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Sonic Archaeologies
Ros Bandt
Archaeology involves the uncovering and studying of remains and remnants, usually fragments of an unknown whole. When the term is applied to sound, which is invisible and time-dependent, questions emerge. Can we hear the sounds of the past and if so how? Are they whole or fragments? Is it a philosophical possibility to try to rehear the past, given that no moment can be repeated?
The physical listening environment is constantly altering every moment; we have different acoustic spaces with different soundscapes and the listener is a very different conscious being in the twenty-first century from that of the Homeric world, or the inhabitants of ancient Lake Mungo. Sonic archaeology investigates the remnants of ancient language and ancient land as they exist today, as the source material for a modern electro-acoustic reconstruction which celebrates them. From the giant aeolian desert harp of Mungo to the ancient Greek texts of Thrausmata, Sonic Archaeologies attempts to re-sound antiquity so that some of its essence may be rekindled. These award-winning compositions were created in the studios of West Deutsche Rundfunk, Cologne. Press quotes:
“Sonic Archaeologies takes us to the heart of what music is about: the sounding and re-sounding of trans-temporal, cross-cultural, past and present human experience.”
— Kipps Horn, ASME Journal “[Thrausmata's] collaged sound sources provide a rich web of intertextual interplays with the literal and symbolic content of the ancient texts ... the evocative sound of the aeolian harp [in Mungo] ... it's worth hearing the piece for this element alone ... satisfying listening”— Michael Hannan, MCA Music Forum “[Thrausmata] was a startling and intriguing essay in marrying contemporary sounds with a 'dead' language and exploring their mutual resonances.”— Clive O'Connell, The Age “This disc chronicles the work of a true original in Australian music ... [in] Thrausmata ... Bandt aims at a kind of excavation of the imagination, re-creating imagined past sound worlds and setting them against a surviving text ... the demeanour is fresh, inventive and engaging ... Mungo is quite the opposite: a still soundscape evoking vast, sparely punctuated expanses of time and space ... it is one of the most thoughtful Australian landscape pieces I have come across.”— Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald Audio previews:
Track Listing:
Mungo (1992)
Thrausmata (1998) Catalogue Number: MD3145
Price: AU$26.00
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Sonic Archaeologies can be purchased through Buywell Just Classical who offer secure on-line ordering. |
 Featured Artists:
Ros Bandt is a composer performer and sound artist, who is passionate about combining ancient and modern sonic practices. Her sound research has included building a medieval Pythagorean recorder and she directs the Australian sound design project on line at the Australian centre, The University of Melbourne.
Visit Ros Bandt's new website by clicking here. Arthur McDevitt is a classical scholar who studied classics at Cambridge. He taught Ancient Greek language and literature in Australia at Armidale and Monash Universities. He is also an expert on Greek Tragedy.
Composers:
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