Every Known Abuse: Politics With A Backbeat

Every Known Abuse: Politics With A Backbeat

A mixtape by Amal Nahurriyeh, amalnahurriyeh/amalnahurriyeh, amalnahurriyeh at gmail dot com

Made for fiercynn, for her generous donation to help_pakistan.

Content Note: Music on this mixtape contains explicit language, both curse words and racist language. In my quotations, I've left most language intact, but I've starred out racial epithets.

It's hard putting together a mixtape for someone! When I offered music, I suggested "music about politics that isn't traditional protest music," and fiercynn was intrigued. I hope this is as interesting as the concept!

This mix proceeds from my own political position, as a white feminist and leftist, born and raised in the US, whose musical taste and political perspective are deeply rooted in those places. It's also composed from my intellectual biases, towards examining life and politics primarily as about communication and language, in which all interests and desires are necessarily filtered through speech acts before they can enter the political world. Many of these songs are about speaking in political space, and coming to political voice. In fact, that's much of what I think "non-political" music can do for politics; it can enter into the conversation, become a new way of speaking about political life in ways that don't have to adhere to set narratives, or can speak across limited frameworks.

While all these songs have interesting politics, I also love them each as pieces of music. Political art only works, I think, if it is successful as art, not just as polemic. These songs are all awesome. That's what makes them useful.

( 11 tracks: Jay-Z, Beth Orton, Janelle Monae, Fountains of Wayne, and others... )

Download the mix, track-by-track, here.