Sound/Music composer for Ibn Battuta Travels- Seenaryo Lebanon

About Seenaryo

Participatory theatre and play can transform an individual’s sense of agency. They gain the power to shape their own narrative and expand what is possible, individually but also through collective action. Working in Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Syria, Seenaryo uses theatre and play to support people to heal, lead and learn. We co-create performances with under-served communities, train future leaders and transform classrooms through play.

Reaching over 175,000 children, youth and women since 2015, Seenaryo won the Resilience in Action Award at HundrED 2024, the Arts, Culture & Heritage prize at the 2023 UK Charity Awards and was one of Expo 2020 Dubai’s 120 Global Innovators.

About the Project 

“Ibn Battuta Travels” is a cross-country participatory theatre and music project taking place across Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, and Egypt between September 2025 and May 2026.

Inspired by the life and writings of Ibn Battuta, one of history’s most remarkable travellers, the project explores the timeless themes of storytelling, identity, belonging, travel, friendship, and home. Over seven centuries after Ibn Battuta’s journeys, his reflections on connection, curiosity, and the search for meaning continue to resonate with the realities of our modern world.

The project invites communities to reimagine Ibn Battuta’s travels as a collective artistic journey. Through theatre, movement, and music, participants will create performances that express contemporary experiences of travel, displacement, and belonging, reinterpreting the spirit of Ibn Battuta through their own voices and cultural contexts.

Each country’s creative process will be unique, shaped by local participants, facilitators, and artistic leaders, while remaining linked to the broader regional narrative that unites all groups through a shared song, collaborative exchange, and artistic dialogue.

Objectives :

• Celebrate storytelling and imagination by using Ibn Battuta’s journeys as a stimulus for new artistic creation.
• Explore identity and belonging, drawing parallels between historical and modern experiences of travel, home, and cultural exchange.
• Connect communities across borders through a shared artistic process involving multiple countries and groups.
• Promote collective creation where participants work as an ensemble to generate stories that are meaningful to them and reflect diverse perspectives.
• Integrate music and performance as powerful tools for communication, creativity, and connection between all 5 countries.
• Foster solidarity and shared understanding through the creation of a cross-country cultural work that celebrates the richness of Arab heritage.

Scope of Work:

To achieve these objectives, Seenaryo is seeking a music composer to collaborate on the creation of an original song that embodies the spirit of Ibn Battuta Travels.

The composer will be responsible for developing a musical composition that reflects the themes of travel, connection, and cultural identity, serving as a unifying element across all participating countries. The song will be developed in collaboration with Seenaryo’s artistic team and informed by the creative writings of participants/directors

Deliverables 

The selected composer will:

1. Compose an original melody specifically for the project, featuring authentic Arabic and oriental instruments to create a unique sound that complements and enhances the project’s thematic essence.

2. Collaborate on lyrics, either developing them based on provided themes or adjusting existing lyrics to fit seamlessly with the composed melody.

3. Provide a foundational musical structure or reference points that can serve as the basis for further development or use within the project.

4. Advise on appropriate song length, considering musical arrangement and maximum duration (up to 3 minutes).

5. Produce a recorded version with vocals, demonstrating how the music works with singing, to be used for presentation or performance purposes.

6. Provide instrumental versions (with and without vocals) to allow flexibility for use across different contexts.

7. Ensure the music reflects Seenaryo’s participatory values, combining accessibility, quality, and cultural resonance.

Logistics 

Place of Implementation: Lebanon or remotely

Timeline of Delivery: End of December 2025 - Mid of January 2026

Number of Compositions: To be confirmed, with a primary focus on the original shared song
Coordination: Ongoing collaboration with Seenaryo’s Producer and creative team