Sunday, January 8, 2023

During a long, and rather grueling, car ride from the city of Tunis to the rural south, I often distracted myself by listening to music. Similar to as I would in any other car ride, I was quick to jump to some of my favorite American popular artists such as SZA and Kendrick Lamar.

During this experience, which I thought would be quite unproductive and mindless, I found myself confronting a seemingly-unusual line of questions. Among many considerations, I kept thinking how unusual it was for me to pair images of the Sahara desert and occasional wild caravans of camels with the sounds of Kendrick Lamar’s newest hip hop album. I couldn’t help but think of how “out of place” this music sounded out here in North Africa.

But where does music belong? Where is it not “out of place?” Why? What is the relationship between music and physical space?

Perhaps this intriguing line of questions isn’t limited to the geographical area that was introduced to me during this specific trip, however, regardless of how applicable these questions might be to any other part of the world, it is true that it took this trip for me to reflect on these lines of questions.

Being in a new place prompts you to be more curious of the world around you, pushing you to ask questions that you otherwise wouldn’t ask in familiar spaces. Each individual’s curiosity will bring a new line of questions, giving a new lens to see the world through - these are my own.