JUST BEFORE DIWALI: FIELD RECORDINGS FROM NORTH INDIA
I’m pleased to announce that I’ve re-released my collection of field recordings “Just Before Diwali: Field Recordings From North India”, originally recorded in 2007 and released in 2009 on the Wandering Ear netlabel. The album documents weaving machines, a mass puja, a train for kids, cows munching grass, a man going at it with a mortar and pestle, people splashing around in the Ganges River, and bells, bells, bells galore.You can stream it here.
Originally, the impetus for the re-release was to acknowledge the inclusion of one of its recordings— “Zoo, Lucknow”, specifically, which gathered the audio of lion and tiger roars— as part of the long-form composition “The Unearthed Odyssey” by London-based hip hop artist Awate, during his residency at Unlocking Our Sound Heritage Project, part of the British Library’s Save Our Sounds program.
As with so many good things, though, the project was drastically curtailed by COVID, the live performance was canceled, and as far as I’m aware this Zoom session was all that wound up happening.
Having watched the entire video, I don’t discern my recording in there anywhere. I haven’t been able to find any direct contact info for Awate, and the British Library hasn’t written back about it, so I guess my sounds didn’t wind up in the piece after all. But it can still end up in your eardrums, and that’s all good. Enjoy!
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