[STR 014] WLD 2014 – Decisions

We all make decisions: humans, animals, a river, or the cosmos itself. Perhaps we all take them in a different way, but always inter-connecting them between each other. Sound is complexity: a network of networks, vibration. The soundscape is intelligent and just by listening we can understand, feel, imagine or expand its power. The sonic diversity that is present in our world is a clear example of the way we connect our choices, events, actions, emotions or thoughts. It’s a matter of language, of communication or just a random state of the universal mutation and chance. It can be a complex chain of causes and effects, a simple decision of making a call to the rest of the herd or just a particle in the air making sound alive in the ears.

Photo by Juan Sadaba.

Recordings:

  1. Swallows feeding swallows, by Artificial Memory Trace (Ireland) – Recorded direct-to-mic 3.9.2003 in the shed of Ivy Cottage, Co.Meath, Ireland.
  2. El parlamento de las aves, by Mikael Layoura (Morocco) – Recorded in Dar Slaoui, a traditional house from Fez Medina (Morocco) at the 12th June 2014… it a RAW just with Fade-in and Fade-out.
  3. Merienda de flamencos, by Apenino (Spain) – This is a short recording of a group of visitors to the Madrid Zoo, while they gave some snack to a couple of flamingos.
  4. Puesto de comida en el mercado Rebolledo en Coatepec, Veracruz, by Balam Ronan (Mexico) – It’s a recording I made at a food stall in the market Rebolledo in Coatepec, Veracruz, Mexico, where I’m having breakfast with my family. We can hear the cook preparing food, our voices and those of more customers and workers, and music that comes from other stalls. 
  5. Sounds of Prateh Kampuchea, by Hrishikesh Dani (Cambodia) – I went on a solitary backpacking trip to Cambodia for week during June-July 2014. On my journey route Phnom Penh-Siem Reap-SihanoukVille- Phnom Penh, I recorded sounds at the market places and busy streets, of buskers/street musicians, in a lost trail in the dense forest, at a biodiversity centre, at the Angkor Wat Temples, at the Waterfalls, of the beaches at the SihanoukVille, live concert at a music bar, at the Killing Fields Memorial in Phnom Penh. Each of these places were unique sounding with strong Cambodian cultural and environmental influences. In this piece, I have attempted to create a soundscape of Cambodia depicting a sonic identity of the country.
  6. Dawn Ruckus, by Brendan Rehill (Ireland) – Recorded early hours in Rossmore Park Forest, Monaghan, Ireland. I was expecting a wonderful and musical dawn chorus, but found instead that there was the feeling of aggression in the air that morning with the rapid, unsettled close movements of smaller birds, and the squawking racket in the distance.
  7. Rialto Market, closing time, by Bandum (Venezia, Italy) – Sitting in a corner watching/listening … Humans and seagulls in their daily activity…
  8. Lake Ontario soundwalk, by Dan Tapper (Canada) – This recording features several short extracts taken from a longer sound walk and field recording session taken on the shores of Lake Ontario. The piece features the sounds of me walking along Lee Avenue – the street where I was staying at the time, within view of the lake. The sounds of the Kew Beach boardwalk where I sat recording the early morning runners and dog walkers. Walking from the boardwalk to the shore of the lake, where I lean down to pick up stones and skim them over the calm surface of the lake. The sound of the lake – waves gently breaking onto the shore and the calls of a small flock of Canada Geese. The recordings were taken between 5am and 6am on 17/06/14. I found it really interesting listening to how the sounds developed over that time. I was the only person when I first arrived at the lake shore, over time runners started to appear along the boardwalk, later followed by dog walkers and a lakeside yoga class. The sounds of traffic also developed over this period – you can hear the sound of a horn at around 40 seconds into the piece. The constant sounds of birdsong and the waves coming from the lake tie all these sounds together creating a beautiful sonic environment.
  9. The rhythm of Ashby Flea Market, by Julian Scordato (Italy) – One of the most characteristic and significant soundmarks of the city of Berkeley (California) is the street drummers’ performance at the Ashby Flea Market, in front of the Ashby BART station. Every weekend, moe or less experienced drummers gather there in what has become a regular appointment. Carrying on the African tradition of drum circles, the musicians improvise an informal performance that anyone can join in at any time. There is a peculiar quality to this ritual, as it goes far beyond the musical aspect: through their beats, the drummers become an instrinsic part of the enviroment, by setting the pulsating rhythm of the market. “The bell provides the foundation. The rhythm is given by the man who strikes the bell, the others fill in and improvise around it. They get in a groove, creating intricate patterns, playing off each other, building up to a climax. Eventually some of the less experienced drummers get confused, make mistakes, the sound becomes chaotic and they stop. Everyone takes a breath as they regroup to begin again.” – Lydia Gans, “The Drummers at the Ashby Flea Market”, The Berkeley Daily Planet, February 25, 2010. 
  10. Motriz, by Juanjo Palacios (Spain)
  11. Residencia en la Tierra, by Sara Lenzi y Juan Sadaba (Borneo) – Over a “Kampung Air”, a water village in the Island of Borneo, the verses of Neruda, wander around, willing to be heard in the noise of life. The poet´s memories of the South East struggle patiently to be listened in the air, in the water, in the screams, in the sound, en lo sonoro. “Residencia en la Tierra” has been recorded during a walk through the Kampung Air (Water village) of Kota Kinabalu, in Borneo, at the end of June 2014.
  12. El monte, los ecos…, by Miguel Isaza (Colombia) – Recording of a cow’s herd at morning amid the mountains of  Llanogrande, Antioquia. 
  13. Row fisherman row, by World Listener (Japan) – Recorded at Inokashira Park (井の頭公園) Tokyo, in spring 2014, on a small rowing boat. The resulting audio is a mix of 2 mono signals: one recorded on board with an omnidirectional microphone, the other in water with a hydrophone, while rowing in the park’s pond.
  14. Panorama Wirrarika, by Xareni Lizáraga Gómez (Mexico) – This sound piece is part of a film called Eco de la montaña filmed down in south Mexico with the Wixarikas community, full of color, traditions, music, mysticism and power of the hearth to heal and manifest a different perspective of life. I remember that sleepless night just recording and feeling the vibrations of every single thing around the fire and the sky.
  15. Storm, by Andi Dhima (Greece) – Storm  is a piece created from the sound-scape recordings in mount Aino , Greece , Kefalonia the singer in this audio track is Maia Papageorgiou.
  16. Naxos, by Stephen Shiell (UK) – Stephen Shiell collects and re-uses found materials and sound samples, working with field recordings gathered from everyday environments and from travels abroad, using a sound recorder to collect audio snapshots and compiling these to create layered audio portraits of place. Rather than creating a true documentation, he mixes samples from different places to create a specific atmosphere, which represents his memory of the place. In this way his compositions use sounds like found materials to sculpt an atmosphere.
  17. Holiday, by Robert Wilson (England) – “We get on a train. We get off a train. We see the sea. We buy some ice cream. We have a nice time.”
  18. Feira da Ladra, by Ricardo Paraíso Silvestre (Oeiras, Portugal) – The ” Feira da Ladra” takes place weekly on Tuesdays and Saturdays. It has existed since the twelfth century in various locations. It´s been at it´s present location since the end of the nineteenth century. The recording (96 kHz/24 bit) was made on the morning of the 13th of July 2014 utilizing an M-audio Microtrack II recorder and a Audio-tecnica AT825 stereo microphone mounted in a Rycote blimp.’

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