Subsidence

The work is inspired by the island’s natural beauty and by the evening songs, chants, and slit drum ceremonies of the Indigenous People of Vanuatu. The slit drums were carved from extraordinarily large, hollowed-out trees, often standing two or three times the height of the performers. The original recording was made over half a century ago, before the islands felt the first signs of rising seas. This piece offers a brief reflection on that earlier time. It opens with pitch-shifted slit-drum rhythms — deep and resonant like distant tympani — and ends with the eruption of a volcano on the nearby island of Tanna.

Technical notes: The drums were pitch isolated and some were pitch shifted down. The entire performance was slightly put through resonant filters and reverb that corresponded closely to the pitch and key of the singers. The drum rhythms that occur through the piece helped integrate the singing with my additional melody.

Durei-na-mbwe song reimagined by David Leith.

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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