Ian Coss

The World

Ian Coss is an audio producer, composer and sound designer whose work spans the worlds of podcasting and performance.

Ian Coss is an audio producer, composer and sound designer whose work spans the worlds of podcasting and performance. He has produced several critically-acclaimed series with the Radiotopia network — "Ways of Hearing," "The Great God of Depression" and "Over the Road" — and developed new podcasts with television programs, including Antiques Roadshow, Nova and American Experience. This type of work has been recognized with multiple Edward R. Murrow Awards, including "Excellence in Sound," and a nomination for "Podcast of the Year" from the Podcast Academy.

Additionally, Ian has premiered live sound works at the Boston Museum of Science and Harvard Museums of Science and Culture, and collaborated on immersive audio installations for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Richmond ICA and Atlanta Science Festival.

Ian holds a PhD in ethnomusicology from Boston University, where he conducted research on Haitian radio broadcasting and Indonesian shadow-puppetry. He continues this work as musical director for The Brothers Čampur, an international puppetry collaborative that has performed at major festivals in Indonesia and at universities throughout the eastern United States.

Clarissa Bitar plays the oud, a classic string instrument.

How the oud brought this Palestinian American musician closer to their culture, family and history

For Palestinians in the diaspora, staying connected to their ancestral home and making sense of the politics in the region has long been a challenge. Meklit Hadero, host of “Movement,” a series on music and migration, spoke with Clarissa Bitar, a Palestinian American who found that a musical instrument could bridge history and great distance.

How the oud brought this Palestinian American musician closer to their culture, family and history
Chhom Nimol is the lead singer of Dengue Fever.

How this Cambodian American singer found her voice

How this Cambodian American singer found her voice
A portrait of Sasami from her self-titled LP, "Sasami."

‘It’s all mixed’: Sasami makes music inspired by her multicultural heritage 

‘It’s all mixed’: Sasami makes music inspired by her multicultural heritage 
Gino Yevdjevich – who goes by “Gino” — is the founder and lead singer of the Seattle-based punk band Kultur Shock.

‘Sing every single song like it’s your last’: How conflict in Sarajevo changed this musician’s life

‘Sing every single song like it’s your last’: How conflict in Sarajevo changed this musician’s life
Belgian artists Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul.

‘It’s not about you, it’s about the conversation’: This Belgian music duo gets you dancing — and talking

‘It’s not about you, it’s about the conversation’: This Belgian music duo gets you dancing — and talking
DMV rapper and record producer Oddisee realized early on that purpose and success are self-designated.

Sudanese American rapper Oddisee on overcoming cultural taboos and confronting self-doubt

"Movement" host Meklit Hadero speaks with Sudanese American MC Oddisee about his new album, "To What End," which grew out of a period of intense self-doubt.

Sudanese American rapper Oddisee on overcoming cultural taboos and confronting self-doubt
Enrique Kiki Valera is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, sound engineer and producer. He’s best known as one of the world’s greatest players of the Cuban cuatro, a mid-size guitar with eight strings grouped in sets of two.

Kiki Valera on Son cubano and how he developed a unique musical perspective

At the age of 16, Valera started to salvage radio and TV parts out of discarded electronics to build his own shortwave receiver and transmitter, connecting him to a wider world of musical trends.

Kiki Valera on Son cubano and how he developed a unique musical perspective
Dakota Camacho, dancer and musician, seen in a body of a water unclothed with long hair.

‘I can speak the language of rhyme:’ Dakota Camacho on Guam, family and hip-hop

Seattle-based artist Dakota Camacho went on a quest to understand the complexities of their ancestors’ history, the Chamorro people. In the process, Camacho developed a unique hip-hop style inspired by their ancestors.

‘I can speak the language of rhyme:’ Dakota Camacho on Guam, family and hip-hop
Momma Nikki as a child with their father Jean Bonny Etienne in an undated photo.

Haitian American artist Momma Nikki sings about a complicated father-child relationship — and reconciliation

On their most recent album titled “Momma Exposed,” Seattle-based, Haitian American artist Momma Nikki pays tribute to their late father.

Haitian American artist Momma Nikki sings about a complicated father-child relationship — and reconciliation
For Dr. Enongo Lumumba Kasongo, whose stage name is Sammus, Afrofuturism has been a well of inspiration and a living current underneath all her work.

Forging new space: The multidimensional Afrofuturism of Sammus

For Dr. Enongo Lumumba Kasongo, whose stage name is Sammus, Afrofuturism has been a well of inspiration and a living current underneath all her work.

Forging new space: The multidimensional Afrofuturism of Sammus
Black and white cover of composer Arooj Aftab

The ‘strange grace’ of singer Arooj Aftab

In her latest record, “Vulture Prince,” Pakistani composer Arooj Aftab uses words from Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib and 11th-century Persian poet Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, alongside electronic samples and touches of jazz trumpet.

The ‘strange grace’ of singer Arooj Aftab
Sabha Aminikia immigrated to the US as a refugee and began studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. But even as he launched his career in America, his music was often focused on Iran.

Iranian American composer Sahba Aminikia: Music transforms like raindrops that 'wash this part of humanity'

Iranian American composer Sahba Aminikia, who had to leave his homeland due to religious persecution, says his pain comes out in his music.

Iranian American composer Sahba Aminikia: Music transforms like raindrops that 'wash this part of humanity'
Ethiopian American Musician Meklit Hadero hosts an ongoing series at The World about stories of music and migration.

Ethiopian American musician Meklit Hadero: 'We use music to talk about the things that are hard to talk about'

As part of "Movement,” an ongoing series from The World about the lives and work of immigrant musicians, Ethiopian American musician Meklit Hadero recounts conversations with fellow musicians in Ethiopia about the unifying role of music and culture amid the conflict in Tigray.

Ethiopian American musician Meklit Hadero: 'We use music to talk about the things that are hard to talk about'
(Clockwise from top left) Meklit Hadero in red lighting, Sinkane stsnding in front of wooden wall, Diana Gameros standing in front of a brick wall and Hello Psychaleppo looking down at a keyboard.

Four musicians grapple with the same question: What is home?

“Movement,” a one-hour special from The World, brings you stories of global migration through music. Together, host Marco Werman and Ethiopian American singer Meklit Hadero blend song and narrative in a meditation on what it means to be American. We follow a once-undocumented singer in San Francisco on a long-awaited trip back to Mexico, reflect on the experience of exile with a Syrian DJ and hear a Sudanese American artist play his first-ever show in Sudan — all guided by Hadero as she reflects on her own American story.

Four musicians grapple with the same question: What is home?
Amal Hussein and Hamdi Mohamed work on poems together.

'For My Ayeeyo': Two young women learn Somali poetry from a distance

Somalia is known as a land of poets. But what happens when Somalis are forced to flee their homeland, and settle here in the US — can the poetry live on in their new homes?

'For My Ayeeyo': Two young women learn Somali poetry from a distance