New start
The online magazine Norient has become a platform that presents and reflects on current, primarily urban musical phenomena from all continents.
Norient has the merit of having brought the journalistic treatment of what is referred to as world music out of the corner of the orchid subject of ethnomusicology. When it was founded around twenty years ago, the online magazine was a necessary statement against leaving the folklore of the world to propagandistic nationalist circles. The thematic grid provided with the new website shows that left-wing urban preferences are now even more prominent: The keyword catalog ranges from activism to colonialism, countercultures, ethics, gender roles, queer to technology and climate change.
According to the platform's own definition, the aim is "to support (sub)cultural diversity, broaden horizons and stimulate dialog between people, continents and disciplines". However, the platform falls into the trap of activist mixing of form and content: the type of presentation is not so value-tolerant that it would promote the hope of broadening horizons. The design of the site follows typical urban-ideological design trends. To outsiders, this may seem original, but it is confusing, even chaotic. The uninitiated feel excluded. It's a shame, as many of the contributions would also be inspiring for those who think differently.
The relaunch of the site can be seen as a symptom of a global shift in cultural boundaries: away from a categorization into first and third world or industrialized and underdeveloped countries, towards a widening gap between traditional and metropolitan lifeworlds. There is a danger that conformity will be created instead of the claimed diversity. The result is a trendy urban aesthetic and ethic that makes the cultural scenes of metropolitan areas all over the world interchangeable, while the democratic potential of the leisurely and highly participatory renewal processes of local popular cultures is increasingly seen as a stumbling block.
