Far Off Sounds
The Series
Far Off Sounds is a new kind of music series — a hybrid of ethnographic documentary, music video, and travelogue. The show guides viewers through distant lands and hidden pockets close to home, exploring the beautiful, strange, and varied ways that people use, play, and connect with music around the world.
We live in a constantly evolving world of ephemeral trends and rapidly shifting cultural norms, and it is often difficult to make sense of this plethora of sensations within a larger context. Far Off Sounds seeks to provide this context by being all-inclusive. The series serves as a platform to connect the dots between the drumbeat of an African village and the pounding rhythm of Detroit techno; between the amplified songs of orca whales and the electric guitar solos of psychedelic rock. Each episode tells a discreet, intimate story, in the service of the larger, infinitely complex story of music on earth.
We started in 2012 with a simple instinct: go looking for music in places it hasn't been looked for. Nick had been working on documentary projects in Indonesia; Jacob had spent 2011 in Ghana filming for an NGO. When we came home, we started making films. The series began as something closer to a music festival documentary, then broadened — episode by episode — into something harder to categorize and more interesting to make.
Twenty-two films later, we're still going. Each episode is self-contained — different subjects, different locations, different musical worlds — but all driven by the same conviction: that the most interesting sounds are happening at the edges, and that getting close to them takes time.
The Filmmakers
Oakland, CA — filming Episode 20, Cambodia, CA
Nick George
Nick George is a producer, music organizer, and co-creator of Far Off Sounds. He has been booking shows and working in music for over a decade — as co-organizer of Noise Brunch and Scrummage Fest, and in a previous life as a touring musician. On the show, Nick handles the organizational side: research, logistics, and the long work of building the relationships that make the filming possible.
"It's important for us all to be comfortable with the project in order to produce our best work collectively," he says. "I'm a good listener."
Jacob Hurwitz-Goodman
Jacob Hurwitz-Goodman is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and the director of all 22 episodes of Far Off Sounds. His other work includes the feature documentary Detroit Threat Management and the PBS short Incinerator. He spent 2011 in Ghana as a filmmaker for an NGO — an experience that shaped much of the methodology behind Far Off Sounds.
Jacob handles the camera, the edit, and the technical side of the show, and brings to each episode a belief that real documentary requires slowing down: "Usually we're traveling or rushing and don't have time to just hang out with the people we film before filming. When we do, we go much deeper."