Elsa M’Bala
“In her texts and songs, [she] takes a poetic and critical approach to investigating her lifeworlds.” – Crossing Boundaries of Doubt
Elsa M’Bala, aka A.M.E.T., is a sound artist who makes live podcasts as a mixture between deejaying and live radio shows, in which field recordings and interviews are shared live with an audience. M’Bala’s musical journey and her reflections on race, cultural background, gender, and spirituality, challenge preconceptions of how someone’s music should sound based on where they’re from. Her practice breaks with western classical music by creating graphic scores that enable her to include semitones, as is regular in non-western music. By using technology, she amplifies her unique voice and addresses narratives of inclusion and visibility. Her work is also marked by collaborations with musicians, dancers, artists, performers, and makers from different backgrounds. She has performed at Akademie der Künste Berlin, Casino Luxembourg-Forum d’art contemporain, Dak’Art Biennale, and Gessnerallee Züric among others. M’Bala made the trailer for the Berlin Biennale 10 and is currently working in Cameroon on a new project.
