“If it makes a sound, it’s radio to me.” — Roman Mars
One of the targets for serious re-imagining at the Radio Without Boundaries conference (which finished up yesterday in Toronto) was traditional radio. Long considered a cultural wasteland, the befouled soundscapes of industrial radio have inspired a new generation of artists who are actively refashioning and expanding the boundaries of radio’s possibilities. At the forefront of this creative movement is Roman Mars, founder of Public Radio Remix.
Public Radio Remixis an experimental sound stream hosted by PRX (the Public Radio Exchange) to showcase pieces from the PRX archive and to develop new approaches to radio. “It’s an effort to break apart format” said Mars in his artist talk on Saturday.
The world of sound art encompasses a diversity of textures. At this weekend’s Radio Without Boundaries conference in Toronto, the workshops and performances range from the beautifully abstract to more traditional uses of voice and narrative. Big Shed Square Dance is all about stories.
The ‘square dance’ workshop was put on by Big Shed, the folks responsible for The Place and Memory Project which uses people’s memories and stories to recreate places that no longer exist. The fun thing is that story-gathering takes place on the telephone. Big Shed has a memory hot-line waiting to take your call.
Sound is such a pervasive part of our cultural experience that we hardly notice it. For instance, who says of the digital revolution that it is a revolution in sound? And yet, that is exactly what is taking place in cultural outposts around the world. Pioneering creators are bringing traditions of experimental discovery, aesthetics and — in the words of Public Radio Remix founder Roman Mars — “joy”, to growing communities of listeners and practitioners who want to experience the genre bending soundscapes, songs, documentaries, essays, riffs and portraits that make up the world of sound art culture. There is a new golden age of radio and it sounds nothing like anything you’ve heard before.
I am in Toronto at the Radio Without Boundaries conference hosted by New Adventures in Sound Art. The three-day conference is a gathering of artists for workshops, artist talks and performances by practitioners from across North America. (For those who want to listen in live check out the NAISA webcast.)
For those who missed today’s proceedings, I am busily digesting the day’s events into (hopefully) pithy summaries and descriptions of the various workshops and presentations. I also I snagged a few short interviews with some of the key presenters including Jonathan Goldstein (from CBC’s Wiretap), Roman Mars (from Public Radio Remix) and Shea Shackelford (from The Big Shed). First up, Jonathan Goldstein….
The world lost one of the pioneers of political poetry, rap and song yesterday. Gil Scott Heron passed away at the age of 62. He will be missed but his music and legacy live on.
The pre-story of the documentary Mama Africa, currently screening at Hot Docs, is a sad one indeed. Finnish filmmaker Mika Kaurismäki was a life-long fan of singer and activist Miriam Makeba and set out to make the definitive documentary biography of her her life and work. At the Q&A following last night’s sold out screening of his film he told the audience that he had spent months and months preparing for the shoot and discussing details with Makeba over the phone. He purchased a plane ticket with plans to fly to Ghana and conduct the first interview with the international star in her kitchen as she went about one of her favourite activities – cooking for friends. Unfortunately just two weeks prior to this planned interview Makeba passed away after a concert in 2008.
Thankfully for worldwide audiences and for the memory of Makeba, Kaurismäki didn’t abandon the project after the sudden passing away of his main character. Shifting from the model of contemporary interviews with Makeba herself, Mika Kaurismäki has made a documentary that is mainly comprised of (often rarely seen) archival footage of Makeba interviews, concerts and personal videos.
On this Easter Sunday, take a moment to enjoy a cathartic laugh and watch Toronto composer John Roby’s rousing performance of his latest ditty, The Harper Song.
Of course, Roby isn’t the only artist with the Conservative PM in his sights. Check out this article from The Tyee, in which they discuss other culturemakers weighing in on the election campaign, including projects like ShitHarperDid.com and a new portrait from Bob Preston.
Artists have been deeply involved in the grassroots uprising across the Middle East over the past months. In Cairo, where music and song built unity at Tahrir square as the Egyptian people challenged the dictatorial Mubarak regime, imagery of the revolutionary ideas that are driving the protests has been created, posted and remixed across the internet, imagery that will certainly inspire generations in the future.
In celebration of the profound artwork emerging from the Middle East at this time of struggle, we present Uprising, a collaborative work mixing painting and piano. Uprising is an attempt to both cherish and communitcate the libratory spirit of the contemporary protests across the region, a spirit that stands with the people on the streets and against the foreign intervention currently taking place in Libya that sounds horrible echos of colonial pasts.
We invite you to download this exclusive duet performance featuring celebrated cellist Rebecca Foon and pianist, community activist and Art Threat contributor Stefan Christoff. The track was recorded one winter night at L’Envers, a loft performance space in Montreal’s Mile End.
As election campaigning moves into hyperdrive across Canada, politicians from across the political spectrum are pulling media tricks to win coveted votes from coast to coast. Music speaks to the heart across cultures and political campaigners are certainly utilizing song, often cynically, to boost spirits on the campaign trail.
There is a kind of cultural hang-up about music in Canada, mostly centered on the CRTC‘s contentious rules about Canadian content — that, hey, if you’re showcasing music publicly in this country, you’d better make sure that a bit of it is Canadian. And not just at boring times, either.
Contributors
Stefan Christoff, Colin Horgan, Julia Pyper
Michelle Siobhan Reid, Valerie Cardinal, Race Capet
Laurence Miall, Terry Fairman, Tyler Morgenstern
“If it makes a sound, it’s radio to me.” — Roman Mars
The world of sound art encompasses a diversity of textures. At this weekend’s Radio Without Boundaries conference in Toronto, the workshops and performances range from the beautifully abstract to more traditional uses of voice and narrative. Big Shed Square Dance is all about stories.
