Show 865: Laments by Mara Genschel for Radio Helsinki

In 2008/2009 – I was in my late twenties but felt like in late puberty – I worked on a collection of fixed sound pieces that I would describe as precisely composed „field poems“. These LAMENTS (as a half-ironic reference to Monteverdis famous Lamento d’Arianna) are based on somewhat classical field recording material (daily life, urban soundscapes, noise) and on the other hand extremely private, spoken and often sobbed confessions I would nowadays assume to be evidence of a mental crisis combined with a devastating love story.

Technically these pieces are produced quite Low Tech – I would compare this way of cutting sound material with handwritten poems: drafted, crossed out, marked. Further, the evidence of time (13 years!) is very clear: sounds like „digital camera“, acoustic phone messages, UKW radio etc. must already seem historical, even nostalgic nowadays. I recorded most of it with a MINI DISC PLAYER and OKMs (Originalkopf-Mikrofon).

To whom these mixtures of tears and glitches, glitches and tears appear to be too private, selfmade or embarressing, I suggest to listen to them as simple love songs. Their approximate titles might be as follows:

THE DAY I FELL IN LOVE WITH A BLIND POET (00:30)
THE DAY MY GLASS BUTTER DISH BROKE (02:43)
WALKING THROUGH THE SNOW OF YOUR CANON (03:58)
THE DAY I HEARD MY DEMONS HAVE A COLD (feat. MONTEVERDI) (06:38)
SKYSCRAPERS ORANGE AND BLUE (OIL ON CANVAS) (09:18)
LOVE GAMES NEW SEASON (12:28)
INSTRUMENTAL (16:10)
BLACK SWANS EATING A CHRISTMAS TREE (18:00)
THE DAY I LOST YOU IN MY HONEYPOT (20:29)
A MIDSUMMERNIGHTS ENDING (WILL THESE THREADS EVER SEW ME TOGETHER AGAIN) (23:10)

WARNING: Please be careful with headphones at 09:18-12:30

Current projects: https://hoeherevasen.wordpress.com/

Show 864: Loss in Translation by Lucia Scazzocchio and Sasha Edye-Lindner for Resonance FM

Loss in Translation
Drawn from the research of Social Distance, Digital Congregation: British Ritual Innovation under COVID-19 at Manchester University, England, ‘Loss in Translation’ is a montage piece interweaving the voices of funeral and death care professionals across faiths and people who have lost loved ones during the pandemic from interviews recorded remotely during the UK’s tough winter lockdown restrictions of 2021. This is a sociological piece reflecting on how important religious and non- religious rituals are and the potentially long-term trauma incurred when they are taken away. We discover the initiation of a ‘standing stone,’ erected as a memorial for this time when death has been so present in many people’s lives.
Researched by Paulina Kolata and produced by Lucia Scazzocchio (Social Broadcasts) and Sasha Edye-Lindner. With thanks to contributors Toby Angel, Tim Ashton, Peter Gaskin, Louise Winter, Waheed Khan, Lisa Wilkinson, Rachel Meyer, Shoayb Bux, Miri Lawrence and Perry Meyer.
‘Loss in Translation’ was a runner up in this year’s Prix Archives de la Parole category at the Phonurgia Nova awards. http://phonurgia.fr/2021/10/02/palmares-2021/
Lucia Scazzocchio (Social Broadcasts, UK)
As a sound artist, radio producer, community facilitator and educator, Lucia Scazzocchio has been nurturing and curating diverse and disparate stories and conversations that weave individual personal narratives as a way to help us better understand the wider social context. She calls this ‘Social Broadcasting’. Driven by creating engaging participatory radio and audio experiences that she ‘audioscapes’ into imaginative on and off-line broadcast initiatives and formats, Social Broadcasting represents the versatility of audio as an evolving social and artistic medium. https://www.socialbroadcasts.co.uk/

Show 863: Papradiste by Mnemonic45 (for Kanal 103)

Papradiste

More than a year ago he moved from his native town of Bitola to the mountain village of Papradiste. He made his home there as a host of the mountain hut, a former school building in a now almost abandoned village.

This audio collage is a heartfelt homage to the beautiful village of Papradiste:

the winter loneliness, the birds in early springtime, unexpected encounters and spontaneous music collaborations… in the heart of the mountain different worlds coexist in harmony.

Mnemonic45 (Goce Gligurovski) is a musician and sound artist from Macedonia.

https://mnemonic45.bandcamp.com/

Show 862: Confusion, Reflection, Joy, a radio drama in Sonata Form (Soundart Radio)

Three movements, each exploring our location at Dartington Hall as somewhere where time slips between different years, decades, centuries. In August, when musicians gather for the Summer School, as you wander around the medley of medieval and modernist buildings different musics seep out of every door and window. The musicians and audiences bring and share memories of their visits here over the years, and make new ones.

Participants in the Summer School’s Radio Drama course, run by Soundart Radio, walked, listened and collected. Their studio was the whole of the Dartington Estate, their script was words found on gravestones amongst the ancient yew trees, and their scores were signs around the buildings. Many fragments were then pulled together into three movements. Confusion explores the problems of collective music making in a Covid wary environment. Reflection provides space to mourn and remember. Finally, Joy brings together old memories and new music with attempts at happiness.

Dartington Summer School began in 1948 and has only been cancelled once, in 2020. The planned events would have coincided with Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, and a new work, “Joy” was commissioned for choir and string quartet. In 2021, amongst sudden changes, partial closures and socially distanced outdoor music, Joy was rehearsed and performed for the first time. Snippets of Joy, by John Barber and Hazel Gould, pop up here, as well as many other half formed performances, captured whilst wandering around the site.
Special thanks to Sara Mohr-Pietsch.