RADIOPHONIC MONDAYS with Karen Power

RADIOPHONIC MONDAYS FEATURING KAREN POWER (IE)

On every even hour
00:00:00 amazonian words
00:11:52 hearspace
00:43:05 underwater frogs of Angkor Wat, from "human nature"
00:47:13 once below
01:17:48 loved bees, from "human nature"
01:20:52 is this on?
01:56:36 underworld of Namibia, from "human nature"

amazonian words (2017) is based on a single field recording made in the Southern Peruvian Amazon Rainforest in July 2016, which is the duration of the piece. My intention is simple: to share a little of how I hear spaces like this one. This piece invites us to creatively imagine new contexts for each and every sound that we hear. To ‘compose’ with the environment as you listen. Every single place during every single minute is unique. This is how I heard a section of the Peruvian Amazon @ Los Amigos Conservation station @ 12.5953692,-70.4108515 on July 6th, 2016 @ 9:15am.

hearspace (2014) is an interactive piece of radio art composed for and through Irish radio. RTÉ lyric fm acted as a live conduit, through which I composed and performed a new composition for radio based on the idea of exploring the sounds of a particular time, place and memory. hearspaceexplores, isolates and uses specific RTÉ sound archives as a means of grounding listeners to a particular time, place and memory. These voices or sounds of Ireland, which are combined with my own sounds recorded throughout the world; from The Arctic to Laos, will bring listeners on real and imagined sonic journeys from their past and into their future. This work also features archival materials from other European Radio stations who were invited to submit their sonic snapshots.

once below (2015) is a double quadraphonic sound installation with intermittent soloists, which focuses on time, place and our ever-changing contexts of hearing. The entire work is based on recordings made in a bunker underneath Gesundbrunnen Station, Berlin. Most of the sounds recorded are not audible to our naked ears. They are hidden and yet feel very real and present. These sounds themselves adhere to their own rhythm and time, in which we play little part. This work brings many aspects of my work together in a very special and unique venue; Kapelle der Versöhnung (Chapel of Reconciliation). Here, the two sound installations are naturally separated through the chapel dome offering audiences the opportunity to experience a creative manipulation of hidden and audible from this special world below. During the installation 4 soloists ‘drop-by’ to perform a short composed piece in the outer space at numerous times throughout each day, which offers yet another context, another time, another space that changes how we hear everything. Soloists: Michelle O' Rourke (Voice), Erik Drescher (Glissando Flute), Johnny Chang (Viola), Rishin Singh (Trombone). This radio version is commissioned by Deutschland Kultur.

is this on? (2016) - In 1927, Cork City Gaol hosted one of Ireland’s earliest radio broadcasts, the simple sound of cartwheels on cobbles. RTÉ lyric fm has commissioned is this on?, a work that marks the place of that first broadcast and to pay tribute to the profoundly significant contributions by women to Ireland’s turbulent history in the early twentieth century. is this on?combines; field recordings from all over the world, RTÉ Lyric fm archival materials + inaudible sounds from Cork City Gaol itself. We together will move between real and imaginary worlds, times and spaces. This piece is designed to trigger sonic connections with these known and unknown spaces. To bring you on a journey through Irelands past voices and times. Each of our listening experiences are largely governed by our unique context, or memory of a place, a time, a sound and these unconsciously direct our hearing of everything. All I am doing as the composer of this piece is choosing to highlight specific sounds that surround us all of the time and that have some connection with our history as Irish people. The music is designed to 1st root us in this stunning gaol space and then gradually move away into a realm of real but reimagined spaces. Every so often I remind you of where you started from, but even this grounding changes based on where else we’ve been. I ask that you consider this space, consider the mode of radio and its unique ability to reach out and connect us. I ask you to really listen.

"human nature" (2020) contains 18 compositions, which are tied together through the singular concept of pairing human with nature: 1 musician with 1 un-processed field recording.Every piece is an invitation to listen, to hear each unique exchange between human and animal/place/nature/industry. To delve into new sonic territories with 18 leading and extraordinary musicians, who emanate from a variety of backgrounds and musical contexts. Each of these miniature pieces stands alone, but also belong to a series that exhibits a range of different musical elements that are then enhanced through each duet. This Radiophonic Monday features: Thomas Buckner in underwater frogs of Angkor Wat, Annemarie O’Farrel in loved bees, Anne Bourne in underworld of Namibia.