Security check at Istanbul Sabiha Airport, October 2018.

Istanbul Sabiha Airport

Trumpeter Swans on Lake Ontario, Leslie Spit, Toronto, November

Trumpeter Swans

This travelogue grazes across sonic neighborhoods that might resemble Tbilisi, Batumi, Toronto, Havana, St. Petersburg, Ulyanovsk, Strasbourg, Marseille, Naples, Reggio Calabria, Lisbon and Barcelona. Or at least, the sound sources, the original copies, were first heard there.

What a relief to arrive at last in this new city. Your feet are restless, they take you across bridges and underneath construction sites, under the river even, where you embrace views that make you feel like you have ears all over your new body.


Most of the recordings were made in 2018-2020 with Tascam DR-05 recorder and clippy EM172 omnidirectional microphones.
Partly based on Szara Reneta’s cassette release Shadows of Mtatsminda. 
https://szarareneta.bandcamp.com/album/shadows-of-mtatsminda

recordings, mix and photo by Alëna Korolëva https://alenakoroleva.bandcamp.com
text, voice and additional recordings by Mike Hoolboom https://mikehoolboom.com

Random City

image - Meditating Frog, Sengai Gibon(1751–1837)

Frogs symphony on the night of the lunar eclipse, Huron County, Ontario, Canada

Thunder, Huron County, Canada

Floating

Song with accordion in underpass. Tbilisi, 22.03.2019

Rain in Tbilisi yard

Lenin Memorial Facade Deconstruction (Ulyanovsk, Russia)

I was born in Ulyanovsk, a Russian city situated on the Volga river, about 700km east from Moscow. I commuted to school every day on a streetcar, model Tatra T3. These cars were made in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s, and some were still running in 2019 when I visited my hometown. I took a nostalgic ride through
the city on an old, dilapidated Tatra T3 and was captivated by the groaning, screeching machine. The city has already started to replace its streetcars so this
might be my last ride on this ancient beloved. Hoping to preserve a sweet memory I made some recordings on a sunny September afternoon.

Old Tram's Song (Tatra T3)

Sounds overheard on the streets of Tbilisi.

There is a song that turns a chair into a throne, that converts a wooden board into a banquet table, that turns a heart of cold indifference and self-concern into a warm embrace. Needless to say, it is difficult to learn the song, it can take even the best and most diligent student years to grasp. And because it possesses such force, it can’t be contained in the body, so after singing it just once, the singer has to retire the song, and never sing it again.

Music Lessons

Rituals

Recording of passing cargo train at Sorting Station, St. Petersburg, Russia, October 2018

Cargo

Last track from my album Agora, released at LOM label on November 11, 2020
Other tracks at zvukolom.bandcamp.com/album/agora

Agora
Sound compositions based on field recordings I made while travelling in 2018-2019. Sound sketches from Toronto, Naples, Geneva, Batumi, Dresden, Strasbourg, Marseille and Saint Petersburg.

"Agora" is a Greek word that literally means "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states.

Isaac Cathedral, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Ice Clinking

Lockdown in Toronto changed the soundscape of the city only a little bit. While it was suddenly possible to hear micro sounds like whispering ice and quivering leaves, the downtown airport never stopped working, silencing everything with the roar of airplanes. The sound of melting ice on Lake Ontario in the coldest month of the year reminded me that we are running out of time.

Alëna Korolëva

Popular tracks