experimental sound: how sound travels

how and why sound travels: the movement of people is the key drive about the evolvement of sound. the migration of people from rural life to urban life generates and evolves sound experience and production. it also allows sound and music to develop from different cultural origins. e.g. southern Moroccan group ‘Archach’, where the song ‘Archarass Archarass’ is played from the 1990s in Morocco and then again from Paris 15 years later – the same song by Wary Sallama but with new influences and developments – added auto-tune, new synths etc which creates a type of distilling of the original Moroccan style – a pan Moroccan sound.

migration: migration occurs not just from country to country but within a country. music is something that people carry with them – e.g. the refugees using sound to hold on to home and place as they travel. Rebecca Wolf made recordings at some of the refugee camps in Greece in 2016. she recorded a Kurd playing the saz as others without instruments play acapello – creating a sonic experience of shared memories and experiences.

digital sound travel: digital sound travel occurs through compression – the MP3, where sound is compressed, coded and reduced through algorithms so it can be shared. taking Modernist by Ryan McGuire, he re-digitalised the pieces that were taken off Suzanne’s Vega’s original ‘Tom’s Diner’ during the coding process to make a new song which carry the traces of the original song. there is silencing that occurs through the digitalisation of sound also.

think theory/circulation theory: this looks at how ideas and objects circulate and create meaning. distribution aesthetics looks at how music travels and also how you receive music which shapes the meaning and experience of music and sound. eg. though individual earbuds or as a collective experience on vinyl etc. Kanye Wests ‘New Slaves’ looks at instagram and selfie era and projects his new song only in certain places and not online – therefore the song only exists as recordings of the projection. West’s decision for the distribution of his song is based on anti consumerism – a song that is unbuyable but widely distributed.

question: in the blurring of life and art, is the circulation and distribution of sound democratised? yes perhaps as the onus is on the listener – you can chose how you want to consume and interact with this music.