There was an initial error in the target URLs for the source MP3s but it has been sorted out. The links were corrected within an hour and a half of the project’s initial publication online, and the issue only affected this page, not the links on the SoundCloud page or in the TinyLetter email. If any of the links don’t work, please let me know at [email protected] Thanks.
Each Thursday at the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just over four days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate.
This week’s project is especially exciting because it is the first Disquiet Junto project whose proposal originated from outside the Junto group. Almost every project from the first through last week’s, the 56th, was devised by me with occasional assistance by participants. This week’s was proposed by Rotterdam-based musician Michel Banabila. We’ll see more such guest proposals in the future, some fully proposed by other individuals and some done in coordination, such as a collaboration at the invitation of Geoff Manaugh as part of a course he is teaching this semester at Columbia University about the San Andreas Fault.
This assignment was made in the early afternoon, California time, on Thursday, January 31, 2013, with 11:59pm on the following Monday, February 4, as the deadline. Below are translations into seven languages in addition to English: Afrikaans, Croatian, Dutch, French, Japanese, Polish, and Turkish, courtesy respectively of Kurt Human, Darko Macan, Michel Banabila, Éric Legendre, Naoyuki Sasanami and Yukiko Yamasaki, Grzegorz Bojanek, and M. Emre Meydan.
Here’s a little background on Banabila, pictured below, more from whom at banabila.com:
Michel Banabila (born 1961 in Amsterdam) is a sound artist, composer, and producer. Since his 1983 he has released over 30 albums and collaborated with, among others, Holger Czukay, Machinefabriek, Robin Rimbaud, and Zenial. He has produced musical scores for numerous films, documentaries, theatrical plays, and choreographers, and has worked on various projects with video artists such as Geert Mul, Olga Mink, and Monoscope, and with photographer Gerco de Ruijter.
Image up top via Flickr and Creative Commons: flickr.com.
These are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto).
. . .
Disquiet Junto Project 0057: Phoneme Transmit
This is a shared-sample project. It focuses on language and emotion.
You are being provided with three audio recordings from the Phonetics Lab Archive at UCLA. As the lab’s webpage (at archive.phonetics.ucla.edu) explains, “The materials on this site comprise audio recordings illustrating phonetic structures from over 200 languages.”
You will use these three MP3s as source material for the project. They are from the languages Buryat, Navajo, and Zulu.
- http://archive.phonetics.ucla.edu/Language/ZUL/zul_word-list_1982_01.mp3
- http://archive.phonetics.ucla.edu/Language/BXM/bxm_word-list_1991_01.mp3
- http://archive.phonetics.ucla.edu/Language/NAV/nav_word-list_1993_03.mp3
From each of these three language-specific MP3s you will select four words. (Don’t use the voice of the technician, who is occasionally heard.) From this total of 12 words you will, through cut and paste, construct new sentences. These nonsense sentences will serve as the a cappella vocal of a new song. All literal meaning is lost in the process; all that is left are emotions.
Your piece should consist of three parts, each of equal length. The first part should sound “angry.” The second part should sound “very silent, vulnerable.” The third part should sound “happy, exultant.”
No other sounds or instruments should be used. You can pitch, stretch, or process the source audio as you please, but it should always sound like someone trying to say something.
Deadline: Monday, February 4, 2013, at 11:59pm wherever you are.
Length: Your finished work should be between 2 and 4 minutes in length.
Information: Please when posting your track on SoundCloud, include a description of your process in planning, composing, and recording it. This description is an essential element of the communicative process inherent in the Disquiet Junto.
Title/Tag: When adding your track to the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com, please include the term “disquiet0057-phonemetransmit”in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.
Download: It is necessary, due to the source material, that your track is set as downloadable, and that it allows for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).
Linking: When posting the track, be sure to include this information:
This project was developed for the Disquiet Junto by Michel Banabila (banabila.com).
The source audio is from the UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive http://archive.phonetics.ucla.edu.
More on this #57th Disquiet Junto project at:
Disquiet Junto Project 0057: Phoneme TransmitMore details on the Disquiet Junto at:
