chorus: sonic politics of the carnivalesque in tragic times

How might sonic practices of noise, chant, mass movement of bodies in highly prepared improvisation, the reverberation on streets underfoot and even architectural resonance do in a world awash with the language of crisis? What radical political potential might be exercised through the carnivalesque, to revitalize our capacity to redemocratize societies and envisage liveable futures?

In chorus: sonic politics of the carnivalesque in tragic times, Carlos Garrido Castellano writes about a town he grew up in and visits regularly to attend to family and to attend carnivals. He celebrates the potentials of the carnivalesque for radical thought borne of the streets, but he does not romanticise this possibility as a moral good inherent in carnival. Carnival is understood as a living practice which can ebb and flow toward the betterment of the people who produce it as much as its waves can crash upon the desires of sovereignty which these street politics engage. chorus: sonic politics of the carnivalesque in tragic times whispers its clear hope that the aftermath of current tragic times is near. It also cautions, constantly, against any binary thinking. Every turn of the page reveals hope and sobering reality whilst carefully keeping the shore of a promising future in sight. The ability to write a critical treatise on street politics and hold space for material cracks through sonic registers of resistance, joy, witness, elegy and urgent politics but not give into the weight of the contemporary moment is what makes this book a useful text for those who listen to rumble of a future they/ “we” participate in making.

Please join Carlos Garrido Castellano in conversation with Nondumiso Lwazi Msimanga on his latest book chorus: sonic politics of the carnivalesque in tragic times.

Online on Thursday, 18 June 2026 at 19h00 SAST / 17h00GMT