Lost in this world

I spend a lot of time thinking about a project before I even begin to work. I wanted to create something that would feel odd and a bit disorienting to the listener. I got started and spent weeks reinterpreting the percussive music of the earth bow, a single-stringed musical instrument. Some ideas morphed from one place to another but then I got lost. So, I stopped and started again from scratch. This is where I ended up. I think it's pretty good.

I read a great deal about Louis Sarno and his love of the hypnotic music of the Bayaka people. His love had him uproot his life to live and work with them in the Central African Republic until his death in 2017. "Lost in this World" is dedicated to them.

Ngbanda playing the ngbindi (earth bow) reimagined by Bill McKenna.

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Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds