Like people, places have histories. Sometimes those histories are exultantly visible and celebrate the creative genius of man. Sometimes those histories remain as scars upon a landscape. And always there are the invisible histories that reside in the memories of those who have passed through a landscape.
Svalbard, high up in the Arctic, is such a place.
THE GHOSTS OF PIRAMIDA
Danish band Efterklang Explores a Mysterious Landscape in a Poignant New Project
Nostalgic dispatches from a former Soviet mining town in Arctic Norway punctuate this excerpt from The Ghosts of Piramida, a film project initiated by the Copenhagen-based band Efterklang and directed by fellow Dane Andreas Koefoed. Soundtracked by the synth-laden “Apples,” footage of band members in the majestic Svalbard archipelago is overlaid with projections of home movies belonging to a retired Russian miner named Alexander Ivanovic Naomkin. The found tapes document domestic life in the former colony Piramida before its desertion in the 90s—an era that was difficult to comprehend for the visitors. “What we saw up there is a place that is clearly not for humans,” says bassist Rasmus Stolberg. “The land is too strong to cultivate and settle in.” The unworldly setting furnished the band with over 1,000 samples to incorporate into last year’s album Piramida, while abandoned machinery and tumbledown shacks were utilised in the creation of new instruments. “We have always worked with field recordings,” says Stolberg. “We wanted to start with an expedition and then base the initial songwriting on these experiments.” The grainy moving images of cheerful swimmers and optimistic settlers chime with the band’s sonic themes exploring memory, the power of nostalgia and the transience of meaningful human connection—all central to The Ghosts of Piramida, which premiered to much acclaim at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam last November.
I love gamelan music much to my sons' bemusement. And so it was surprising when Justin sent me the link below.
http://tonematrix.audiotool.com/
And now, of course, he could kick himself as it is on all the time. I find it very soothing...
(click on the squares - each one representing a tone)
" ["post_title"]=> string(12) "Tech Gamalan" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(12) "tech-gamalan" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2016-10-28 11:41:25" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2016-10-28 15:41:25" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(31) "http://lisalindblad.com/?p=3313" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } }