Voice and percussion – rousing memories on an acoustic journey

Voice artist Miyu Hosoi and internationally noted young percussionist Shun Ishiwaka present a new concert piece realized in collaboration with YCAM.

Inspired by Hosoi’s and Ishiwaka’s respective explorations of expressive possibilities in music, together with the accumulated results of YCAM’s ongoing experimentation with sound and media technology, the concert piece revolves around a central theme of unearthing the layered information that is embedded in environmental sounds, to ultimately “rouse memories through sounds and tones.”
Approaching the matter from the environmental aspect, the work focuses on the process of the listener’s perception, and suggests alternative perspectives for the perception of sounds we casually hear in everyday life.

Rousing the visitor’s memories based on the characteristic acoustic properties of a space

The title of this work reflects the idea to “mine” and dig up information from within the various sounds we usually hear in a casual fashion in daily life. “Information” here refers to the characteristic acoustic properties that are specific to every space. In an outdoor setting without walls, for example, the speed of sound decreases according to the distance, while in an indoor space, the sound is reflected or swallowed up by the surrounding walls, ceiling or floor. This is why the same sound reverberates in different ways depending on such factors as the space’s shape, size or materials.
For this work, in the creation process the artists sampled a variety of sounds and reverberations that are unique to their respective spaces, including locations inside the YCAM building, and various other artificial and natural environments in Yamaguchi. Based on these samples, they created soundscapes that rouse all kinds of memories in the visitors who listen to them via headphones. Different from a regular concert, the musicians that are supposed to be the central elements of the performance are excluded from the audience’s view, and through the headphones alone, soundscapes as described above arise like three-dimensional, moving acoustic spaces for the listener to experience. Furthermore, the stage design and lighting are parts of the work that help create an abstract audiovisual image, within which the visitor is confronted with his or her own senses and memories.