This course explored the historical relationships between sound and politics from a variety of different social eras (considering rent parties in Harlem to Jazz developments in 17th century New Orleans' Congo Square). Most students were introduced to Ableton for the first time. Students then engaged in research and curation, followed by 6 hours to create a soundscape that embodied a political movement/leader/era/etc.
Taught by Prof. Ari Melenciano
Aug 2020
HUNTER IMA MFA
KIARA HOLLEY
THE MOTHERSHIP MIX is a coming-of-age narrative detailing an African-American utopia through futuristic sounds. Opening with spoken word, Sistah Souljah sets the tone by declaring the spiritual needs of Black life. Parliament Funkadelic guides the listener into utopia followed with a glitchy transition into Outkast’s “Synthesizer,” – an experimental track which foreshadowed today’s internet culture in 1998. Nikki Giovanni’s “Adulthood” closes the mix to represent an arrival at pure existence.
----------------------------
SARA GANIMCEVALLOS
A national plebiscite is scheduled to be held in Chile on 25 October 2020, asking citizens if they want a new constitution — a direct response to a 2019 protest movement directed at inequality.
Subway fare hikes initially kickstarted the protests, but the movement has become about so much more - feminism, wealth equality, political values.
Music and sound has been foundational to the movement since the beginning. A feminine anthem, which you will hear at the start of the mix tape, goes like this:
The patriarchy is a judge
That judges us for being born
And our punishment
Is the violence that you don’t see
But the bedrock of the sound of this movement is the banging of pots and pans. “Cacerolazo” is a form of popular protest which consists of a group of people making noise by banging pots, pans, and other utensils in order to call for attention. Historically, Cacerolazo has signaled trouble for Chilean power. In the 1970s, The March of the Empty Pots, drew thousands into the streets to protest food shortages.
Cacerolazo is the foundation of the sounds I have mixed for this tape. From the more tender, emotional moments, to the victorious ending — my sounds are designed to reflect this percussion.
In that same vein, to end, another protest-original song, named Cacerolazo and composed by Ana Tijoux, forced real change. The day after it was released, the government reversed the fare hikes that sparked the movement.
I end with something more upbeat, anticipation. While the protesters have made small victories - successfully calling for a vote, it is to be determined if it will lead to real change.
----------------------------
BEN WIGLER
"People Understand When They Are Talking To God” An audio artwork by Ben Wigler
August 30th, 2020
Marianne Williamson ran as a Democrat in the most recent Presidential
Primary, suspending her campaign in January, 2020. Throughout her campaign,
Marianne was a compassionate advocate for progressive values and policy
proposals and spoke articulately about a number of topics that were in many
cases even more radical than the concerns of Bernie Sanders. She advocated
for the establishment of a Department of Peace, and for a recognition that
America needed to heal moral and psychological wounds, particularly the
monstrosity of slavery and the racist policies that followed in its wake. She
compared this call to the events in post-war Germany and post-apartheid South
Africa. During her campaign, Marianne was treated as an absolute joke -
relegated to a punchline about witchcraft and crystals. This audio piece aims to
reveal the anxiety, fear, and dark cynicism of the media, who could not tolerate
the light that Marianne aimed at the spiritually bankrupt establishment. Presented
with a yin-yang structure, this sonic exploration contrasts the jokes made to
discredit Marianne with a cogent, articulate, and passionate plea for Americans
to look deeply into their own heart.
----------------------------
SAGE RIVERA
This piece is an ode to anti colonialism or the fight for decolonization. Indigenous
peoples from all over the world have fought against the oppression and idealism of invading
conquerors all through out history. This fight is very real today in the Americas. Systemic
oppression has slowly teared away at the native identity to such a devastating degree that many
tribes and native customs have been forced into extinction.
Many of the customs and belief systems that exist in America today are based on exclusivity.
Exclusivity as a concept, is not something native to this land. This land was founded by a people
that found the value in all of its subjects and in all creation. The “wealth’s” of the earth was
shared amongst all that lived here. Capitalism and totalitarianism have built a wall around this
rich past and has kept it hidden. However, I believe this wall is being dismantled brick by brick
by the very descendants of America’s original peoples and the first among them that were
colonized.
Featured in this piece are Native American Leaders : Jocelyn Wabano-Iahtail, Clyde Bellecourt,
& Tara Houska ,President Barack Obama, Senator Bernie Sanders &Congresswomen
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.
The piece ends with song ANACAONA! The name of one of the last chiefs of the Taino
people of the Caribbean. A woman who resisted colonization. She resisted the advances of men
in power in what could be categorized as one of the earliest acts of the “Me Too” movement.
----------------------------
CHLOE LEE
This song layers audio of a now obsolete Singaporean ritual to the gods with a present-day personal memory to explore the accumulation of history in one place.
----------------------------
KRAUSE
EARTH REVOLUTION
The focus of my piece is on the idea of a failure to create an effective revolution
around the environment throughout human history that has slowed, controlled or
reversed the ecological devastation humans have done over thousands of years. I
wanted to convey Earth’s systems as cyclical and resilient, but ultimately fragile under
human oppression. I also wanted to recognize that it is indigenous people who suffer
the most from these environmental changes brought on by racist western capitalism, so
I included a soundbite from Nelson Pereira dos Santos’s film How Tasty was my Little
Frenchman (1971). The scene heard in my piece is a ceremony in which the indigenous
people finally take scheduled vengeance on the Frenchman who has lived in their
custody for months and who arrogantly assumes he will be spared because of his
assimilation.
In the idea of a revolution, I wanted to empower the wind, the forest, the
icebergs, the rivers and those humans who have suffered the greatest attack on their
livelihoods and freedoms.
----------------------------
CARLOS MORALES
As a photographer and an observant, I have become to recognize the power of
and image and the importance of capturing defining moments, moving between
linguistic as well as social worlds, I want to be able to take the viewer in to
places that are often overlooked, something between the visible and the
invisible, my work tells the story of solitude and survival, and highlight that
desperation and dignity readily coexist. I tried to apply those same principles
when I created this piece. I want to bring awareness to Native Americans who
had been fighting their own Revolution for centuries.
----------------------------
OSCAR FRASSER
"Sonidos de Las Luchas Americanas” "Sounds of American Struggles”
This sonic compilation is inspired by revolutionary movements and songs of protest
from a Latin American lens. The beginning positions listeners with the arrival of slaves
to Cartagena de Indias in the North Atlantic coast of Colombia. Cartagena was the
South American center of slave distribution for Spanish colonizers.
Followed by Che Guevara’s speech, the first three songs represent the primary musical
instruments of Colombia. These instruments also represent the primary ethnic origins
of the Colombian people. Movement 2, Grupo Tabala, is an example the African
influence in the rich use of percussion instruments including the marimbula. Movement
3, Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, represent the fusion of African and Native American
rhythms. The Gaita, a Native American instrument, is still used by many indigenous
groups of Colombia. Movement 4 is vallenato. An inherently Colombian fusion of the
European accordion with African (caja) and Native American (guacharaca) percussion.
Movements 5 through 8 contemplate the historic multi-generational struggle with
oppressive imperialist policies and violent U.S. sponsored regimes in Latin America that
continues to force people to migrate to “The North” for survival. Movement 9 arrives in
“The North” and the sonic compilation concludes exploring multi-generational struggles
within The United States to realize a democracy that upholds human rights for all
people.
----------------------------
LEE FAVORITE
Marlon Riggs’ Tongues Untied has been a crucial art piece in my life. In this track I mixed fragments of Riggs poetry created in collaboration with other gay black men in the 80s, with sounds and beats I created by myself.
----------------------------
MICHELLE ERMOLENKO
Marsha
When it comes to revolutions, there are often times where we feel as if our anger is the only thing that drives us forward - but in the thinking about concepts like mutual aid, community building and surviving, joy is something that we don’t often think about. The LGBTQ community is my home, and Marsha P. Johnson was one of the pioneers - the sheer joy that she brought to the community and the sense of hope that she still instills is something I tried to capture through a mix of using archival recording, soundscape recordings and emulating a low/slow beat tempo to evoke a sense of a dream-like calm state.
----------------------------
EDDY KIJOWSKI
Shirley Chisholm
The piece of music I made is inspired by the words and life of Shirley Chisholm, The first black
U.S. Congresswoman and the first Female and black person to run for Presidency. I chose
Shirley Chisholm because reading her writing and watching her speeches I feel like we are still
striving for people like her in politics and I find her inspiring. The song I wanted to have an
ambient feel with her speeches alongside.
----------------------------
YEHUI ZHAO
Free Agent
This is a sound project reflecting on different aspects of violence using archival footage and clips from hollywood films in 1920s. The project explores the violent weapons in comparison with media depiction of Asian female character (Anna May Wong) and invites viewers to discuss what violence means and how violence can be implemented in different ways.
----------------------------
SOFÍA D. COLLINS
I took Alexandria Ocasio Cortez as a current political figure from which to depart from sonically. I traced her biography in line with my own cultural background as a Puerto Rican. Salsa rhythm, born from the hybridization between Puerto Rico and New York, runs in this exploration along with Bomba and Plena song through Hermanos Ayala’s “ Orile Agua Tile,” Celia Cruz’s “Yemaya,” Cortez’s speech, fracking and water noises. Considering Puerto Rico is a U.S territory, I was interested in placing the struggle of Puerto Rican independence, through references to female nationalist Lolita Lebron, in parallel with the struggles related to suburban and urban environmental inequalities, affecting mostly working class, immigrants and people of color in the United States. In the case of Puerto Rico, colonial status has historically hindered economic sovereignty, thus a warped “ Lamento Borincano,” a classical ode of lament to the 1930’s farm workers trickles into the remixing.
