{"id":1137,"date":"2023-08-08T16:17:28","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T13:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/merikyto.net\/?p=1137"},"modified":"2023-08-08T16:17:28","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T13:17:28","slug":"performance-piece-at-silence-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/users.utu.fi\/mlkyto\/2023\/performance-piece-at-silence-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Performance piece at Silence festival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Meri
The double bass swinging away. Picture: Jouni Porsanger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was invited by Lauri Sallinen and Karita Tikka, the artistic directors of the Silence festival at Kaukonen village near Kittil\u00e4, to make and perform a soundscape piece at a small log cabin called “Villa Magia”. The festival is running on it’s 13th year, a mixture of circus, music and collaboration acts. It is a gorgeous, free spirited event under the midnight sun that lasts for one weekend every June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During one week I recorded the surrondings of the village and then added some sonic comments to them by touching different objects and materials I found in the cabin (plus my double bass). The work ended up having the name “Sora, vire, kyt\u00f6”. The name plays with ambiguities (“gravel, breeze, swidden” or also “discord, tune, my surname”), along with the festival theme of the elements. The name was coined up at the festival office which is just as well, because I would probably have named it something more boring like “Kaukonen soundscape”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did three performances in the space lit by beautifully by Jukka Huitila. Here are the soundscape recordings I used, listed in a handout for the audience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soundscape recordings of Sora, vire, kyt\u00f6<\/em><\/strong>
– Stepping at the cabin
– Nestmaking sparrows picking between the logs at Ojanper\u00e4 cottage
– A walk across the wooden Accademia bridge in Venice
– Night time crickets at Ezine, Turkey
– Cicadas singing during the day at Kowloon park, Hong Kong
– Kaukonen\u2019s chainsaw sculptor Vesa at work
– The dogs of Rengastie with passing cars
– Brewing morning coffee at Ojanper\u00e4 cottage. In the background one can hear songs performed by Eero Magga, \u201dPohjolan y\u00f6\u201d (Night in the North, comp. Godzinsky, lyrics Nuorvala) ja \u201dOnnen kaipuu\u201d (Longing for happiness, comp. & lyrics Pedro de Pajaro, aka Pekka Lintula). \u201dPohjolan y\u00f6\u201d is originally from the film Salakuljettajan laulu (Smugglers song, 1952, dir. Lasse P\u00f6ysti), telling a story of rationing after the second world war and how buying of secondary commodities \u2013 like coffee \u2013 was being prevented.
– Spruces, aspen and birches sway in summer wind in front of Villa Magia
– Stepping out from the cabin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between and during these recordings I changed shoes and stepped around the wooden cabin floor, answered to the sparrows by knocking on the window, made water drip from the ceiling through some woolen yarn onto a large metal lid that swung nicely on the floor when I crushed some dried reeds and rocks on it (piezo amplified), swung my double bass that I had filled with dried peas and hung from the ceiling (amplified as well), and finally rubbed my palms and some sawdust on a beautiful rusted circular saw blade that was hanging on the wall there (piezo amplified, this too). At the end I stepped again out from the cabin, asking the audience to follow me to the yard, to experience some acoustic Kaukonen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the programme notes in Finnish:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Sora, vire, kyt\u00f6<\/em> -\u00e4\u00e4niteoksessa eri \u00e4\u00e4nimaisemat koskettavat toisiaan synnytt\u00e4en \u00e4\u00e4nten ja tilojen, maisemien duettoja. \u00c4\u00e4nitaiteilija Meri Kyt\u00f6 tuo Kaukoseen eri paikoista kokoamiaan \u00e4\u00e4nimaisema\u00e4\u00e4nityksi\u00e4, jotka alkavat soida yhdess\u00e4 Kaukosen \u00e4\u00e4nten kanssa. Villa Magian tulipirtti laajenee \u00e4\u00e4nelliseksi kokonaisuudeksi, joka sis\u00e4lt\u00e4\u00e4 monia \u00e4\u00e4nellisi\u00e4 polkuja. Meri Kyt\u00f6 on musiikin ja \u00e4\u00e4nen tutkija sek\u00e4 kulttuurintutkija Turun Yliopistossa. Teoksessaan Meri hy\u00f6dynt\u00e4\u00e4 tilan omia \u00e4\u00e4ni\u00e4, pienimuotoista \u00e4\u00e4nentoistoteknologiaa, itserakennettuja kontaktimikrofoneja ja jo hieman ik\u00e4\u00e4ntynytt\u00e4 Edirol 09 -kovalevytallenninta.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work ended up being a somewhat organic whole. It would have benefitted from a few days of more work and balancing out the different elements but I’m quite ok with it. I had the most enjoyable discussions with people who came and listened to it, these really were the best take-away from the festival. It’s lovely to hear the different connotations and physical reactions people have with this kind of quite mundane, modest and low-fi sounds when given a little allocated time. I also learned that Stihl is the go-to brand in Kaukonen chainsaw sculpting scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Inside the log cabin during rehearsal. The rusty saw blade on the left. I used six Genelecs surrounding the space. Jukka Huitila’s fiery light sculpture is sitting in the fireplace. Picture: MK.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
A picture from Kaukonen main road. With a notice board not yet giving other notice than silence (hiljaisuus). Picture: MK.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was invited by Lauri Sallinen and Karita Tikka, the artistic directors of the Silence festival at Kaukonen village near Kittil\u00e4, to make and perform a soundscape piece at a small log cabin called “Villa Magia”. The festival is running on it’s 13th year, a mixture of circus, music and collaboration acts. It is a … Continue reading Performance piece at Silence festival<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6796,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/users.utu.fi\/mlkyto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/users.utu.fi\/mlkyto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/users.utu.fi\/mlkyto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/users.utu.fi\/mlkyto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6796"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/users.utu.fi\/mlkyto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/users.utu.fi\/mlkyto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/users.utu.fi\/mlkyto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/users.utu.fi\/mlkyto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/users.utu.fi\/mlkyto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}