The Compass Series Presents: The Valkeapää Narratives

Nord Rute
Trinity Buoy Wharf
Saturday 27 February 2010

Featuring: Plaid, Ross Adams, Synnøve Persen
Produced by: The Compass Series, Chimera Productions and  Pikene på Broen

Nord Rute is an unconventional ambisonic (surround sound) narrative. Based on one of a cycle of poems by renowned Sámi artist, Nils Aslak Valkeapää, the poems focus on indigenous peoples around the world exploring their traditions, oral lore, spiritual and practical connections with nature.

Nord Rute is a sonic interpretation of Valkeapää’s poem ‘No.272’ by sound artist and sound recordist Ross Adams, UK electronic music pioneers Plaid, and the Sámi poet Synnøve Persen. Poem 272 is about a reindeer herd on the move and takes the Sámi people as its central theme examining their vast dialect and sounds of the arctic tundra. Incorporated into Nord Rute is an account of a modern day reindeer migration made by the Sámi, 350 kilometres across the Arctic Tundra every year to the reindeers’ spring grazing pastures in northern Norway. Adams travelled with a group of herders and sonically documented it using location surround recording techniques.

The Sámi are the only ethnic group in the European Union classified as an indigenous people. They are a minority that inhabit four countries – Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia –and have their own language and culture, which has thrived due to their ability to adapt to changing social environments over the centuries. Music and art have emerged as influential tools in the process of maintaining community and identity.

The finished production will be an ambisonic evocation of the migration, poem and contemporary interpretation of the spiritual realm of the Sámi people by Plaid, Ross Adams and Synnøve Persen, The audience will be invited to sit or lie down upon reindeer pelts, as used during the reindeer migrations, given blindfolds and immersed in a three dimensional psycho-acoustic experience.

BE SURE TO BRING SLEEPING BAGS AND BLANKETS. THERE WILL BE NO HEATING DURING THE SONIC JOURNEY SO DRESS FOR ARCTIC CONDITIONS!


GALLERY HERE:
Nord Rute Gallery

REVIEWS HERE:
Wired.co.uk
Sound and Music


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