[STR 023] World Listening Day 2015 – H2O (Pt. I)

[artwork photo by Jeremy Hegge]

1. Cities and Memory – Sound Waves | Sound Waves is a project by Cities and Memory that forms part of World Listening Day 2015. It celebrate and builds on the World Listening Day theme of water by presenting a collective reimagining of the sounds of water around the world and the role it plays in our lives.

A total of 38 sound artists from around the world have submitted a field recording and reimagining of water somewhere in the world: ocean, river, lake, stream, swimming pool, boiling kettle, splash of a puddle – anything in which water is the defining sound. These reimagined sounds have been recomposed and re-edited by Cities and Memory into one longer, mixed sound piece incorporating many of the sounds in a new context. [more info]

2. Adern X – Moaner’s Beach | A bunch of field recordings on a beach were edited to create a reasonable document about a man hearing the world around him.

3. Jane P. Perry – California Drought Measures | An acoustic poem composition on the critical water shortage facing the State in 2015 and is a collage of field recordings on a ZOOM H2n. Composition included cutting, pasting, and layering of the raw recordings with no alteration of the sound as recorded.  Mandatory outdoor watering rules are in effect with a utility district use goal of 35 gallons of water per person per day.  Alessandro Ragazzo – Life in the liquid

4. Balam Ronan – WLD 2015 | It is a small composition with water field recordings made in my house.

5. Leah Barclay – Subterranean SketchSubterranean Sketch draws on a series of short hydrophone recordings from bodies of water across Australia, Cambodia, India and the USA. The recordings were made during the River Listening project, an art-science investigation into the creative possibilities of aquatic bioacoustics and the potential for new approaches in the management and conservation of global river systems.

6. SM Milligan – Dock 401 | Multi Tracked Field Recordings ( No Processing ) of the Titanic Slip Way in Belfast’s Docks Area. Dock 401 was where the ill fated Titanic was built. This is a series of recordings of the surrounding area, above and below Sea Level.

7. Casuso – Urumea Industrial | The Urumea is a river located in the basque country, it passes through San Sebastian. Outside the city it is a heavily industrialized river. All the sounds were recorded near the industrial constructions where there are lots of water related constructions, dams, water pipes, power plants etc.

8. Magda Stawarska-Beavan – Over and Under | Over and Under is one of a series of sound pieces produced from field recordings collected during a 4 week stay in Istanbul during the summer of 2014. This particular composition uses recordings captured on the shores of the Bosporus. Sounds of the sea heard from the land and the ambient noise of coastal life is interwoven with the sub aqua swirling of water recorded on hydrophones and the sonic rumbling of engines from the heavy freight ships plying the busy mercantile strait between the Sea of Marmara  and the Black Sea.

As a rapidly growing city, Istanbul is continually developing new connections between the two continents on which it sits. The Marmaray underground rail connection opened in October 2013 and a third Bridge, the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge is scheduled for imminent completion. For better or worse, trade connections continue to develop across the Bosporus Straight but it is the Sea itself which is the vital connection between two sides of a bifurcated city.

9. Neither Famous Nor Rich (N.F.N.R.) – Showerscape | The composition refers to the active mode of water, to its strong pulsation when it is running, whirling, toward its rapidness and abruptness, impetuosity.

It concentrates on water’s flow and pressure. It is a force that escapes the water pipes. The recordings of tap water, shower stream, water splashes while taking the bath and pouring portions of water have been made for this composition.

10. Erick Ruiz Arrellano – Rain Through Human to Sea | This sound piece explores the possibilities of different textures when water travels from the mountains to the ocean, and the changes when it encounters the human being on its way.

This piece is made by over 80 field sound recordings made in Mexico, India, Laos, Cuba, Belize and Panama between 2002 and 2015. It includes sounds from ocean, rain, rivers, waterfalls, lakes, and many human activities including water.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.