by yiorgis sakellariou

Here’s another location from Syria, this time from the south of the country. I left Damascus to visit the ancient city of Palmyra. On the highway, the “Iraq =>” signs made me feel quite weird as I was naively thinking that a small mistake by the driver could lead us to really unknown territories. After a few hours, we had to make a necessary stop. In the middle of nowhere was this little resting place/café called “Café Baghdad”. Although I was actually in a desert, I did not experience the completely silent soundscape, like I did the previous time I was in a similar environment (that was in Wadi Rum, in Jordan). The reason was the constant motor sound of the water pump that was probably used to provide electricity to “Baghdad Café”. I could not resist getting very close and record it. This sample was the only sound that I used for the opening track of my “61:50” release on the Triple Bath label.

click here for the recording

Tags: field recording mini-series, mecha/orga

by yiorgis sakellariou

The city of Yaroslavl was the last stop of my tour in Russia, in October 2008. Before the concert, I and the other participants of the festival had some free time and a walk along the Volga River was proved to be an excellent suggestion. I was listening to and recording the machine which was being used in the construction of a dock, hammering in long steel stakes in the ground. A rhythmic metallic loop was created, resonating all over the area, as the sound was also reverberating at the other side of the river. My excitement was obvious and so my fellow artists were kind and patient enough to wait for me until the hammering process ended. Of course, the idea of immediately editing the recording and using it in the evening’s performance did cross my mind but I find myself rather unwieldy in these situations. Needless to say though, the specific sample of the recording was finally used in a concert, at Kinky Kong, in Athens, a few months later.

click here for the recording (unprocessed recording, turn the volume up for full detail)

Tags: field recording mini-series, mecha/orga

in what we hope will become a regular “column”, we present two locations, as recorded, photographed and described by yiorgis sakellariou (mecha/orga). The original idea was to examine the relation between the act of field-recording itself and its use in an artist’s finished work. To focus on what the recordist sees/looks for in a location chosen to be recorded and in turn how he/she sees the recorded material, when the time comes to use it in one’s actual creation.

in this case, because he usually manipulates field recordings beyond recognition, yiorgis felt he didn’t have much to add as far as the subsequent use of said recordings was concerned. He chose simply to document these two locations in a form of audio diary. You might want to turn the volume slightly up, or not -depends on whether you like your field recordings raw or medium-rare.

feel free to contact us with any suggestions for future entries.

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2 locations by yiorgis sakellariou

Collodi, Tuscany, Italy

This little village in Tuscany is famous for giving its name to the author of Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi, and attracts visitors mostly because of the “Pinocchio theme park” which seemed to me a bit like a “mini-Disneyland”. Nevertheless, the Tuscan beauty and atmosphere is not absent. I walked around the first houses of the village and very soon discovered some very quiet and calm paths, ideal for getting lost in. I immediately heard the discreet and continuous sound that was “dominating” in the area. Hundreds of birds, sitting on the trees, were participating in a “concert” which is always welcome to hear to and, although cliché-d, the birds’ song is definitely enjoyable. It did not take much time before another characteristic sound was added: Church bells, a new minimalistic “orchestra” joined into the soundscape. I had no idea what was the (probably) religious reason for which the bells were ringing for, but nonetheless their sound felt like it was making a loose counterpoint with the birdsong, I was very glad I had the “Record” button already pressed down…

click here for the recording

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Aleppo, Syria

Aleppo is a city in the north of Syria, close to the border with Turkey. I was relaxing in my hotel room when a characteristic sound of an Arabic country was heard: the chant of the muezzin, calling the faithful to pray. As in Collodi, in Italy, again, a sound of religious origin dominated. The Muslims, instead of the bells, use the human voice, which itself adds a special dimension to the ambience. Besides the interest in the chant itself (the scales, the singing technique, the language used, the reverb caused by the amplification), from the fist time I heard the muezzin, I was fascinated by the fact that his sound can be heard only in some specific countries of the world. Its rarity, for an inhabitant of a non-Muslim country, makes the listening experience even more important…

click here for the recording

Tags: field recording mini-series, mecha/orga