Bayt Clarke by Nujumi

Bayt Clarke, the first in Nujumi’s Cai-Fi series, draws its title from the Arabic “House of Clarke,” referring to the palatial mud-brick residence designed by British architect Somers Clarke as his base for archaeological research in Egypt. Clarke’s approach defied conventional colonial architecture, as he embraced local construction techniques and developed what would later be called “appropriate architecture,” a concept Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy would popularize in his advocacy for sustainable, culturally rooted building practices. Clarke, a strident academic, also had radical leanings, publishing pamphlets and organizing campaigns that condemned colonial complacency toward the lives of Upper Egypt’s people. This ideological duality—a British architect who was at once embedded in Egypt’s landscape and at odds with his own colonial society—sets the stage for the temporal and sonic journey of Bayt Clarke.

Time is fractured in this record, allowing the past, present, and future to interweave in ways that collapse conventional chronology. Ghostly harmonies emerge, layering and drifting as spectral echoes across Clarke’s imagined landscape. The album’s texture reflects a world where moments slip between temporal layers, and tears in the sonic fabric reveal hidden histories and untold futures. This timeless and layered soundscape draws from the imagined memory of Clarke’s radical presence in Egypt and his unique blend of scholarship and activism, calling listeners to inhabit each timeline and consider the overlooked or obscured elements of place and history that shape our collective experience.

Nujumi Sound is the platform through which composer and producer Daniel Merrill, releases locational /psychogeographic works.

Different locations are realised through different musical identities:

Nujumi = Egypt

Latter Roanoke = US / North Carolina

danielmerrill.org