Radio Papesse

This piece has been shortlisted in the context of the Süden Radio open call for soundworks.

Macédoine: the utopian South VS. the dystopian West is a sound research that includes discussions about Macedonia and/or about Europe which belongs to - on the political, social, cultural and historical level - and through which it confronts itself with the West.

While delving into some aspects of life there - nature, politics, people - the piece is an anthropological and sociological sound map of Macedonia, presenting it as an utopia vis-à-vis the dystopian West.

Historically the crossover from the communist regime to the new capitalist one that happened at the beginning of the 21st century is producing a completely new mindset in the local context. The local political self is still lost somewhere in between.

Some people are still drowned in the old country and the old system, but young people are scooping the new trends with both arms, identifying with the West and the benefits of the globalization and technological development. It is very exciting to compare the local mindset, the living and the social practice and their development in such conditions of global trends.

We (as a country) - Toni Dimitrov writes - are facing our identity crisis, trying to improve and strengthen our national identity, while the same process was supposed to end at least one century ago where the nations were defining. The country is passing through major identity changes and through both internal and neighborhood serious political conflicts.

Many question can be raised here, but let’s focus on this one: could the identity processes of the West be implemented in our local contexts or vice versa?

Toni Dimitrov is a multimedia artist, cultural explorer, radio activist, philosopher and communicologist, poet and mountain climber but also he is a sound and graphic designer, dj, organizer, label owner, based in Skopje, Macedonia.
His radio programs Post global: conceptual program for new music and Music and politics: radio magazine for music and political discourse have been broadcasting on Kanal 103 for sixteen years and are dedicated to contemporary electronic music, soundscape, field recordings but also to diverse socio-cultural topics. Aside from this, his activities during the years are connected to other music/art/cultural projects such as Tiny Noise, Radia, Upgrade, Kanal 103, Line Initiative and Movement, Produkcija, Solis, Kreative weekend, Post Global Recordings, Post Global Trio and many more…