Alex Default is a series of recording describing the sonic ground of Alexandria in Egypt. The sounds are mainly recorded from the rooftops of old buildings in downtown. The density of the sonic environment relates with the busy life of the overpopulated city, a 6 million metropolis where any memory from the glorious days of ancient Greece, is obscured by constant noise. It seems like people make noise to show they exist. In a place where the average people live with less than 5 dollar a day, at least, noise is for free.

Alex Default is suitable for multispeaker sound installation, soundtracks and radio shows.

ALEX DEFAULT PREVIEW

Acousmatic sound is sound one hears without seeing an originating cause. This definition founded on wikipedia describe the primordial meaning of the word acousmatic, later used in relation to music experiments and concrete music. India is probably one the richest country in terms of sound experience. At 360 degrees, sounds fill the space. It’s challenging to identify the sources of those noises reaching constantly our ears. The mind look for the causes of such noise, get very busy and finally collapse. It’s much easier to just surrender, going deep into the experience of listening, putting the attention to tonality and frequency, stop analysing, just staying with the sound, in a safe acousmatic dimension.

Acousmatic India is a series of recording bite in India in 2009/2010. It’s suitable for multispeaker sound installation and soundtracks.

ACOUSMATIC INDIA PREVIEW

—sample pack free download—

A sonic cartography of the riots:

aporee map

Revolution Tuned is suitable for multispeaker audio installation, soundtrack and radio shows.

REVOLUTION TUNED PREVIEW

Soundscape of Revolution is an video-art documentary in the form of audioslide investigating the sonic environment that precedes a revolution. It’s a research on the relation between sound and political crisis, antagonism and activism.
The turmoil, the riots and the protests actually taking place in Egypt were mostly predictable by listening to the country’s soundscape the months before everything started. Tourists were often shocked by the Egyptian sonic environment which loudness and harshness are very far from the western standards. The unbearable loudness of Egypt, commonly considered as one of its cultural characteristic, was actually announcing its revolution.
The audioslide attempt to reproduce the Egyptian soundscape, how it was during the days before the revolution started;
to open a discussion on the role played by sounds in preparing the ground of a political and social turmoil;
to reflect on making noise as a way to release the frustration of living in a oppressed condition.
Muray Shafer wrote that sound is used by the institution as a mean of control. At the same time we should think of sound as a weapon for the people protesting against that power. A kind of “sonic” protest is going on in Egypt since many years, causing a substantial increase in the urban noise.
The audioslide tries to represent this reality through mixing sounds and photos, a formula different from the classic video, because it gives space to the imagination and makes both observation and listening acts of immersion but at the same time acts of creativity.
Soundscape of Revolution comes from the project Field Abuse, blog archive dedicated to the noise produced by the contemporary world and related to religions, ethnic music and traditional cultures. In phase of production of the audioslide no effects have been used to modify the nature of the sounds and the images.

Installation realized for the SALT Artistic Research Residency at PVA Medialab, Bridport, UK

PVA MediaLab Studio

SALT House Expo Space

The call for prayer (Adhān أَذَان ) is an incredible sonic phenomena. In a city like Cairo or Alexandria in Egypt, thousands of mosques play 5 times a days, a simultaneous but not synchronised prerecorded call for prayer. The result is a dense multi-layer sound of voice melodies flying over the city, between the buildings, following the wind. The city seems to freeze during the 5 minutes call. Suspended by an atonal polyphonic melody, the incessant noise of the busy city tune itself with the sublimated noise of faith.

Polyphonic Pasha is part of a project called Polyphonic Adhan. From the first call (around 5.00 a.m.) to the last one (around 8.00 p.m.) for five times a days, the recordings offer a wide panoramic on the sonic environment of metropolitan Egypt.

Suitable for multi-speaker sound installation, soundtracks and radio shows.

LOUD INDIA+SOUNDSCAPE OF REVOLUTION