Dhvāni: Sacred Sounds and Decolonial Machines

This paper provides an entry into a decolonial approach to AI driven music and sound arts by describing an ongoing artistic research project Dhvāni. The project is a series of responsive, self-regulating, and autonomous installations driven by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and incorporating ritual and sacred sounds from South Asia. Such mélange re-emphasizes and advocates for the values of interconnectivity, codependence, network, and community with a decolonial approach. By giving the AI an autonomous agency, the project aims to reimagine the future of AI with an inter-subjective reciprocity in human-machine assemblages transcending the technologically deterministic approach to AI-driven live art, media arts and music. Through unpacking the project, this paper underscores the necessity to dehegemonize the AI-driven music field towards a transcultural exchange, thereby transcend the field's Eurocentric bias.