Soundograph is a series of works by Yasuhiro Morinaga and Roberto Paci Dalò that forge new relationships between silent cinema and today’s sonic research. Soundograph is dedicated to re-imbuing forgotten masterpieces with new meaning and energy by exposing them to contemporary sound and live performance.
Record Out April 15th! |
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soundograph #1 Funded by Housen Cultural Organization (Cinematic Research Promotion) “Japanese Girls at the Harbor” (an authentic timeless masterpiece of the Japanese cinema) was filmed in the area of Yokohama, known as an international harbour and U.S. army base. The soundscape of Yokohama combines local and foreign sounds /voices making it different from any other regions of Japan. During the silent film era, there used to be a person, called Benshi, who stands next to the screen explaining the story aurally, making sound effects through the use of his/her mouths and musical instruments, and entertaining the audience. Thus the role of Benshi was very important aspect for telling the story in order to screen the cinema in Japan. However, when the sound arrived – in 1928 in Japan – lots of Benshi obviously lost their jobs because the sound cinema was covering completely their need. The aesthetics of aural realization of storytelling and sound effects were totally changed turning to realistic recorded sounds because the technology involved. The purpose of this project is not the creation of the soundscape of the film, but also creating the particular sound effects, music, ambient sounds through the use of aural and musical instruments in a modern context through the use of new media. In addition to this, some of the sounds used for the project are recorded in the original film shooting location at the Yokohama’a harbour. This means the over imposition of today‘'s sound from Yokohama with the images from 70 years ago creating an astonishing effect. A true time-machine feeling through “Japanese Girls at the Harbour”. Also, by creating sound and music for the film, the difference between music/sound itself and music/sound for cinema are considered comprehensively. This film was particularly shot on location and the each shot has longer takes including wide and close. By understanding what sound and music should be accompanied to the image as a cinematic representation, the sound and music will not destroy the images, the story, and the aesthetic of the film on its own.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE TECHNICAL REQUIREMENT CONTACT Roberto Paci Dalò
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Yasuhiro Morinaga is a Japanese sound designer, sound archivist and composer of musique concrete. He is regarded as one of the unique and distinctive sound designers of his generation. Yasuhiro has worked on multiple projects in film, contemporary dance, installation, and product design internationally. Also he has been engaged in field sound recording. His interest is to record and archive sound of natural phenomenon, wildlife environment and outland regional music around the world and to research how these are affected and coexisted to the human habitats and lives. By the use of recorded sound, he creates soundscape based on the fictional and non-fictional events which follows particular narratives. He has presented at numerous festivals/events around the world. Morinaga’s eclectic sound design works for film and audio-visual works have been presented at the festivals such as Cannes Film Festival, Venice Biennale, Venice Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival and etc. His collaborative works with installation and performance have also presented at the museums such as Pompidou Center [France], San Francisco Contemporary Museum [U.S.A], Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art [Canada], Smithsonian Institute [U.S.A], National History Museum of Luxembourg [Luxembourg] and etc. Morinaga also produced sound and music for SONY's monolithic design exhibition at Milano Salone 2010. He has been collaborating with Singaporean Artist, Ho Tzu Nyen for his visual works such as EARTH(2009),The Cloud of Unknowing(2011), and Endless Day. His sound and musical contributions to the the works by other artists are included Sion Sono (Film Director), Saburo Teshigawara (Choreographer) and Chris Cong Chan Fui (Film Director), a.o. He is co-founder of CONCRETE, non-profit organization based in Tokyo. CONCRETE produces music, cinema and publications. It also organizes international conferences, symposiums, workshops and concerts. With the sponsorship from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Morinaga organized international conference for sound design and recording in 2009. He has so far invited scholars, researchers and artists such as Michel Chion [Composer/France], Chris Watson [Sound Recordist/U.K], Kiyoshi Kurosawa [Film Director/Japan], Richard Ranft [British Library, U.K], Aki Onda[Musician, U.S.A], Larry Sider [Sound Designer, U.K.] a.o.
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