Camera roll is a new interview series where we get a glance into the current moment via the mundane and the ordinary; the life lived in this moment of a global pandemic.
This week we are featuring Dania Shihab, a first-generation Iraqi immigrant doctor turned record label owner. During times in which the word ‘medical emergency’ is in our daily news, talking to Dania is a glimpse of light in dark times. Words create sounds which inhabit our (temporary) isolated lives.
Where are you?
Barcelona
What’s your morning routine?
It really depends on where I am in the world. When I’m in Australia and I’m working shifts in the Emergency Department, I don’t have a fixed routine—usually I’m headed straight to work with a take away coffee on the way, possibly having a little breakfast on the run. When I’m in Spain, my morning routine is a little more relaxed, but always involves coffee and a bit of study.
Tell us a little bit about your background, you were born in Baghdad and raised in Launceston then moved to Barcelona, what was that like?
I was born during the Iran-Iraq war of the early 80s. My parents had the foresight to leave Iraq as they didn’t see the political situation getting any better (they were right), and we left when I was two. We actually ended up in England first and then moved to Tasmania. It’s an island and back in the 90s it was still quite isolated from the mainland. I didn’t feel that it was culturally diverse—I think there was one other Iraqi family that moved there years later, on the other side of the Island—and I remember only two other people of color in my school. I suppose it was a typical immigrant story, growing up in a predominately white society and struggling to find my identity between two very different sets of cultural values. On the other side of it all though I feel I’ve gained a balanced global perspective and I’m grateful for it. After finishing med school in Tasmania, I moved to mainland Australia to work and I found myself spiritually unsatisfied, so I decided to take a year off. The plan was to move to Berlin (I did a placement in Berlin as an undergrad and wanted to go back), but I wound up staying in Barcelona.
How did you end up in medicine?
I’m not sure I actually wanted to be a doctor. I started med school when I was 17, and I’m glad that undergraduate programs for medicine are now being phased out—17 is too young. I was very naive. Being a first generation immigrant, careers that offered financial security were highly valued. (It’s a bit of a cliche, but it was true in my family.) So I did medicine. I didn’t really question my decision until much later on in life when I was already working and I felt a creative void and that’s when I decided to take a break.
You don’t often hear about doctors starting music labels (and good ones I might add), how did you find yourself in music and what inspired you to found Paralaxe Editions?
I think if I didn’t do medicine I would have naturally gravitated to something in the creative industry. I started Paralaxe because I was in love with the idea of print and self-publishing. There was a small scene in Australia, but nothing like what the Europeans were doing. In 2011 I finally was able to go to Offprint Paris, an independent publishing fair focusing on photography. I was completely in awe—I hadn’t ever seen anything like it, with so many beautiful, weird and cerebral publications under one roof. I started collecting photo books quite obsessively after that, and then it wasn’t too much of a leap to want to actually self-publish under my own platform. (Around that time I was also part of a free-jazz noise collective that were dubbing their own cassette tapes and going to a lot of Spanish zine fairs.) Eventually I started Paralaxe with Manuel Carvalho, who has since left the label; back then, he was producing music and was interested in the artisanal production of records and tapes, but ironically he has now moved more into the visual field and I've gotten more into music.
What do your days look like, how do you balance work and personal life? Are they intertwined? How are you able to keep up with the label amidst COVID-19?
Medicine is a time-consuming profession and it’s not easy to prioritize other interests. I’m lucky that I’ve reached the stage in my career where I can dictate my schedule, and that obviously helps with balance, but it wasn’t always that way and I do have people I can rely on that can keep the label moving whilst I am working. It has taken me years to get to this point and I still feel that I have a long way to go. I don’t think the pandemic has affected Paralaxe too much, as the label's production process has intentionally always been slow. For example, the tapes we make aren’t just designed on a computer and sent to the printer; they are letter-pressed, which puts a contemporary spin on what is essentially an obsolete printing system. Everything is done by hand and there is a lot of trial and error, but the end result is really beautiful; you can feel and see the work, it’s so personal.
Advice for anyone who is interested in becoming a doctor? As well as advice to anyone who is interested in having a passion project on the side (as I’m sure being a doctor is quite demanding).
It goes without saying that medicine is hard work and requires a lot of sacrifice, and that doesn’t really end when you graduate. It’s a lifelong commitment. I’m currently doing two post grad diplomas and always feel like I have another exam around the corner. It is a demanding job, but there are obviously sub-specialities that are more flexible with time and training, emergency medicine being one of them.
What have you done during quarantine that you hadn't before?
I spent the official quarantine period doing medical paperwork for two weeks and then went back to the Emergency Department, so I didn’t have a big quarantine period. I’m back in Spain now, and haven’t really been leaving the house as the situation here is still quite serious. I’ve decided to (slowly) learn Max/MSP, a music programming language. I'm also trying to learn new techniques to manipulate and shape my voice.
Places or organizations you're supporting or wish you could support?
Médecins sans frontières of course. My friend is there in the Congo right now and hearing about the work she does, she truly is incredible and inspirational. Also, there's this Nisf Madeena fundraising compilation for the victims of the August 4th explosion in Beirut explosion. It includes music from artists like Fatima Al Qadiri, Nicolás Jaar, ZULI and Slikback, and the whole thing was mastered by Heba Kadry, who you’ve also featured on passerbuys.
Where is your face mask from?
I just use the surgical ones. I upgrade to the N95 masks at work when I’m dealing with respiratory patients, but a standard surgical one is sufficient if you practice good social distancing and hand hygiene and avoid sick contacts.
Exciting music discoverings during COVID-19? What have you been listening to on repeat?
I usually don’t listen to much on repeat, but my husband has been listening to the new Deradoorian record and I’m obsessed with her song "It Was Me." It really harkens back to The Doors and makes me nostalgic for acoustic, visceral and human sounds right now. I can also recommend the Strada tape by Laila Sakini for Boomkat's Documenting Sound series, and I've been revisiting Anne Gillis' old work.
What are you watching?
I just finished watching The Bureau, a French spy series.
What are you reading?
I’m a few pages into Potential History Unlearning Imperialism by Ariella Aïsha Azoulay but I recently finished All Gates Open: The Story of Can by Rob Young and Irmin Schmidt.
What are you drinking?
Vichy Catalan.
How do you keep active?
I walk everywhere, or bike.
Favorite things you've bought during the quarantine?
Not a purchase, but a gift. A friend sent me a zine from the Yucca Valley, a desert town in California. It's called Weird Babes, and Issue 9 is about musical notation and features Lea Bertucci, a performer, composer and sound artist whose work describes relationships between acoustic phenomena and biological resonance.
Images provided by Dania Shihab