Thread by @NYUADArtsCenter

Another @NYUAbuDhabi class visit. Sam Anderson from the first year writing program leads a conversation with @cromwellojeda for The Politics of Spectacle

The conversation starts with a discussion of how Cromwell works as a multi-hyphenate artist - musician, graphic designer, and now he opened a burger joint in Dubai as a “side hustle.”

His interest was sparked by design for album covers. So his day job as a designer is directly related to his music life - DIY marketing for punk rock shows, etc.

He started as a designer without a computer, design software.

He started with design books that he would find at @jashanmalbook and take photos of the designs he liked, cause he couldn’t afford the books, and then borrow a friend’s computer and teach himself how to recreate the designs he had. #DIY

Be creative with what you have. Don’t be constrained by the boundaries.

Bricolage: putting things together in new ways as a foundation of culture.

In Sam Anderson’s class they are talking about festivals, carnivals, concerts - and the dynamics and “politics of partying”

Discussion of the cultural specificity vs universality of music. @cromwellojeda talks about the band NOON from Dubai where the individual members come from three cultural backgrounds and you hear the specificity and universality in the music.

Sam Anderson talks about the importance of knowing and choosing your audience as part of the creative process.

Over the year or so that @cromwellojeda worked on the script and story for Movement with @ian_coss and @meklitmusic, the focus evolved from more general discussion of the music scene in the UAE to a more specific and detailed story about his relationship with his brother

During that process, his music also changed. The song @cromwellojeda performed last night was created only a week ago, so it spoke to the specific moment he’s in now, with his brother having just migrated to Canada.

The musical collaboration with @cromwellojeda started with sharing a track a month ago, but giving them freedom to bring their own perspective and approach to the material and structure, and then they only met in person a week ago. Bouncing ideas off one another and trial & error

Also adapting the fact that band was already in synch with one another as an existing band and Cromwell was coming in as a new element.

Another question about performativity and being a “multi-hyphenate”. “Are you a guitarist?” Cromwell says no; usually his brother played the guitar parts and Cromwell would usually trigger them in Ableton. So he had to learn how to play them live. (So as not to “insult” NYUAD 🤣)

So the distinction: he WAS actually playing guitar on stage. But does that make him “a guitarist”?

He thinks as a sound designer. A single note and sound can be a song.

Student question about cultural identity in music. @cromwellojeda brings it back to his work as a designer - he always is thinking about identity and branding.

As a musician, he plays with bands in many genres. He would get bored playing in a single mode, and wants to do it now

Depending on what projects he’s playing in - Muhaisnah Four - electronic, or Post Rock, or pop, or electro dub or nu metal - @cromwellojeda’s identity is constantly shifting.

He talks about collaboration - he knows how to write songs, but not how to write scripts. The collaboration with the Movement creators (director Sophiyaa Nayar, co-creators @meklitmusic and @ian_coss) helped him develop that theatrical voice.

He talks about the way various music projects also paint a portrait or tell a story thru thematic albums - synthwave or post rock. He thinks about his music visually too.

He also thinks about the visuals when he working with different bands. Visuals. Stage approach. What they wear. Design is a key approach to all his art practice.

What’s magical about art - is you can start with something very small and build on it, create something out of nothing.

Student Q: I moved the concert last night. My eyes hurt after. I forgot to blink. 👀

Personal question about the emotional impact of Cromwell’s brother leaving. He sold his drums when his brother left - they were so sonically aligned as guitarist and drummer that he let that part go. But he still wants to make music together.

Emotionally it won’t be the same making music with other people.

Question about the functionality of music and how Cromwell thinks about intention of music (example marching bands for war or lullabies for relaxation). He makes playlists for himself as a designer regularly, or to also change moods

For many of his projects, like Muhaisnah Four, they are instrumental bands, and that allows the music to be malleable to whatever mood of the listener, tailored to whatever the listener is experiencing at that moment.

Question about how @cromwellojeda thinks about his performance persona/image. He wants the music to speak for itself. While branding is important to him in his day job as a designer, he doesn’t brand himself as an artist, since it’s so varied.

He talks about a gig that he upcoming where he needs to play in 7 different bands in 7 different genres. So costume changes will be key to adapt to the right visual language for each band.

He also compares it to his day job - when he’s at his 9 to 5, he’s there 100%. Discipline and time. And when he’s home with his family or playing with his bands, he maintains the same focus.

Question about music’s power to create social or political impact. Cromwell says yes, quite quickly. Makes the example of politicians who hire songwriters to write jungles to audio-brand them and build identity and loyalty.

Discussion over differences in how the music scene operates in the UAE and the Philippines. A lot is tried up with the way that visa status is tied up to employment, which means that the 9-5 job carries more weight. In the Philippines, it’s easier to make a full time living.

Cromwell talks about how little he really knew about what the end product of Movement would be, in part because no one knew.

But it was magical.

There is no blueprint as an artist for many people. So you need to be open to the path even if you don’t know where it’s going.

In early days, Cromwell started playing in cafeterias, then old movie houses, gyms, clubs, theaters. It’s always changing.

What happened at @NYUADArtsCenter last night set the bar really really high for where we could go next.