Commission to Sam Salem

Supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, NO HAY BANDA has commissioned Sam Salem to compose Ritual Positions, a one-hour multimedia work for six amplified musicians, live electronics, and audiovisual media. The piece will be performed at NO HAY BANDA’s annual concert series at La Sala Rossa, as well as at Another Sky Festival in London, co-founded by Salem and Emily Moore to spotlight experimental music from the SWANA (Southwest Asia & North Africa) region and its diaspora.

Salem’s process begins with conversations with performers about their personal histories and environments. He gathers archival texts, sounds, and images from these contexts, drawing inspiration from psychogeographer Iain Sinclair, who explores the hidden narratives of urban space.

Ritual Positions is influenced by James Webb’s The Flight from Reason, which examines modern occultism and its ties to Romanticism, as well as the encyclopaedia of ancient mythology and symbolism, The Teachings of All Ages. Salem explores how such movements reflect cultural and colonial encounters.

The work features audio and video created using obsolete computers, with salvaged computer parts integrated into the percussion instruments—evoking the idea that outdated technology will outlive all humans. These elements are juxtaposed with AI-mediated sound and imagery, producing an uncanny, disembodied distortion of reality.

Further Information:
nohaybanda.ca

Dates

September 19, 2026
La Sala Rossa, Montréal

September 25, 2026
St. John on Bethnal Green, London