PODCAST · society
Tau Radio
by TAU/ism with Lia and Muna
Is there such a thing as contemporary folklore? And how do we play in the space between traditional culture and folklore?Travel with Lia and Muna as we explore contemporary folklore and the land, places, myths and stories which have passed through generations. We will be hosting some of the living, breathing embodiments of this vital inheritance inviting guests from around the world to share their music, art and knowledge with us.
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EP 5 | The Ancient Sound of the Ney: Faris Ishaq on Music, Memory & Folklore
Welcome back to another episode of Tau Radio with Lia andMuna, a podcast exploring folklore, world music, cultural identity, and oral traditions.This is a transcendent, deeply moving, and illuminating conversation with nay master -Faris Ishaq.Faris doesn’t just play the ney (Middle Eastern flute)— he breathes life into one of humanity’s oldest instruments. There is something profoundly elemental in the way he approaches sound, where music becomes less about performance and more about presence, connection, andsurrender. His voice through the ney feels ancient yet immediate, carrying echoes of land, memory, and spirit.Born in Bethlehem, Faris is a self-taught nay master,composer, and multi-instrumentalist whose journey spans Palestinian music, Middle Eastern folk traditions, and contemporary jazz. His work bridges heritage and global sound, creating music that is both deeply rooted and expansively modern. Through his artistry, the ney becomes a vessel for cultural preservation, storytelling, and spiritual expression.Minimal in form yet infinite in expression, the ney is a breath-driven instrument, shaped by the body, emotion, and intention. Faris invites us into this intimate relationship, where sound is created not by machinery, but through discipline, presence, and lived experience. His music reminds us thatthe human body itself is a powerful instrument, capable of transmitting meaning across generations.Together, we explore the intersection of folklore, music,identity, and innovation; from discovering the ney to redefining its place in modern music culture.Some highlights from this episode include:The ney as a traditional breath instrument and its connection to the human body and nature Palestinian folklore and the relationship between music, land, and identityHow oral traditions and improvisation keep cultural heritage aliveThe balance between discipline and surrender inmusical expressionFusing Middle Eastern folk music with jazz and global influences The role of the body as an instrument in an age of digital and AI-generated musicThis episode is a powerful reflection on world music, folklore, and the philosophy of sound. It reminds us that even in a rapidly evolving, technology-driven world, there is something timeless about breath, rhythm, and human expression.Tune in for a journey through sound, spirit, and culturalmemory. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Amazon, and all major podcast platforms.Wherever you are listening from — whether in the MiddleEast, Europe, Africa, or beyond — this conversation invites you to slow down, listen deeply, and reconnect with something essential.Listen to the full episode on Tau Radio with Lia & Muna. Connect With Us:Guest: Faris IshaqHosts: Lia and MunaMusic & Production: Tau RadioWe’d love to hear your thoughts or comments!Want to be a guest or suggest a topic? Send us an email at [email protected]Find everything you need here.
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EP 4 | Ekiti Sound: Folklore, Fusion, and the Future of Music
Welcome back to Tau Radio with Lia and Muna.This episode is an electrifying conversation with Ekiti Sound (Léke Awoyinka) the sonic storyteller, producer, and cultural bridge whose work folds the energies of Lagos and London into one vibrant, living mythology. Moving effortlessly between the ancestral and the digital, Léke crafts music where Yoruba rhythms meet hip-hop cadence, where tradition converses with technology, and where folklore refuses to stand still.Across projects like Abeg No Vex and Drum Money, his sound becomes a chronicle of homecoming, survival, and the eternal drumbeat that links generations. More than a musician, Léke emerges here as a modern griot: translating the pulse of Lagos streets, Yoruba spirituality, and global diasporic flow into something unmistakably his own.Some highlights from this conversation include:How folklore evolves when ancestral rhythms meet future soundscapes.Why the drum remains both spiritual compass and cultural archive.Bridging worlds from Lagos streets to London.Building new mythologies in a fast-moving, digital age.The responsibility of carrying tradition while daring totransform it.This episode is as much about rhythm as it is about memory, movement, and identity. Léke invites us to hear folklore beyond the past! To hear it as a restless, breathing force that shapes communities, crossing oceans, and reinventing itself with every beat.Whether you’re listening from Lagos, London, or anywhere in between, this conversation reminds us that folklore is not a straight line and neither is creativity. Léke shows us that you don’t have to stay inside inherited patterns, you can reach for the sixes and eights when everyone expects fours, find yourself in unfamiliar tempos, and build beauty inside rhythms that first sound impossible.We’re unearthing folklore as a living force; one that bends rules, crosses borders, and keeps reinventing itself through courage, curiosity, and sound.Tune in!And don't forget to subscribe to Tau Radio with Lia & Muna and join us as we explore folklore in motion.Connect With Us:Guest: Ekiti SoundHosts: Lia and MunaMusic & Production: Tau RadioWe’d love to hear your thoughts or comments!Want to be a guest or suggest topics? Send us an email at [email protected] everything you need https://linktr.ee/tauexperiencehttps://linktr.ee/tauexperience
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EP 3 | The Ecstasy of Song: Dafné Kritharas on Roots, Ritual and Reinvention
Welcome back to another episode of Tau Radio with Lia and Muna.This is an invigorating, soul-stirring, and deeply inspiring conversation with Dafné Kritharas.Dafné’s voice doesn’t just sing—it remembers. There’s something ancient and immediate in the way she moves through a song, weaving myth and memory into every note. Critics have called her “bewitching”, “ensorcelante,” and magnetically powerful” but it’s more than that—it’s the way she channels story into sound, with a presence that feels both intimate and elemental.Half Greek, half French and entirely spellbinding, Dafné is a singer whose voice carries the memory of many worlds. Her music transcends borders, weaving together Greek rebetika, Anatolian folk, Ladino, Armenian, Bosnian, and Mediterranean threads into something both timeless and entirely her own.A self-taught musician, nothing is out of reach for this siren. She revives songs that have travelled across generations and geographies, infusing them with a haunting, contemporary voice that feels both intimate and ancestral. Her performances, while often described as ritual, summon the spiritual charge of folklore and offer a living, breathing encounter with cultural memory.Dafné’s sound moves like memory: fluid, evocative, and alive.Together, we explore the artistic and spiritual alchemy that shapes her voice, her story, her music and the traditions she carries forward.Some highlights from this episode include:How oral traditions shape Dafné’s music and herunderstanding of heritageThe balance between preservation and innovation in worldfolk musicThe power of the human voice as both a healing force and aform of resistanceWhat it means to create across languages, histories, andidentitiesA glimpse into her new album and the mythic stories thatinspired itThis episode is proof that art remains one of humanity’s purest bridges and that music transcends hardship and continues to remind us of our shared humanity. It is also about the courage to keep creating beauty even when the world seems to forget how to listen.Tune in for a journey through sound, spirit, and the echoes of generations — available on all major streaming platforms.Whoever you are, and wherever you’re listening from — Paris, Athens, Lagos, or beyond — this conversation will move you to rediscover how connected we truly are.Listen to the full episode on Tau Radio with Lia & Muna.Connect With Us:Guest: Dafné KritharasHosts: Lia and MunaMusic & Production: Tau RadioWe’d love to hear your thoughts or comments!Want to be a guest or suggest a topic? Send us an email at [email protected] everything you need here.
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EP 2: Amal Murkus on Folklore, Resilience and Hope
Welcome back to another episode of Tau Radio with Lia and Muna.In this deeply inspiring episode, we sit down with Amal Murkus — one of Palestine’s most powerful voices. As a singer, actress, feminist, and cultural icon, Amal has spent decades using music as a lifeline for her people: carrying memory, resisting erasure, and reminding the world that even in the darkest times, art can heal and hope can endure.From folk songs passed down by Palestinian women to the grand stages of the Liverpool Philharmonic, Amal’s journey weaves together tradition, poetry, politics, and resistance. She shares stories of learning from her father and mother, her grounding in community, and her unwavering belief that women’s voices — whether in lullabies, demonstrations, or art — can spark revolution.Some highlights from this conversation include:Folklore lives beyond music: in memory, everyday rituals, and resilience.Women’s stories, which is often silenced, must be reclaimed as central to heritage.The power of poetry in Arabic song and its timeless relevance to liberation struggles.Her perspective on art as a tool for social change and the moral responsibility of artists.A glimpse into her upcoming projects, including new albums and collaborations.This conversation is as much about music as it is about life, justice, and survival. Amal invites us to see folklore not as something frozen in the past, but as a living force that shapes identity, nurtures communities, and creates connections across borders.So, whether you are young or old, rooted in Palestinian culture or listening from halfway across the world, this episode reminds us that folklore is a universal language.We’re unearthing folklore as a living force — one that blossoms through beauty, even in the face of hardship.Tune in!Subscribe to Tau Radio with Lia & Muna to hear the full episode and join us in exploring folklore as you’ve never heard it before!Connect With Us:Guest: Amal Murkus Hosts: Lia and Muna Music & Production: Tau RadioWe’d love to hear your thoughts or comments! Want to be a guest or suggest topics? Send us an email at [email protected] everything you need here
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EP 1 | Storytelling, Resistance and the Politics of Folklore (Pt. 2)
In the second half of our conversation with Geoffrey Chambers, we continue on our exploration through the layered terrain of contemporary folklore, including who tells the story, who owns it, and how it shapes the world around us.As Geoffrey, Muna, and Lia unpack global myths and present-day narratives from ancient flood legends to wildfires in Los Angeles, they examine the fine line between storytelling as empowerment and storytelling as control. What happens when myth becomes policy? When metaphor guides media? And when stories are used to obscure more than reveal?In this episode, we explore:• How power, politics, and folklore are intertwined• The environmental myth of the "protected fish" and what it reveals about modern priorities• The impact of digital culture on myth-making and memory• What ancient myths can teach us about present-day inequality and displacement• The evolving tension between truth, fiction, and control in storytelling• Why reclaiming narrative remains a vital, ongoing act of resistanceThis is a thought-provoking continuation of the discussion with artist Geoffrey Chambers, one that reminds us just how much is at stake when we ask: who gets to speak, and who gets to be remembered?Like all enduring folklore, it’s a mix of raw truth, quiet resistance, and lasting power.Connect with us:We’d love to hear your thoughts or comments. Want to be aguest or suggest topics?Send us an email at [email protected]: Geoffrey ChambersHosts: Muna and LiaMusic and Production: Tau RadioFind everything you need here
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EP 1 | Folklore, Freedom, and the Fire Within with Geoffrey Chambers (Pt. 1)
In this first episode of the Tau Radio Podcast, Muna and Liasit down with multidisciplinary artist Geoffrey Chambers, whose work isrooted in Afrosurrealism, Afrofuturism, and deep cultural memory.Born in London with Caribbean heritage, Geoffrey brings arich blend of storytelling through mark-making, performance, music, film, andinstallation. From sketching in secret corners as a child to creating expansivecommunity art, Geoffrey shares how his personal folklore shaped his identity,artistic expression, and sense of belonging.We explore:What folklore really means and how it's alive and ever-evolvingHow Geoffrey’s childhood imagination laid the foundation for a life in artThe tension between being a free creator and existing within a commodified art worldThe emotional and spiritual satisfaction that comes with honouring your own storyHis work with the People Dem Collective in Margate and their ongoing fight for space, visibility, and justiceWhy creating, remembering, and reimagining our stories is a radical actThis conversation weaves through joy, memory, politics,resistance, and the deep care that sustains community and creativity. It’s raw, reflective, and poetic; just like folklore itself. Guest: Geoffrey ChambersHosts: Muna and LiaMusic & Production: Tau Radio Connect with usWe’d love to hear your thoughts or comments. Want to be a guest or suggest topics?Send us an email at [email protected] everything you need here
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Welcome to TAU Radio!
Welcome aboard! We’re thrilled to have you join us on this journey into contemporary folklore. This is our very first episode, and we’re excited to share why we’re exploring contemporary folklore—what it means to us, how it connects traditional culture to modern life, and why it might resonate with you too. Folklore isn’t just about the past—it’s alive and evolving, connecting us to our roots and helping us navigate the present. From music and art to food, movement, and language, folklore is all around us, shaping how we express, connect, and create. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be exploring the world of contemporary folklore, and we want to spotlight the incredible artists, musicians, and creators who embody it. Why? Because they inspire us, move us, and connect us to something greater. Their work has shaped who we are, and we hope that their stories and insights will inspire you too. We’ll also explore how the fast-changing digital landscape is reshaping traditions and creating new ones. For us, this podcast is deeply personal. We’ve been dreaming about this project for years—more than eight, in fact! Life kept getting in the way, but it also brought us new experiences and insights that make this the perfect time to share this passion with you. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Habibi—the best dog in the world—will be hosting alongside us, bringing her adorable charm to every episode! If you love exploring the stories, music, and art that connect us all, you’re in the right place. Get ready to journey with us as we explore folklore from Greece, Poland, Sudan, and all around the world. While we reflect on our own identities and what it means to stay connected to our roots in an ever-changing world. Hit that subscribe button, share this episode with your friends, and follow us on social media to stay up to date with our latest episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and more exciting discussions! With love, Lia and Muna. Connect With Us - Facebook: TAU/ism Instagram: Tau Radio X: TAUexperience
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Is there such a thing as contemporary folklore? And how do we play in the space between traditional culture and folklore?Travel with Lia and Muna as we explore contemporary folklore and the land, places, myths and stories which have passed through generations. We will be hosting some of the living, breathing embodiments of this vital inheritance inviting guests from around the world to share their music, art and knowledge with us.
HOSTED BY
TAU/ism with Lia and Muna
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