Spiritual Sonic Systems with Maguette Dieng x Lynnée Denise

Marres x DAR Cultural Agency X RAW Material Company

A dialogue sharing frequencies, sounding hope, and calling attention to the unification of rhythmic elevation.

In this exchange, DJs Lynnée Denise and Maguette Dieng think through songs that integrate ancestral and future-facing cultural practices. From prayer rooms to the dance floor, a sophisticated system of knowing is revealed through improvisational rituals and unspeakable languages. Drawing on the role of circles, circulations, and circular ways of knowing, the music reminds its listeners that there is constant movement activated by DJs and selectors throughout the African Diaspora. This reshaping of ancient rhythms gives us new tools to understand secret codes. This experimental session invites the audience to engage with sonic legacies that re-emerge and are echoed through genre as survival strategies.

Marres organized this project in collaboration with DAR, a cultural agency and platform that represents emerging talents in art, design, and architecture.

Maguette Dieng is a DJ, music producer, educator, and music programmer. She is also a dedicated explorer of music and sound. She co-founded the Jokkoo Collective and is part of FOC, a self-managed cultural space where she creates artistic and sonic experiences rooted in community, purpose, and healing. Through her personal work, Maguette attempts to translate the emotions and experiences of everyday life into sound in poetic, sensitive, and critical ways. 

Lynnée Denise is an interdisciplinary writer and global practitioner of sound, language, and Black Atlantic thought. She is a doctoral student in the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her research explores how sound system culture creates a living archive for the Black queer diaspora. Her work traces the migrations of music and the role of Black electronic traditions in the African diaspora.