“What does it take to create a culture where it is allowed to fall into the bottomless abyss of heartache?”, asks Raoni Muzho Saleh. This poetic contemplation is the literary equivalent of Raoni’s ceremonial gatherings, which he calls “Mourning Socialities”. Throughout this episode, Raoni contemplates on the power and significance of the moan as an expression of mourning and how this sound connects with the profound states of loss and suffering. Interrogating himself, the listener and the societies of which they are a part, Raoni explores these questions in monologue and through moaning. By braiding the moan into the fabric of his speech, Raoni invites listeners to come together in a polyphonic groan to experience the commonality of grief. This bemoaning contemplation calls for a renewed relationship with the body and embodiment, where grief and loss are not only approached mentally and rationally but also experienced and expressed physically.

A transcript of the text is available here.

Raoni Muzho Saleh is a choreographer and performer based in Amsterdam. Born in Afghanistan and raised in Pakistan, his thinking and work is shaped by fugitivity as a radical movement. By dancing through the gender spectrum, Raoni has developed a unique movement practice that emphasizes “becoming other”, a continuous state of incompleteness. Through the use of materials such as textile, dough, voice, and text, Raoni invites a serious kind of play into space where all can become immersed in otherworldly stories.

This broadcast is the second of a three-part series on embodied listening and non-verbal vocal expression, curated by Radna Rumping. Other episodes: 'Laraaji - Guided Laughter Release' (out now) and ‘Laraaji, Raoni Muzho Saleh & Radna Rumping in conversation’ (3 October). All episodes will stay available through our archive.