Sound Diary

Exploring how to use music and sound as medium to connect with nature and environment.

Here is a small collection of sound sketches and recordings from the time in Villa Karo, in Grand-Popo (Benin)

Swifts. Grand-Popo, Benin

Listen to a field recording from the Mono River in Grand-Popo, between 7 and 7.30 am;

MERGING

At 7 am, standing on a beach in Grand-Popo (Benin, West Africa).

In this recording with a flute and an ocarina we practiced how to dialogue with the environment;

awakening to a new day, and acknowledging the new place through ears and sounds.

Listening back to this recording brings me back to that moment; a moment with the feet full of sands, with the Ocean in front, the village behind and the passing birds above us.

Here one recording from a morning in front of the Gulf of Guinea. End of December 2021.

A small favorite song: when waking up before 6.30 am this bird was the soloist of the tree in front of our window;


STUDIES WITH SEASHELLS

The Ocean every morning was bringing to the sunlight a countless amount of seashells, and every walk on the beach I could not resist the temptation to collect a few of them. Now they are at home with me in Helsinki; they did quite a long journey in time and distance, but I promised that somehow and someday I will bring them back to the Ocean.
Every seashell has its own shape; some are tiny, some look like small eyes, some are just translucent fragments, some are big and others show beautifully on the surface how the erosion changed their shape.

I find shells a beautiful reminder of the passing time and of the impermanence of things.

Here is a small meditation-piece for a couple of shells and flute, inspired by Inka-Maaria Jurvanen’s drawing done on the beach.

breathing through the sound of passing time;

More about a flute and an orchestra of seashells:

text score for ‘A Year of Deep Listening’

ÒKÙN – OCEAN

Small recording of the waves, you can hear in a distance the fisherman bells;


The Ocean in Grand-Popo is something else; it is a Goddess, powerful and to be respected. She marks the passing time through her waves, and it is a time that goes far beyond us.

The Ocean, one of the lungs of the planet. If you sit and listen, you can listen to her while she is breathing. Depending from the time of day and night the rhythm and sound of the waves changes. They told us that some times during the year the Ocean sounds angry, but while we were there she wasn’t.


Here a small recording of a piece for waves, a shell and tambourine.

Another sketch: Meren hengitys – The Ocean is breathing



BIRDS & CRABS


Thanks to Villa Karo, that made possible this journey.

Thanks to MES Foundation and Taike Arts Promotion Centre Finland for the support.