The hills remember

“The Hills Remember” is a concept piece on the “domination paradigm” — a cultural logic shared across systems of oppression. The work explores the intersections of religious nationalism, religious violence and colonisation, authoritarianism, capitalism, misogyny, domestic and child abuse, gender- and sexuality-based violence, racial oppression, and rape culture — systems all linked by hierarchies of power justified through ideological and cultural narratives that normalise inequality and violence as methods of destabilisation and control.

Initially inspired by a field recording from circa 1916–1919 of the Angami Naga singing their love song “Lozoruu, Hoiyi Ollie", the project took on a life of its own when artist Savannah Rae (Fawn Response) sat with the recording while researching the tribe and its historical context. After listening deeply to the emotion in the performance and reflecting on the lyrics — “though the villages are separated the herds graze together, upon the ridge there is a great stone to sit upon” — within the context of the religious colonization the Angami endured, Savannah was moved to research both the culture of the Angami people and the role religious colonization played in subverting it.

Through this research, she discovered an unlikely through-line linking one of the religious crusaders responsible for the Christian indoctrination of the Angami Naga to the religious-based trauma she experienced as a child at the hands of radical televangelists. With a background as a therapeutic educator and trauma and behavioural specialist, Savannah broadened her inquiry to better understand the overlapping psychosocial mechanisms driving religious colonisation and extremism, religious nationalism, child abuse, sexual abuse, and exploitation.

As the research deepened, and in recognising the scope required to create a piece that could meaningfully hold this material, Savannah enlisted the support of longtime friends and musical collaborators Oliver Ignatius (musician, producer, engineer, and owner of Holy Fang Studios), and Brian Ducey (musician and assistant engineer at Holy Fang Studios). Additional support included original works and samples related to the concept from friend and writer, comedian, and musician Joe DeRosa, as well as friends and musical collaborators Mitch Wells (Thou, Big Garden), Craig Oubre (High, Big Garden), drummer Tyler Coburn (Thou, Bursting), and contributions from her sister Jess and niece Willow.

The composition includes multiple historical audio samples of sermons related to religious colonisation and nationalism, including those specific to the Angami; samples of Angami songs and dances; research compiled and read by Savannah — sped up in places to bypass the conscious mind; scripture and first-person religious colonisation accounts processed through AI voices; prayers; references to Angami folklore; field recordings of native birds; original songs and excerpts inspired by the emotional resonance of the work; original poetry; a channeled hymnal; and a question posed by a seven-year-old child in modernity, already questioning those who use religion to justify atrocity.

Juxtaposing elements of noise with sound healing and music therapy, the piece sonically mirrors emotional modulation —seeking to hold the weight of deeply disturbing truths without becoming stuck in that heaviness, and instead modeling how to feel it and allow it to move through us as a path toward empowered expression. It is a channeled and researched effort to unpack and honour the context of something as hyper-specific as the historical field recording of the Angami, into a space that is universally resonant and urgently applicable today.

An extended cut will follow and will be pressed to vinyl. In the meantime, and in all times, please remember gentleness; please remember peace.

"Lozorüü" - Angami Naga love song reimagined by Fawn Response

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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