It took a year or more to think of a sequel to The Exeter Whisper (2018), a radio work realised with 400 primary school children in which a short text decayed and revivified under pressure of being passed along individually and being misheard and reinterpreted. This time I searched for a transparent and static text as a point of departure. I settled on the phrase “God Save The Queen” for five reasons. First, it is something one never actually says; secondly, it is something one never actually thinks; thirdly, everyone in the UK knows precisely what it means and carries a civic weight; fourthly, it is essentially meaningless, especially perhaps to a republican atheist such as myself; and finally, it is a phrase which will become extinct when the present Queen dies, as she shortly will. Initially I wanted to have lots of people repeat the phrase so as to provide a map of regional accents and dialect, perhaps drawing on Members of Parliament as speakers. The corona virus crisis meant that faced with the Radia deadline I had instead to do this sketch on the spot, using a standard industrial sound effects unit which brought out the tones of my own received pronunciation and seemed instantly to dictate rhythm, diction, and a sense of musicality and ham theatre I had not anticipated. This is a live recording made in real time on the afternoon of Tuesday 16 March 2020 in Resonance FM’s Frank Howling Studio. It is dedicated to Michael Umney and Margot Gibbs on the occasion of the postponement of their wedding. Title by Anthony Moore.
Show 782: Milan Sketches (Kanal 103)
Sound artists and field recordist Toni Dimitrov was working on several field recordings pieces inspired by cities during his trips. After the sketches from Athens, Belgrade, Ioannina, Bucharest, here is a new piece, dedicated to a city, produced from short sound sketches. This time the sketches are recorded in Milan during his stay for the Radio City festival in spring 2018. The recordings from the Duomo metro station, Sforza Castle, Orto Botanico di Brera, Santa Maria del Carmine church, escalators, bars, parks, etc., interweave subtly, blurring the line between field recording and sound art.
Show 781: WAITING FOR THE BARBERIANS (Rádio Zero)
after Constantine P. Cavafy
with Steve Peters, Marco Scarassatti, Galina Sendrea, Jean-Philippe
Renoult, Paulo Raposo.
Show 780: Vertigo 282 by Sue Coulson (Soundart Radio)
It was autumn 2019. Britain on the eve of political upheaval, is split over the impending separation from Europe. Against this shifting background I wound my way on foot down the long valley to the Tamar river that separates Devon and Cornwall, and flows into those vast waters of the Sound. Two bridges placed side by side span the river at this point. I intended to cross the water via the pedestrian walkway on the road bridge. But I had to be quick. Ironically it was about to close that day for long term engineering works. Vertigo 282 is the soundtrack of my passage across, the narrative constantly shifting, slipping from action to inaction, from reality to fantasy, silence to noisiness, and like life it is on-going (until someone switches it off).
Sue Coulson is a visual fine artist using sound as part of her practice.
Show 779: Zugunruhe by Amber Meulenijzer (Radio Campus Bruxelles)
ZUGUNRUHE (2016/reworked for Radia 2020)
Zugunruhe was originally conceived as an installation, a piece where the audience lies together on a large mattress and watches 27 stuffed birds fly in a large circle above their heads. A fiction soundcollage dealing with being lost, new horizons, too much clouds, magicians and birds on cruise control. For this reworked version, it is introduced by a nightly fieldrecording in Brussels. A single bird is singing, calling out into the night, confused and at the same time encouraged by street lights and city noises.
Voices: Tibo Vandenborre, Elise Pierre, Sam Lowyck, Igor Paszkiewicz
Extra music: Mi_les Davis
Amber Meulenijzer (°1994) lives and works in Brussels. As a visual artist with an audio background (RITCS Radio, 2016 | KASK Installation Art 2019), she mainly investigates the relationship between image/installation and sound. Where do decor and soundscape meet? What does the eye need in order to listen better? Beyond the silence.
https://ambermeulenijzer.tumblr.com
https://soundcloud.com/amber-meulenijzer
Curated by Carine Demange for Radio Campus Bruxelles
Show 778 | Locu – Luciano-Maggiore (Radio Grenouille / Radio Nunc)
Œuvre électroacoustique créée en 2019, Locu utilise des sons anecdotiques. Par ce procédé Luciano Maggiore poursuit une recherche sur le timbre et la relation entre les sons pris pour eux-mêmes.
Luciano Maggiore, born in Palermo, lives and works in London. Active musician in the field of electroacoustic music, in recent years he has developed a strong interest in the mechanisms of sound diffusion, using speakers and several analogue and digital devices (walkmans, CD players, tape recorders) as main instruments. His interest is focused on the architectural and psychoacoustic as well as on dynamic and directional values of sound with a strong emphasis on fixed sounds. With Louie Rice is part of NO-PA /PA-ON, a platform for regular but informal realisations of artist scores performed by Luciano Maggiore, Louie Rice and friends, recombining materials of Fluxus origin, expanded concretism and minimal behaviourism. His works are published by Balloon & Needle, Boring Machines, Consumer Waste, Dinzu Artefacts, Hideous Replica, Palustre, Senufo editions, 1000Füssler, Triscele Registrazioni and Tulip records.
Radio nunc : Opened window on the sound landscape surrounding us. Radio nunc is a web radio born in April 2019, in Marseille. It’s an independent and collective radio putting forward the contemporary sound practices, from field recordings to electroacoustic music, focusing on the sound for itself and the freedom of listening.
Show 777: Makhtesh Ramon by Møn feat. Alina Sauernheimer for Sphere Radio (Guest Slot)
Makhtesh Ramon
(scoll down for english text)
Eine Nacht im weltweit größten Erosionskrater der Wüste Negev, Israel.
Absolute Stille, außer den Geräuschen von Dingo´s die an unserem Zelt schnuppern nichts. Unwirkliche Träume und dann aufstehen.
Es ist 4:00 Uhr morgens, aufstehen um pünktlich zum Sonnenaufgang auf dem nächsten Berg zu sitzen und dem Spiel von Formation, Licht und Geräuschlosigkeit wie im Kino zu folgen.
Gibt es einen friedlicheren Ort? Selbst die Form des Kraters ist wie ein Herz…
Außer uns niemand so weit das Auge reicht. Keine Geräusche, kein Wind, nur Stille und ein Himmel voller unfaßbarer Farben.
Wir sitzen, ca. 20 Min und ich denke mir: „Das ist wohl der stillste Ort an dem ich je war“. Und als hätte ich es heraufbeschworen, plötzlich ein unwirkliches tiefes Dröhnen aus dem nichts. Was ist das? Erst, Verwunderung, ein bisschen Verunsicherung, dann: „Ach neee, es sind Düsenjäger. Düsenjäger die wohl Ihre nächsten Einsätze üben.
Ernüchterung macht sich breit, der Wurf zurück in die Realität. Wir sind gerade mal 350 km entfernt von Syrien. Sind das die abgesandten in den Krieg? Die Situation wird noch surrealer als sie schon war und das Aufnahmegerät was ich anfangs angeschaltet hatte um die Stille aufzunehmen, dokumentiert nun das Spiel von Schall und Krater in dem jedes Geräusch dass sich in ihm fängt in alle Richtungen zurückwirft. Eine unwirkliche Komposition aus Echoes aus allen Richtungen, erzeugt durch Düsenjets die, die Schallmauer durchbrechen.
Dieser Moment hat in mir sehr viele Fragen aufgeworfen und ich hatte das Gefühl es bedarf einer weiteren Ebene das erlebte Spürbar zu machen. Also beschlossen wir eine Art Hörspiel daraus zu machen und die Aufnahme als Grundlage für den Text zu nutzen.
So kam es dass ich meiner Freundin Alina um ihr Interesse fragte, welches Sie direkt hatte und die Aufnahme + ein paar Situationsbeschreibende Anekdoten zukommen lies und Sie darauf hin niederschrieb was in ihr passierte. Raus kam dieser Text.
Credits:
Aufnahme, Produktion und Idee: Møn (Simon Clement)
Text und Stimme: Alina Sauernheimer
Mastering: Leon Seidl
Bild: Omri Shmulewitz
www.sphere-radio.net
https://m-o-n.bandcamp.com/
One night and one day in the world’s largest erosion crater in the Negev desert, Israel.
Absolute silence, only noises from Dingo’s sniffing our tent in search of something edible. Unreal dreams and then, get up.
It is 4:00 o’clock in the morning, time to get up to reach the hike to the top of the next mountain before sunrise and to follow the play of shapes, light and noiselessness.
Is there a more peaceful place? Even the shape of the crater looks like a heart …
No one except us as far as the eye can see. No noise, no wind, only silence and a sky full of incredible colors.
We sit, about 20 minutes and I think to myself: “This is probably the quietest place I have ever been”. And as if I had conjured it up, suddenly an unreal deep roar from nowhere. What’s this? First, amazement, a little uncertainty, then: “Oh no, they’re jet fighters. Jet fighters who will probably practice their next missions.
Disillusionment spreads, the throw back to reality. We are only 350 km away from Syria. Are they the sent to war? The situation becomes even more surreal than it already was and the recording device that I had initially switched on to record the silence now documents the play of sound and crater in which every sound that gets stuck in it, is thrown back in all directions. A unreal compositions of Echoes from all directions made by Jetfighters breaking the sound barrier.
This moment raised a lot of questions in me and I had the feeling that another level was needed to make the experience felt. So we decided to make a kind of radio play out of it and to use the recording as the basis for the it´s text.
So it happened that I asked my friend Alina about her interest, she was immediately into it and I sent her the recording + a few situation anecdotes and she wrote down what happened to her during listening. In the end, this text came out.
Credits:
Recording, production and idea: Møn (Simon Clement)
Text and voice: Alina Sauernheimer
Mastering: Leon Seidl
Picture: Omri Shmulewitz
Show 776: Une Marche Deux Parcourts by Marilou Craft and Tamara Filyavich (CKUT)
As part of Une Marche Deux Parcourts, a soundart and words performance with Marilou Craft that took place at McGill University last November, below is the event description by the organizers.
“Le 6 décembre 1989, la tragédie de l’École Polytechnique de Montréal a plongé le Québec dans le désarroi, touchant les femmes et les communautés universitaires à travers le monde. 14 femmes ont été tuées parce qu’elles avaient choisi d’occuper un espace traditionnellement réservé aux hommes. L’événement commémoratif Une marche, deux parcours. À la mémoire des femmes de Polytechnique vise à souligner que leurs initiatives et leurs contributions, même interrompues, contribuent à l’histoire de Montréal”
Show 775: Annoised (Radio ARA)
Audio guide on how to escape from annoying sounds.
Produced by Ben Dratwicki, Lars Schmitz, Luca Piparo & Sandra Laborier
Show 774: Kevlar by Francesco Giomi (Usmaradio)
Francesco Giomi | Kevlar
Musical Improvisation for one live performer (2019)
Kevlar is an aramidic heat-resistant and strong synthetic fiber. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, this high-strength material was used first commercially in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires.
Kevlar is not a composition but a process of “polarized” total improvisation, a sound performance where the model of kevlar allows a series of synthetic fibres and pulsations to born: a regular alternation between continuous distended textures and unrelenting rhythms. Kevlar has a structure that is constantly moving and iridescent, also thanks to the use of an analog radio device without presets.
By deriving from a series of collaborations with the Italian coreographer Simona Bertozzi, the project is the last step of a path that moves from the dance universe to a completely musical expressive autonomy.
The piece was live recorded in March 2019 at Cango-Cantieri Goldonetta (Florence)
Francesco Giomi (Florence, 1963)
Composer and performer of electronic music. He has collaborated with Luciano Berio and other relevant composers, musicians, choreographers and directors besides orchestras and ensembles from Italy and abroad. He has lead the live electronics staff of Tempo Reale in theatres and festivals all over the world. His works are regularly performed all over the world in festivals and concerts while his music is selected for and awarded by italian and foreign festivals. In the last five years he has started new creative projects for the investigation of the relations between electroacoustic music and improvisation, conducting collective music performances in Florence, Bologna, Bremen, Bruxelles, Manchester. He is professor of Electroacoustic Music Composition at the Music Conservatory in Bologna and director of Tempo Reale in Florence.
USMARADIO is a workplace of The School of Radio to develop an innovative radio pedagogy. Workshops, work sessions, meetings, presentations of live performance as sections of the project.
usmaradio.org
