al Hosh Gallery, the group represented Doha under the theme When the World Closed, which also saw ambitious acts from Khartoum, Beirut, Gaza, and Marrakech through different art forms such as dance, visual arts, music, and theatre.

They were joined by Sarah Elawad, a VCUarts Qatar alumna and a member of Doha’s creative community as a multidisciplinary artist, with their performance being livestreamed on Twitch.

Building upon their former collaboration at the Al Koot Fort, Sonic Jeel worked together with Hadeer to sample a library of original sounds and imagery to create an immersive cinematic-like experience. The artists used four brick-made stations of synthesizers and laptops, setting the environment of the space with matrix-feel lights and visuals familiar to culture in Qatar that were brought together by electronic beats mixed with local sounds.

“From my own perspective, the performance was like a love letter to this country and expressing what it was like to live the pandemic in Qatar while witnessing the developments, capturing these everyday mundane moments people may be taking advantage of and highlighting the simple elements that makes the city what it is” said Omar.

And Hersrud added: “I would like to do more performances like this in the future. I imagine having smaller, more intimate settings where people in the audience are part of the experience — responding to the moment instead of being too prescriptive".

Most recently, Sonic Jeel released their first curated album, titled Zekreet, and are also part of the Gwangju Design Biennale 2021 D’Revolution in Korea, which is running until October 31. Supported by QF and VCUarts Qatar, Zekreet is an electronic avant-pop compilation album featuring 17 local artists and was created during a three-year period.

The community joint project examines a variety of poetic rhythms, each track blending ambient textures, dissonance, and samples offering an electrifying experience through a contemporary local context. “Everyone that was involved in activities of the album has spent significant time here in Doha,” said Muscolino. “Maybe some of them are not living here anymore, but everyone has been around this community.”

The vividly colored album artwork was created in collaboration with the design group Water With Water, another initiative founded in VCUarts Qatar by Nathan Ross Davis and partnering with Sarah Elawad, whose voltaic merchandise is also available at the Education City Gift Shop at QF.

“We wanted something that resonated with the space [Zekreet] that’s surprising, totally new and dislocated but at the same time familiar and feels like home” said Davis, while Elawad adds: “We wanted to go all out in this particular project building on how we usually work and how we interpreted the songs in the album.”

And in September, a pop-up album release event unveiled a limited-edition double vinyl recording, celebrated with Doha’s creative community at Studio 7, Msheireb Downtown Doha’s design concept store. Visitors listened to the record on turntables and engaged with the audio-visual tools throughout the space, composing their own experience.

You can listen to the album Zekreet on SoundCloud or get a vinyl copy at Studio 7 in Msheireb Downtown Doha, or on the waterwithwater website. You can follow Sonic Jeel’s journey on Instagram or visit on the web at sonicjeel.me.