Episode nr. 18 - Between bridges...were voices thawed
By Maile Colbert
We are pleased to present a new series on our Binaural Radio Rural podcast, entitled “Between Bridges” and created by Maile Colbert. The source archives used in this series belong to Binaural Nodar Digital Archive and explore Voice, and its relationship to Place. How do our places shape voices, both human and non-human, song and soundscape.
This episode works with polyphonic songs from the Binaural Nodar Digital Archive. The songs here are from recordings of rehearsals of polyphonic singing groups in the municipalities of Sever do Vouga, Oliveira de Frades, São Pedro do Sul, and Vouzela. This was from the “Culture Between Bridges” project. The text includes the english translation of the song about the grape vine weeping. The vine crying refers to the coming Spring, the increase in temperature and sunlight increases the temperature of the soil, which wakes the grape vine from its vegetative rest. Where cuts were made from the winter pruning, the sap weeps (cries). This can tell the growers that the buds will burst forth soon in a new cycle of growth. There is also a section from a Rabelais story of words frozen then thawed, sounding over the frozen sea. The polyphonic song is processed using a technique that involves freezing, releasing, flowing, and weaving different characteristics and qualities of the sound, illustrating in an expressive and sensuous way the stories being told.
