Tresymesy
soundscape composition
The „Tresymesy” piece has been composed as a part of the „Mission Europe” project. It is based on the field recordings and recordings of human voices made in Zagreb, Sarajevo, Belgrade and Gdansk. It began as a kind of query: the recorded people were asked to say „home”, „family” and some words they find important in their native language. The artists were interested in the language; the similarities and the differences between most basic words. They would like to thank everybody who shared their voices with them.
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„… While Emiter.Arszyn’s live recording „07. 11. 2005”, released on audioTong a few months ago and reviewed in Vital Weekly 564, was a fine blend of drones, soft pulses and field recordings, their latest release heads in a different direction. For „Tresymesy” Marcin Dymiter and Krysztof Topolski, who are behind Emiter.Arszyn, travelled to Zagreb, Sarajevo, Belgrade and Gdansk and asked people there to say the words ‚home’, ‚family’ and „some words they find important in their native language”. A concept like that of course brings up quite a lot of theoretical implications (and complications, as well, I guess), but since I’m only marginally familiar with the discourses on migration, hybridity, (national) identity, neo-conservatism and the history of the Balkan, I’ll have to skip an in-depth discussion of these topics.
Some elements of the aforementioned live recording are still present in this new release, notably a nice minimal rhythm, that appears now and then, but they have receded in the background in favor of a collage of largely unprocessed voices and field recordings. The piece works almost like a radio play, displaying a panorama of people talking in different languages, with different accents and intonations, sounds from their respective surroundings and some additional electronic sounds. As the liner notes suggest, the focus of the work doesn’t seem to be on a strict empirical documentation, but rather on capturing atmospheric impressions from various locations. Taken as such, it does include some strong moments indeed, even if the combination of the more musical elements with the voices often seems a bit arbitrary. However, it still doesn’t only leave me wondering, why they have chosen such heavily charged words as a central theme, but on the whole also missing a satisfying balance between the quasi ethnographic approach and the aesthetic result.” (MSS)
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Field recordings and production: Marcin Dymiter, Krzysztof Topolski
Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Gdansk 2006-2007
design: Anna Witkowska
project done in line with Audiotong & Mission Europe
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http://www.missioneurope.info/
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Krzysztof Topolski 