Sintesi
AB UNO
Medewi: sonic ecosystems from Indonesia
In the past years substantial changes have occurred – and are still occurring – that are capable of altering both the territories and social behaviours of many populations. Anthropologists, sociologists and artists are constantly observing these changes through different readings and methodologies, and seek to provide a personal view of the processes of industrialisation and cultural colonisation, byproducts of more recent global capitalist dynamics.
Sound is a vital element of the landscape and a way to its most intimate form of understanding. Every physical place or space resonates like a living being, and just as a living being vibrates. Because of this, each landscape provides us with a unique soundscape, characterised by a set of geographical and cultural elements closely connected to the territory, as well as to the people who inhabit it. It is possible to consider sound as a unique element for the understanding of the landscape, as it provides us insights into the morphology of a physical space that would otherwise be difficult to reach through other elements.
The soundscape is a fundamental element in the description of territory: it provides a narrative which is unique and articulated, and yet accessible to everyone on different levels of analysis and understanding. Sound redefines space while inviting us to a personal interpretation of these places, stimulating imagination and memory.
This project represents a brief evidence of our residence in Indonesia and, in particular, of our trip across the island of Bali, from Negara to Ubud: the latter is the city that most of all bewitched us with its folk music and complex ecosystem. This material is an arrangement of field recordings and recombinations of sound fragments recorded during our trip. The sound of the sea, the villages surrounded by the jungle, the priests performing ancestral rituals, and the unmistakable sounds of traditional Gamelan music, all provide the listener a soundscape that can be interpreted as a new discovery, capable of stimulating living memories of a distant past.