Memory, Sound, and Orality

Re-inhabiting the Island of Vallay

Abstract

This immersive soundwalk is comprised of synthesized field recordings from the island of Vallay.  It varies in modulation, following a graph for the average pattern of winter tide charts for the island.  At high and low tides, new compositions—in the form of music, spoken word, and oral histories—are layered over the field recordings, dislocating them from their site-specific context.  The soundwalk responds to Helmut Kaffenberger’s ‘acoustics of profane illumination’, whereby seemingly inconsequential sounds prompts transcendental memory recall.  The process of liberating the rumble of wind, roar of ocean, and birdsong from Vallay then rearranging them into new constellations allows for a recontextualization that transforms our sense of the place and its past. The sounds of a specific place become an excavation site, whereby acoustic ruins can be retrieved and reassembled to provide new modes of knowledge and perception.