// Rojin Sharafi is a Tehran-born, Vienna-based sound artist, performer, and composer who fuses raw and abstract emotions with electronic elements that emulate acoustic sounds. Her distinctive musical language intertwines acoustic elements replicating electronic textures—and vice versa—resulting in a synthesis of resilient yet vulnerable and honest sonic expressions.
Using a mix of analog, acoustic, and augmented instruments alongside custom-designed digital tools, Sharafi gained recognition for her debut album Urns Waiting to be Fed, described by The Quietus as “one of [2019’s] most ecstatic and fiercely original hours of music.” Following this success, she released Zangaar in 2020 and Kariz in 2021. In 2023, Sharafi and her band HUUUM published their debut album—an exploration of folk futurism.
The Wire described her latest album O.O.Orifice as “a record of pluralities and ruptures… Sharafi renders the cut a thrilling, variegated, mind and body activating place to inhabit,” while Boomkat praised it as “a surreal compound of frenetic lopsided rhythms, fiendish vocals, and microtonal instrumental vamps… Grotesque and, at times, strangely beautiful, O.O.Orifice is a neat advancement of Sharafi’s compelling sonic language.”
Sharafi’s music transcends established forms and conventions, venturing into uncharted electroacoustic cartographies. Disrupting hierarchies of rhythm, melody, and timbre, her compositions flow through mutating sounds, avoiding any predictable climax or conclusion. In this sonic journey, traces of traditional Iranian music subvert against metallic percussion, 8-bit particles, and nuanced textures, challenging logical canons and probing the unknown—without alienating the audience.
Her live sets have been showcased at festivals and venues worldwide, from London to New York, Lisbon to Athens, reflecting Sharafi’s versatile and innovative contributions to the global contemporary music scene.
// Reinhard Reisenzahn works as a freelance sound engineer and lecturer at the University of Arts and Industrial Design Linz.
The exploration of the physical limits of sound and acoustics, as well as the investigation of electronic technology, lies at the core of his artistic practice.
His professional activities range from working in live sound and audio engineering within the cultural and event sector to experimenting with obsolete and repurposed media, which are used in his installations and performances.

