A Listening Guide Beyond Equal Temperament
HUNGRY
l i s t e n i n g
GUIDE
15 Tracks
Tuning Primer
3 Key Concepts
Tools for Going Deeper
Reading List
Seba Kayan is a Viennese Musicproducer and Lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Her work bridges diasporic influences, club culture, and experimental sound into a distinctive contemporary practice.
www.sebakayan.com
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Buried
Possibilities
This guide is for you if you want to question the defaults of Western tuning, deepen your listening beyond equal temperament, and develop a more precise vocabulary for hearing pitch, intonation, and musical difference.
Inside the Guide
What this guide includes
Five interconnected sections that move from listening practice to conceptual framing to practical tools for application in your own work.
01 / 05
15-Track Playlist
A curated set of listening prompts spanning Iran, Kuwait, Morocco, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and beyond. Each track introduces a distinct way of approaching pitch, tuning, resonance, and musical form.
02 / 05
Tuning Primer
An accessible introduction to Maqam, Raga/Shruti, Gamelan tuning, and Just Intonation. The keyboard default is only one tuning system; this section outlines four others.
03 / 05
3 Key Concepts
An introduction to the locus of enunciation, the white racial frame and musical legitimacy, and decolonization as an ongoing process rather than an aesthetic gesture.
04 / 05
Tools for Producers
Two free, browser-based tools for exploring tuning systems beyond 12-TET.
05 / 05
Reading + Listening List
A selection of key texts by thinkers such as Walter Mignolo, Frantz Fanon, Harry Partch, and Wendy Carlos, paired with listening references for deeper study and further exploration.
Sample Tracks
A small selection from the guide
Parallel Perceptions
Ata Ebtekar (Sote)
Zurna Rave
Seba Kayan
Mohabbat
Arooj Aftab
Beauty in the Beast
Wendy Carlos
+ 11 more tracks inside the guide
3 Key Concepts
Critical frameworks that shape the listening
Concept 01
The Modern Locus of Enunciation
How musical knowledge becomes authoritative, and who gets to define tuning, innovation, and legitimacy.
Concept 02
The White Racial Frame & Musical Legitimacy
How recognition, value, and seriousness are unevenly distributed across musical cultures.
Concept 03
Decolonization Is Not a Product — It's a Process
How defaults such as MIDI grids, tuning systems, and genre categories shape what becomes audible and thinkable.
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About Seba
Music that refuses the default
Seba Kayan is a Viennese music producer and lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Her work brings diasporic influences, club culture, and experimental sound into a distinctive contemporary practice.
Buried Possibilities emerges from a question that continues to shape her work: which defaults organize what we hear, make, and value — and what becomes obscured through those same structures?
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