There are waves of sound made by giant beasts, filtered by the gardens of
the oceans and seldom heard by land locked animals. This week features part
three of the roots of sound with Chris Watson.
Sonic horticulture on Resonance FM presented by Mark Aitken.
Wednesday 28th Jan 5pm
Saturday 31st Jan 4pm (repeat)
Resonance FM 104.4
www.resonancefm.com
(available in gardens all over the world)
Sundays 11 Jan – 8 Feb, 2009
14.45-15.00
11 Jan Grey Seals on the Farnes (for Autumnwatch)
18 Jan Shadows – Tiger sharks and albatrosses (for South Pacific)
25 Jan Poyang Lake – Godwits (for Wild China)
1 Feb Flying Elk – (for TNW the Real Monarch of the Glen)
8 Feb Wolves – (for Yellowstone)
More information can be found here
Friday 23 January, 2009
11.02 – 11.30
SYNOPSIS
The Lake is a hauntingly evocative and unusual soundscape of Britain’s largest lake, and the voices which can be heard above and below its waves.
Lough Neagh in east-central Northern Ireland is not only the largest lough in Ireland but the largest freshwater body in the British Isles. The name “Lough Neagh” means “the lake of the horse-god, Eochu”. He was the lord of the underworld and according to legend is supposed to exist beneath its waters; some say in a village drowned beneath the waves.
Eighteen miles long and eleven miles wide, fed by several rivers and drained to the north by the Lower Bann, the lough is hugely important for wildlife attracting up to 10,000 waterfowl in winter. It has the largest concentration of diving duck in Britain and Ireland, and 6% of the world’s total population of whooper swans visit here in the winter. The Lough Neagh fly (or midge) may be harmless and non-biting, but when the midges swarm together to mate they produce such huge plumes that they have been mistaken for smoke from a burning forest.
Lough Neagh is so vast that it’s more like an inner sea than a lake; its undercurrents can be treacherous and fatal. It’s a wild untamed place with a unique unsettling allure. “At night, Lough Neagh is a broken necklace of lights; and if the necklace was ever made whole, then there would be no wild places left around its shores”.
Drawing on recordings by Tom Lawrence and Chris Watson, The Lake is a powerful sound portrait of the lesser known world of Lough Neagh, with stories about a drowned village, a horse-god, the three sisters, “waterguns”, wildfowl, waders and voices from the deep. Through these stoires and the sounds of the wildlife, wind, waves and water, the Voice of the Lough is revealed.
Tuesday 9th December 2008 7pm
Cobra Mist – Emily Richardson, Chris Watson, Benedict Drew
Café Oto, 18 – 22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London E8 3DL. Tickets £5 from Café Oto
A special screening of Richardson’s new film Cobra Mist and expanded cinema event with live sound performances by Cobra Mist sound recordist and composer Chris Watson and Benedict Drew to launch the DVD release of Emily Richardson, 6 Films published by LUX. The DVD contains six recent film works by Emily Richardson with a new essay by William Fowler, Curator of Artists Moving Image at the BFI National Archive (and will be available at a special price of £15 at the event, usual price £20)
A LUX event supported by Animate Projects.
Cobra Mist is an Animate Projects commission.
6 Films DVD production funded by Arts Council East.
BBC Radio 4
Friday 17 October, 2008 14.15
Afternoon Play: OWLS
A fictional story written and narrated by Paul Evans and based on an island legend about a brother and sister who were bound by a wish sworn on a barn owl feather, which in turn became a curse that proved fatal. Recorded on location in Scotland; isolation, human desire and the supernatural are explored in this unsettling drama about the relationship between hope and desire, Man and Nature.
Old man … ………………..Jimmy Yuill
Sister ………………………..Alyth McCormack
Old man as a young boy…. .David McLellan
Sister as a young girl ……….Michaela Sweeney
WILDLIFE SOUND RECORDIST: Chris Watson
PRODUCER / DIRECTOR: Sarah Blunt
Matthew Herbert and Chris Watson
Saturday September 13th 2008 8pm
The Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool L1 3BX
Tickets priced £7/£5 available now from the Bluecoat
The Hive Collective has commissioned two of the world’s most accomplished sonic pioneers, Matthew Herbert and Chris Watson, to collaborate on a unique composition constructed entirely out of recordings from Crosby Beach – the site of Antony Gormley’s Another Place installation.
A one-off event at a specially prepared performance space within the Bluecoat will see Watson explore Another Place through a series of source recordings, followed by Herbert’s presentation of a brand new musical composition based on those recordings.
By considering what these impassive iron men ‘hear’ as they gaze on the changing seascape and a changing Liverpool, the audience will, in turn, be encouraged to reimagine both the installation and the surrounding area, as well as reflect on how definitions of place vary, yet hold a truth, as they pass from person to person.
Challenging yet accessible, the event aims both to introduce new audiences to music composed from field recordings, as well as explore questions relating to what can constitute ‘music’ in a city dominated by more traditional definitions of authenticity
Plus Hive resident djs and visual artists.
Further information: www.thehivecollective.co.uk
Champion beatboxer Beardyman, aka Darren Foreman, is a master of vocal artistry. He can make all manner of noises, including entire percussive music tracks, using only his mouth, throat and tongue. Inspired by the lyrebird, he ventures on a personal journey to unveil the secrets of animal vocal mimicry. He encounters ornithologist and musician Bill Oddie, birdsong scientific experts and a whole new world of sounds.
This programme contains extensive use of Chris’s recordings and an interview with him about the mimicry capabilities of Starlings…
BROADCAST:
30 Aug 2008 10:30 BBC Radio 4
I can hear the grass grow
Where exactly should you plant your ears to discover the best route for recording sound? Or is the root of sound near the source or is it floating somewhere in a garden of ambience? Take a trip with sonic gardener extraordinaire Chris Watson.
Part One
Tuesday 12th August 6pm
Saturday 16th August 4pm (repeat)
Saturday 23rd August 4pm (2nd repeat)
Part Two
Tuesday 2nd September
I can hear the grass grow
Resonance FM 104.4
(available in gardens all over the world)
25 – 29th August 2008
15.45-16.00
Chris’s recordings have been used in other media too.
Feature Films include The Constant Gardener [2005]
Theatre Productions include Red Ladies by The Clod Ensemble [2008]
Playstation Games versions of the Harry Potter film series
Album Tracks including ‘Illuminant’ by Efterklang [Leaf, 2007]
Monday 28th July (+ Sunday 27th July)
10am – 5pm (exact Sunday times to follow)
Field Recording in & around an Urban River
with Chris Watson
Museum of Garden History, Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB.
Price: £60 (Students – £45)
Following the success of previous sound recording workshops, we are delighted to welcome back BBC sound recordist extraordinaire and founder member of Cabaret Voltaire, Chris Watson, who will lead a workshop concentrating on field recording in and around the Thames. The Museum of Garden History is located a stone’s throw from the banks of the Thames; a river which is itself a remarkable receptacle and generator of diverse sound. As the city interacts with the river, so the range and variety of sounds increases, from ferries to tidal barriers, and in doing so it creates a rich environment in which one can demonstrate field recording techniques and use amazing equipment like hydrophones. This event will provide attendees with the chance to gain practical experience in the field followed by a studio workshop.
On the Sunday, attendees are welcome to join Chris as he leads a recording session on location. Material recorded on the Sunday by attendees will then be used on the Monday as Chris demonstrates techniques and equipment and provides a critique of attendees work. Every attendee will have the chance to work one-on-one with Chris. The combined work created over the course of these two days will then be made available for each participant (subject to permission).
Cost includes lunch and refreshments on the Monday. Information concerning the times and location of the Sunday field session as well as equipment requirements will be released shortly. The workshop is suitable for both experienced and novice field recorders alike.
A new CD is being released in Italy to coincide with the Sound Threshold project, curated by Daniela Cascella and Lucia Farinati in Trentino as a parallel event to Manifesta 7, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art. [A press release about this event can be downloaded here]
Format: CD + Digipak
Catalogue Number: S.I.A.E. 76111802708
Label: Fondazione Edmund Mach and LoL Productions
Strictly limited edition now sold out and deleted
Following a period of residence at Monte Bondone and Paneveggio Park, Chris Watson has been invited to explore the acoustic phenomena of Trentino and capture the atmospheres and sounds of the alpine environment. A series of sound recordings made in situ, resulting in the CD Cima Verde, present the soundscapes uncovered by Watson, which capture the change in seasons from winter to spring, the different degrees of altitude, the reawakening of sounds on the cusp between night and day and the alternating and mixing of audio signals that characterise different natural habitats. Cima Verde, co-produced by Fondazione Edmund Mach and LoL Productions, will be launched on Wednesday 16 July 2008 at CEALP, and is the first project commissioned to Watson by an Italian organisation. Cima Verde is also the title of the surround sound installation, created from the recordings gathered during Watson’s residency at CEALP for Sound Threshold, which will be presented at MANIFESTA 7 from 19 July to 2 November. The installation will be part of Auditory Epode, curated by Adam Budak with Tobi Maier (Manifattura Tabacchi, piazza della Manifattura 1, Rovereto, every day from 10 am to 7 pm, Fridays till 9 pm www.manifesta7.it).
[NB – this is not a Touch release, and we took no part in the design or production of this CD. The recordings were commissioned for Manifesta 7 and edited by Chris during the festival.]
Chris Watson writes:
“Dosso D’Abramo, Cornetto and Cima Verde. Above the three peaks of Monte Bondone there is air in motion; ice crystals, water vapour and changing pressure mix and merge into an annual dance across a deep blue sky.
This is sound into light.
Down alpine slopes, across high pastures and into the forests a frozen mountain of sound thaws out from a mono bloc and into an ordered seven stage descent through 3000m of unique acoustic habitats. Shapes and music, rhythm and sound, a series of ritual performances for animal ears.”
Track Listing:
1: Air in Motion At 3000m and -25C, a gathering of elements in a place where we cannot tread.
2: Cima Verde Deep jumbled chords snatched from the summit by passing ravens.
3: Bucaneve A snow field melting out into a high pasture sound stage for a blackgrouse performance.
4: Aguane Passing voices… [thanks to Pascal Wyse for contributing ‘Water voices from Paneveggio’]
5: Scanuppia At 0400h this morning Renato, Silvia and I walked quietly into this high forest, it was very dark within. By dim torch light Renato skilfully picked our route across the steep slopes to avoid noisy steps on the remaining patches of ice and snow. 0500h and pale greyness through the canopy of spruce trees by the time we pressed up against the trunks to conceal ourselves and await the capercallie leks. Five spirits of the forest dancing in small clearings all around.
6: Le Crone Daniela, Lucia and I listen and wait. It’s 0430h and way off, through the birches and limes, tawny owls signal a change and over the next ninety minutes we hear the darkness change into light. Unseen songs spilling out of the woodland, a chorus of resident birds now in harmony with African migrants.
7: Valle dei Venti Michele met Pascal and I in Vezzano and then drove us through the darkness down remote tracks alongside orchards and vineyards to places where from his memory and experience we might find that one very particular sound. Times of stopping and listening. Finally in the small hours and with a background of rural activity the clear silver song of a nightingale recently arrived from it’s long flight and hidden in deep cover. A nocturnal solo soon enveloped within the ambient dawn chorus.
[Chris Watson 16th May 2008]
‘Twit twoo’
In the world of wildlife sound recording, Chris Watson is the daddy. Pascal Wyse gets up before the birds and tracks him down to a wood in Wales to find out what his favourite bird songs are..
New Series starting Sunday May 26th 2008 at 1445 on BBC Radio 4
“The quality of the sound recording in this series is so good that if you shut your eyes you could be in the Forest of Dean. Chris Watson is the man responsible for the sound, while presenter Brett Westwood offers the poetical, evocative descriptions of the birds he spots.
An interactive webpage to accompany the series is available this week.” [Radio Times, May 2008]
Trentino: Sound Threshold: presented by Lucia Farinati & Daniela Cascella as a parallel event of Manifesta 7 in July.
A press release can be downloaded here
Date: Wednesday 09.04.2008 19:00
Location: Cabaret Voltaire, Spiegelgasse 1, 8001 Zurich.
contact email fo reservations etc: info@cabaretvoltaire.ch / +41 43 268 57 20
website: www.cabaretvoltaire.ch (you can find an announcement in German here)
Programme
1900 Chris Watson presents…
1945 Mike Harding Presents Touch
2030 Chris Watson Live
Qwartz Awards, Paris 2008
Touch has entries in 12 nominations for the Qwartz Awards 2008 and will be appearing live for these awards. A special edition of Touch Tone 25 has been manufactured for this event, with the kind permission of the artists.
April 3rd: Black venue: Maison des Métallos, rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud, Paris 75011 (Metro Couronne). Before Blixa Bargeld speech/performance:
Rosy Parlane | Fennesz
April 4th: Cirque d’Hiver Bouglione: 110 rue Amelot, Paris 75003 (Metro Filles du Calvaire). 1 hour after Blixa Bargeld, Max Mathews, Jean-Claude Risset and Beatriz Feyrrera [Qwartz d’Honneur attributions] from 23h to 1h30, with Radio France [France Musique] direct retransmission, Qwartz’s official sponsor.
Chris Watson | Philip Jeck | BJNilsen
Free entrance
Chris Watson is heavily featured in the new David Attenborough series, Life in Cold Blood, BBC1 throughout February 2008… if you miss an episode you can see it again on the BBC iplayer site [UK only] here
Here you can access images of Chris Watson. Click on images for high resolution version & please always credit author when used.
CD - 10 tracks - 65 minutes
"Take the ghost train from Los Mochis to Veracruz and travel cross country, coast to coast, Pacific to Atlantic. Ride the rhythm of the rails on board the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (FNM) and the music of a journey that has now passed into history."
Track listing:
01: La Anunciante
02: Los Mochis
03: Sierra Tarahumara
04: El Divisadero
05: Crucero La Joya
06: Chihuahua
07: Aguascalientes
08: Mexico D.F.
09: El Tajin; El dia y La noche
10: Veracruz
Artwork: Jon Wozencroft
Mastered by Denis Blackham
CD - 3 Tracks - 54:02
The weather has created and shaped all our habitats. Clearly it also has a profound and dynamic effect upon our lives and that of other animals. The three locations featured here all have moods and characters which are made tangible by the elements, and these periodic events are represented within by a form of time compression.
Track listing:
1. Ol-Olool-O -18' 00"
A fourteen hour drama in Kenya's Masai Mara from 0500h - 1900h on Thursday 17th Oct. 2002
2. The Lapaich -18' 00"
The music of a Scottish highland glen through autumn and into winter during the four months of September to December
3. Vatnajokull -18' 00"
The 10,000 year climatic journey of ice formed deep within this Icelandic glacier and it's lingering flow into the Norwegian Sea.
