francisco lópez - WILDERNESS STUDIO 2005-2019 / On-site Composition in the Wild

Over the past fifteen years, with the assistance and companionship of some friends, small groups of artists and members of the local communities, I have been directing two consecutive incarnations of an annual residency/workshop at Mamori Lake in the Brazilian Amazon (‘Mamori Sound Project’, 2005-2011) and Mmabolela Reserve in the South African savanna (‘Sonic Mmabolela’, 2013-2019), for composers, audio artists, sound designers and other creative individuals from all over the world. Its focus has been on creative approaches to the work with environmental sound matter, through both recordings and profound listening, by means of an extensive –and I would say iconoclastic– exploration of natural sound environments in those contrasting locations of rainforest and savanna. In a number of different ways –theoretical, practical and experiential– I have been trying to bring in a vigorous questioning of canonical conceptions of so-called ‘field recordings’, a realm of audio creation that has manifested a significant expansion over the past few years but that, in my opinion, has failed to overcome representational clichés and obsolete creative rules. As I see it, the main aim of this experience is neither technical nor conceptual, but rather transformative, from both artistic and personal perspectives. At a personal level, these ‘sonic years’ in the Amazon rainforest and the African savanna (two types of environments I had experienced as a biologist many years earlier in Brazil and Senegal) have had a very profound effect on my experience and conception of sound as both a prodigious phenomenological conduit and an ontological entity in its own right, along with –not subservient to– the other creatures of the rainforest and the savanna. This transcendental transformation has had fundamental outcomes for me, such as what I call ‘field listening’ (a post-media non-representational practice of profound listening in the field) and ‘sonogenic composition’ (a creative approach in which sound itself suggests and leads the compositional decisions, structure and nature). Among many other strategies, in this residency/workshop I proposed the participants to create audio pieces while still in the natural environment, and I did myself a few of those as well over the years. The classic super-analytical procedure of listening through all the many hours of recordings before creating anything might not necessarily be the best one, particularly now that the possible amount of recorded time is so vast. There is also an element of immediacy and immersion in the actual environment that I am convinced has a significant and very positive effect in what we can create under those conditions. This ‘on-site composition in the wild’ naturally brings forth challenging, heuristic and fruitful frameworks of audio creation in the form of spontaneity, incomplete knowledge, non-exhaustive observation, emotional probing of materials, un-systematic decisions, persistent presence of the sonic environment, immediate juxtaposition of listened and recorded ‘reality’, and so forth. This double album compilation presents the on-site composition pieces I created with my portable minimal ‘wilderness studio’ during all the past years of this residency/workshop in the Brazilian Amazon and the South African savanna.

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‘Mamori Sound Project’ at Mamori Lake and ‘Sonic Mmabolela’ at Mmabolela Reserve have materialized as independent projects with virtually no funding, which have been made possible –more often than not against significant odds and through some quite remarkable adventures– by the collective effort of a small group of incredibly dedicated friends, as well as all the international participants:

[120; from Algeria, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, UK, USA]

Wilderness Studio 2005-2011: BRAZILIAN AMAZON

My sincere gratitude goes to Asier Gogortza, Jorge Llorella, Nacho Martí, and Martín Azúa (of Mamori ArtLab); Slavek Kwi, Jerson and Katia Vieira da Silva, and the entire Mamori Lake community.
Participants in ‘Mamori Sound Project’, 2005-2011:
Aernoudt Jacobs, Alex Massana, Anders K. Landstrand, Andrea Williams, Annie Mahtani, Artur Matamoros, Barbara Ellison, Bernat Cuní, Brice Jeannin, Camilla Hannan, Cécile Martin, Cédric Maridet, Christopher Fleeger, Ciara Moore, Constantine Katsiris, Damien Perollaz, Daniel Blinkhorn, David Drury, David M. Michael, Dionisio Alfaro, Dominik t’Jolle, Els Viaene, Eric Miller, Farahnaz Hatam, Hilary Mullaney, Jaime Rojas, James Webb, Karl Lemieux, Kim Foscato, Laurent Wermenlinger, Lawrence English, Leah Barclay, Lindenberg Munroe, Linn Halvorsrød, Luca Forcucci, Ludger Kisters, Marc Behrens, Marcelo Nakata, Marta López-Briones, Mathias Janssens, Matt Shoemaker, Michael Trommer, Mikel Nieto, Nicholas McConaghy, Nimalan Yoganathan, Olof Dreijer, Perri Lynch, Rebecca English, Ruben García, Sam Hamilton, Sam Ripault, Samuel
E. Dunscombe, Scott Konzelmann,Simon Whetham, Slavek Kwi, Stefano Tedesco, Suzanne Wehmer, Thanassis Kaproulias,Thelmo Cristovam, Todd Shalom,Tom Lane, Tulipa Ruiz, Vanessa Michelis, Victoria Soanes.

Wilderness Studio 2013-2019: SOUTH AFRICAN SAVANNA

My sincere gratitude goes to Mark and Lesley Berry (owners of Mmabolela Estates), James Webb, Barbara Ellison, Neil Lowe, Paulo Ghiglione, Mabig Frans Meela, Bolpetse William Mosima, Madikana Johannes Malobela, Maria Mokgadi Mosima ‘Khani’, Tamaries Lettah Tebodi, Malebogo Queen Molele, and the entire staff
community at Mmabolela Estates.
Participants in ‘Sonic Mmabolela’, 2013-2019:
Aernoudt Jacobs, Alex Davies, Alexandra Spence, Andy Martin, Angélica Castelló, Barbara Ellison, Bethan Parkes, Brigitte Hart, Brydon Bolton, Cara Stacey, Cédric Maridet, Christina Kubish, Christopher Fleeger, Clinton Watkins, Craig Wells, Daan Hendriks, Daniel Lea, Dave Phillips, David M. Michael, Dimitrios Bakas, Dmitry Gelfand, Eric Mattson, Ernesto Coba, Evelina Domnitch, George Vlad Cancea, Gregory Kramer, Hanan Benammar, Hannah Gilmour, Harm Roché van Tiddens, Herbert Baioco Vasconcelos, Iddo Aharony, Jean-Baptiste Masson, Jeremy Hegge, Jesús de la Peña, Josten Myburgh, Jun Mizumachi, Kate Carr, Kim Foscato, Ksersti G. Andvig, Luca Forcucci, Lucille Calmel, Luke Pearson, Matthew Aidekman, Michael Clemow, Michał Jacaszek, Mike Vernusky, Niketa Sheth, Peter Terner, Robert Kellough, Robert Schwartz, Robyn Farah, Ruben García, Sara Retallick, Scott Konzelmann, Slavek Kwi, Steve Ashby, Steve Norton, Stijn Demeulenaere, Thomas Voyce, Thóranna Björnsdóttir, Tim Bruniges, Tristan Horton, Ulf A. S. Holbrook, Vicki Hallett, Yvonne Freckmann.