Dissonansseille

Dissonansseille is a fictional musical and artistic concept blending elements of dissonant music with the maritime culture of Marseille. The term combines dissonance with Marseille and appears in speculative fiction, critical essays, and multimedia installations to explore urban noise, identity, and memory.

In the imagined practice, performers employ atonal or microtonal harmony, dense timbral textures, and rhythmic ambiguity. Compositions often integrate field recordings from the Vieux-Port, market chatter, tram bells, and engine room sounds; ensembles may include traditional instruments, electric guitars, synthesizers, and contact microphones.

Historically, dissonansseille emerges in fiction around the turn of the 21st century as a critique of rapid urbanization and cultural hybridity in port cities. It is often presented as collaborative projects between musicians, sound artists, and writers, with performances at galleries and waterfront spaces.

Notable fictional works and groups include Le Cuirassé des Anciens, Les Dissonantistes, and the collective Marseille-Écho, though there is no canonical canon; the concept is used mainly as a narrative device or design prompt rather than a real movement.

See also: musique concrète, atonality, urban soundscape.