Spațiul Offbeat

Spațiul Offbeat OFFBEAT este un cadru flexibil de întâlnire și dialog despre arhive și colecționari de rarități muzicale, sunet și experiment.

Program cultural realizat de Image and Sound și co-finanțat de Administraţia Fondului Cultural Naţional.

Short reminder: tomorrow is your chance to meet Rui Pedro Dâmaso — music & sound curator, author and manager of Unearthi...
01/06/2026

Short reminder: tomorrow is your chance to meet Rui Pedro Dâmaso — music & sound curator, author and manager of Unearthing The Music, and co-founder and co-director of OUT.RA - Associação Cultural from Portugal.
We will explore the European research and editorial project Unearthing The Music focused on experimental and underground music in “non-democratic” Europe (1950–2000), listen to the 2018–2022 discoveries of the five involved organizations, and much more.

An Alternative History of Music
Tuesday, June 2 at 7 PM
Goethe-Institut Bucuresti
Presentation & Listening Session
"Unearthing the Music: Listening With a Map (and Getting Lost)"
Free entry!

See you tomorrow!!!

Photo credits/sources:
1, 3 — https://www.facebook.com/Unearthingthemusic
4 — https://www.facebook.com/berlinarkaoda
https://www.facebook.com/ruipedro.damaso.5/photos
5, 6, 7, 10, 11 — Rui Pedro Dâmaso
8,9 — Photos from Unearthing the Music's live event in Bucharest, Romania—Umscene 1 | „Medium V” by Iancu Dumitrescu for Zach Rowden—organized by project partner Asociaţia Jumătatea plină / Octav Avramescu & Anamaria Pravicencu (https://www.facebook.com/Unearthingthemusic).
14 — https://www.facebook.com/ruipedro.damaso.5/photos

An Alternative History of Music


OFFBEAT 3.4. Rui Pedro DâmasoPresentation & Listening SessionTuesday, 2.06.2026, 19:00 hGoethe-Institut BucurestiFree En...
28/05/2026

OFFBEAT 3.4. Rui Pedro Dâmaso
Presentation & Listening Session
Tuesday, 2.06.2026, 19:00 h
Goethe-Institut Bucuresti
Free Entrance!

Unearthing the Music: Listening With a Map (and Getting Lost)

This presentation takes Unearthing the Music — a research and editorial project on experimental and underground music in “non-democratic” Europe (1950–2000) — as a starting point for a deliberately unstructured, non-academic overview, moving through the project’s website and final book in real time, following connections, detours and occasional dead ends.
The presentation may involve a series of non-sequiturs on topics such as scarcity vs abundance of music, lazy and/or overwhelmed listener’s guilt, imagined political landscapes, East–West–and–the–Rest, state-sponsored creativity, no-creativity-please, the ontological impossibility of archives and collections, the ever-changing past or the limitless, slightly terrifying world of non-specialisation.

Rui Pedro Dâmaso is a music & sound curator based in Barreiro, Portugal. He is the author and manager of the Unearthing The Music project and a co-founder and co-director at OUT.RA - Associação Cultural, a not-for-profit cultural association which organizes OUT.FEST (one of Portugal's most distinctive experimental music festivals) and SONICA EKRANO (a documentary film festival focused on music) as well as a diversity of live music, field recordings and research projects.
http://outra.pt/

Unearthing the Music is a collaborative project that, between 2018 and 2022, united five organizations from five different European countries, all actively interested in the history and in the stories surrounding experimental music in Europe, particularly in countries and regimes where the conditions for creative freedom were hardly met throughout the second part of the 20th century.
http://unearthingthemusic.eu/

An Alternative History of Music


Yesterday, we gathered for the third episode of An Alternative History of Music series, and we were honored to have His...
27/05/2026

Yesterday, we gathered for the third episode of An Alternative History of Music series, and we were honored to have Hisham Mayet with us, co-founder and co-owner of SUBLIME FREQUENCIES label, filmmaker, photographer, musical researcher and sound adventurer. Thank you, Hisham, for accepting our invitation and for sharing your valuable experience!

To our audience: we are deeply grateful you chose to spend your evening with us, supporting Bucharest's fragile cultural scene. We hope to see you next Tuesday, June 2, when we welcome Rui Pedro Dâmaso, author and coordinator of the Unearthing the Music project.

26.05.2026, Goethe-Institut Bucuresti
Photos (2): Petre Fall
Great photos, Petre!



OFFBEAT 3.3. Hisham MayetPresentation, listening & talks26.05.2026Photos (1): Petre Fall Big thanks to Hisham Mayet (SUB...
27/05/2026

OFFBEAT 3.3. Hisham Mayet
Presentation, listening & talks
26.05.2026
Photos (1): Petre Fall

Big thanks to Hisham Mayet (SUBLIME FREQUENCIES), to our host Goethe-Institut Bucuresti, to Petre (photo/video) and to all who joined us!!!

We would also like to thank Bogdan Scoromide for helping us reach Hisham.

Mark your calendars for the next week:
On Tuesday, June 2 at 7 PM
Rui Pedro Dâmaso / 'Unearthing The Music' project

An Alternative History of Music


Tonight at 7 PM, join us at Goethe-Institut Bucuresti to welcome Hisham Mayet—filmmaker, photographer, musical researche...
26/05/2026

Tonight at 7 PM, join us at Goethe-Institut Bucuresti to welcome Hisham Mayet—filmmaker, photographer, musical researcher, sonic adventurer, and co-founder of the legendary SUBLIME FREQUENCIES.

An Alternative History of Music
Lecture & Listening Session: "I am Libya"
A sonic exploration of music and ritual from western Libya; recordings made on location in Tripoli, Sabratha, Tajoura and Ghadames in Libya from 2001-2008. Never published before, you'll have the chance to be the first listeners of this audio document, long before its release—late 2026.
Also, come and pick up your Sublime Frequencies records and films without wasting money for shipping fees—a special selection brought to you by Hisham Mayet.
Free entry!

"My first contact with Alan and the Sun City Girls was in the mid-’90s. In 2000, I moved to Seattle, and shortly thereafter, a close friendship developed with Alan. After a couple of years, I approached Alan about starting a label that dealt with our respective archives of recorded material from the many years of travel. A group of us had been informally getting together on weekends showing different material. We then started doing public screenings around Seattle. After some enthusiastic responses, we decided to go on a su***de mission and start a label dealing with obscure and esoteric music and video from the far reaches of the globe."

Excerpt from an interview with Hisham Mayet by Chris Toenes.
https://indyweek.com/news/culture/music/hisham-mayet-travels-world-seeking-ecstasy-sound/


OFFBEAT Film: Musical Brotherhoods "Musical Brotherhoods from the Trans-Saharan Highway"(Hisham Mayet, 2008)23.05.2026, ...
25/05/2026

OFFBEAT Film: Musical Brotherhoods "Musical Brotherhoods from the Trans-Saharan Highway"
(Hisham Mayet, 2008)
23.05.2026, Spațiul OFFBEAT
Part of MALMAISON OPEN DOORS

Big thanks to Hisham Mayet, to and to everyone who visited us! We highly appreciate your support!

See you tomorrow, 7 PM, at Goethe-Institut Bucuresti to meet the filmmaker, photographer, musical researcher and sound adventurer Hisham Mayet, co-founder of the SUBLIME FREQUENCIES label.

Lecture & Listening: "I am Libya"
A swan dive into a sonic exploration of music and ritual from western Libya. A phantasmagoria of sound, meant to in equal measure, illuminate and confound the listener showcasing a variety of field recordings, radio transmissions, street phonography, analog vinyl and cassette recordings all juxtaposed in a dizzying array of cathartic sensory overload. Recordings made on location in Tripoli, Sabratha, Tajoura and Ghadames in Libya from 2001-2008 by Hisham Mayet.

Don't miss it!!!


Film Screening: "Musical Brotherhoods From The Trans-Saharan Highway"Saturday, 23 May, 4-8 PMOFFBEAT Film: Musical Broth...
22/05/2026

Film Screening: "Musical Brotherhoods From The Trans-Saharan Highway"
Saturday, 23 May, 4-8 PM
OFFBEAT Film: Musical Brotherhoods
Part of MALMAISON OPEN DOORS 11

"Directed by Hisham Mayet and shot on location in 2005, mostly in Jemma Al Fna, the film is an entry into the magical world that comes to life after the sun sets in the market." (Richard Marcus)
Released in 2008 by the Seattle-based music and video production company SUBLIME FREQUENCIES.

"The Trans-Saharan Highway follows the old the caravan routes across the Sahara desert, beginning in the Moroccan port city of Essaouira and traveling down the road to Marrakesh before setting off into the sand. The market in Marrakesh, Jemma (or Djemaa) el Fna has been the gathering spot for caravans setting out upon the trade routes for centuries now. By day the market bustles with the sight, sound and smell of colours and scents from all over Africa and the East while the business of trade is carried out. But when darkness falls and the shutters close, merchants covering the stalls with their bolts of cloth and heaps of spices, the descendants of generation's old musical brotherhoods begin to perform."
Review by Richard Marcus, 2008
https://blogcritics.org/music-dvd-review-various-performers-musical/

"Archivist Hisham Mayet jams himself, his audio recorder and his camera into remote places. In what his label, Sublime Frequencies, calls “folk cinema,” Mayet aims to capture the personal essence and rituals of cultures, from the Bori cult dance ceremony to the ancient mystical gatherings formed around centuries-old Moroccan trade caravans. His work straddles the line between straight documentary and hand-held intimate home movies; often, the mesmerizing footage is its own narrator."
Interview by Chris Toenes, 2007
https://indyweek.com/news/culture/music/hisham-mayet-travels-world-seeking-ecstasy-sound/

The film screening is held exclusively for educational purposes, with the kind permission of Hisham Mayet. The film will run in a continuous loop from 4 PM to 8 PM.
Credits (film stills): "Musical Brotherhoods From The Trans-Saharan Highway" (SF 2008)



OFFBEAT Film: Musical BrotherhoodsSaturday, May 23, 4-8 PMSpațiul OFFBEAT, Floor 1, Room 3MALMAISON OPEN DOORS 11Atelier...
21/05/2026

OFFBEAT Film: Musical Brotherhoods
Saturday, May 23, 4-8 PM
Spațiul OFFBEAT, Floor 1, Room 3
MALMAISON OPEN DOORS 11
Atelierele Malmaison

Musical Brotherhoods from the Trans-Saharan Highway
Documentary, directed by Hisham Mayet, produced by Sublime Frequencies, USA, 2008
Runtime: 56:29', English

"Filmed in 2005 by Hisham Mayet predominately at the Jemaa Al Fna in Marrakesh Morocco, 'Musical Brotherhoods of the Trans-Saharan Highway' captures an assortment of spectacular musical dramas presented live and unfiltered on the home turf of the world's most dynamic string and drum specialists performing and manifesting the ecstatic truth. Ancient mystical brotherhoods have been flourishing for centuries in and around the cities of Marrakesh and Essaouira in Morocco where the trade caravans have gathered from their long journeys across the Trans-Saharan Highway. This is some of the last great street music on Earth. A must see for string aficionados looking for inspiration as electric ouds, banjos, mandolins and the Gnawa sentir peel flesh from bone right before your eyes!"
www.sublimefrequencies.com

Hisham Mayet (b. Barbary Coast of North Africa) is a filmmaker, photographer, musical researcher and sound adventurer based in Portland Oregon. Together with Alan Bishop (member of the defunct cult band Sun City Girls), Hisham is co-founder and co-owner of the Sublime Frequencies label, where he has realized various documentary films and music recordings. He has traveled all around the world documenting many obscure scenes, from eastern psyche pop to Sahel post folk, from ancient to more futuristic.
https://electramagazine.fundacaoedp.pt/en/editions/issue-7/week-tangier-hisham-mayet

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is a collective dedicated to exposing obscure sounds and sights from global frontiers. Through film, field recordings, and radio, they document music and cultural expressions overlooked by academia and industry, driven by an aesthetic of extra-geography and soulful research.
https://sublime-frequencies.bandcamp.com/

This screening is held exclusively for educational purposes, with the kind permission of Hisham Mayet. The film will run in a continuous loop.

Credits (film still): 'Musical Brotherhoods from the Trans-Saharan Highway' (SF 2008)



OFFBEAT 3.3. Hisham MayetLecture & Listening SessionTuesday, 26.05.2026, 19:00 hGoethe-Institut Bucuresti Free Entrance!...
20/05/2026

OFFBEAT 3.3. Hisham Mayet
Lecture & Listening Session
Tuesday, 26.05.2026, 19:00 h
Goethe-Institut Bucuresti
Free Entrance!

Lecture: I am Libya
A swan dive into a sonic exploration of music and ritual from western Libya. A phantasmagoria of sound, meant to in equal measure, illuminate and confound the listener. Recordings made on location in Tripoli, Sabratha, Tajoura and Ghadames in Libya from 2001-2008 by Hisham Mayet.

Listening Session: An unreleased audio document (forthcoming for publication in late 2026 on Sublime Frequencies) showcasing a variety of field recordings, radio transmissions, street phonography, analog vinyl and cassette recordings all juxtaposed in a dizzying array of cathartic sensory overload.

Hisham Mayet is a filmmaker, photographer, musical researcher and sound adventurer. Together with Alan Bishop Hisham is co-founder of the Sublime Frequencies label. He has traveled all around the world documenting many obscure scenes, from eastern psyche pop to Sahel post folk, from ancient to more futuristic.
https://electramagazine.fundacaoedp.pt/

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is a collective of explorers dedicated to unearthing and exposing obscure sounds and sights from global frontiers. Through film, field recordings, and radio, they document music and cultural expressions overlooked by academia and industry, driven by an aesthetic of extra-geography and soulful research.
https://www.sublimefrequencies.com/

An Alternative History of Music


Address

Calea Plevnei 137C În Incinta Iprochim Corp B, Et. 1, Cam. 3
Bucharest
060011

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10:00 - 14:00
Wednesday 10:00 - 14:00
Thursday 10:00 - 14:00
Friday 14:00 - 18:00
Saturday 14:00 - 18:00
Sunday 14:00 - 18:00

Website

https://soundcloud.com/imageandsound, https://www.youtube.com/@ImageandSound/playlists

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Spațiul Offbeat posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Spațiul Offbeat:

Shortcuts

Share

Category