Degung is a set of three acousmatic miniatures that collectively explore the musical and spiritual characteristics of the gamelan (specifically the University of Manchester’s Sudanese Degung). In Indonesian traditional thinking the gamelan is sacred and is believed to have supernatural power. Degung follows the gamelan on its journey from its natural form and sound to the completely transformed and supernatural.

Degung (III)

Degung (II)

Degung (I)

Kinesis is an exploration of the sonic characteristics of spinning objects, both embracing and subverting the processes in which the objects naturally follow. All of the sounds in this piece are derived from the stimulus of an object and the subsequent movement that this produces (the spinning of a coin, a bicycle wheel, motors and the ringing of Tibetan singing bowls), exploring the tensions between the gestural characteristic of the stimulus and the timbral quality of the movement that follows.

Kinesis

On the morning of 17th August 2017, a ripple in space passed through our planet, detected by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors. This cosmic disturbance came from a pair of neutron stars colliding at one third the speed of light in the galaxy NGC4993, 130 million light years from Earth. The two neutron stars have been orbiting each other for most of the history of the universe, getting closer and closer until they merged into a doughnut-shaped unstable neutron star before finally collapsing as a black hole.

NGC4993

This work is a homage to Britain’s urban landscapes, human resilience, poverty and childhood inspired by the pioneering female street photographer Shirley Baker. The photograph’s I have chosen to take inspiration from are Baker’s depictions of the urban clearance programmes of Hulme, Manchester, between 1961 – 1981. Despite being based on local memories, this piece testifies to the poverty and resilience of all communities that have been under siege due to changing cityscapes.

 "Whole streets were disappearing and I hoped to capture some trace of the everyday life of people who lived there" - Baker 

This composition is made up from sound recordings inspired by the activities and objects that are taking place in Baker's photographs, field recordings from Hulme today and archived recordings from the British Library of Shirley Baker and other Hulme residents in interview.

In Those Days / Community

A collaborative exhibition at Under Gallery by myself and the sculptor Sarah Hawkins . Transforming a basement in South Manchester into an immersive otherworldly environment. Both the sculptures and the sounds were made from just two materials: cable ties and chicken wire.

Under Gallery Installation

Way Down to Pomona - an Augmented Reality Soundwalk 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASHS78zadqQ

An immersive re-imagining of Pomona Island’s history through field recordings, composed electroacoustic music, oral histories and archival material (with thanks to Greater Manchester County Record Office) that are unveiled as the site is explored by the listener based on their GPS data.

Suspended between the Bridgewater Canal and the River Irwell, this concrete island bountiful with flora and fauna exists in a strange limbo between its industrial past and inevitable destruction and development. This area has an extremely rich history which will soon be forgotten as the land is gentrified. In the 1800s Pomona Island was a place of leisure, with the name Pomona originating from the Roman goddess of fruit trees, gardens and orchards; promoted to the locals as a way of enjoying the countryside without the need for a train ticket. The land was home to Pomona Palace, the biggest hall of its kind in the country, fit with a 100 ft clock tower, that could host 30,000 people for dances, concerts and political rallies. The Palace’s gardens included a variety of entertainment, including a hedge maze, flying swings, archery, zoological and botanical gardens, and hosted events such as dog racing, circus shows and other forms of public entertainment. On the 22nd June 1887, there was an explosion at a nearby chemical’s factory that damaged the Palace significantly, leading to its closure the following year. Pomona’s next lease of life was as a bustling dockland for the Manchester Ship Canal, up until its closure in the 1970s. For the past 40 years or so Pomona has been left to its own devices and has become an urban oasis of rare wildlife and flora. However, in recent years landowners PEEL development group have begun the destruction of the space so it doesn’t get listed as a place of ecological importance and to prepare it for its imminent development and gentrification.

Way Down to Pomona

I was commissioned by Olympics Music Foundation to create a selection of sound works for Making Manchester, a multi-media performance  exploring real-life stories of migration to the UK. Using live music, poetry and physical theatre, the work explores how these unique family histories, and communities' shared experiences of migration, are woven into the socio-cultural fabric of the city and its people. I recorded 60 pupils from Dean Trust Ardwick (DTA) secondary school, telling their families migration stories. From these recordings I made 4 short pieces relating to the different sections of the performance - home, travelling, arriving & Manchester.

Making Manchester: Manchester (Excerpt)

Making Manchester: Home (Excerpt)

The Neva River in St. Petersburg would usually be frozen by the time it gets to winter, however this year the river remained unfrozen. This work traces the sound of the Neva River from its frozen form to its fluid. 

The work incorporates a field recording taken for Cities & Memories 'Future Cities' Project, of the flowing Neva River from last winter.

Unfrozen Neva

Commissioned by Whatstick Theatre, responding to people's experiences during lockdown.

This project was a collaboration between myself and visual artist Freya Wysocki, visit this link www.bit.ly/WhatstickTheatre to experience the audio alongside Freya's visual response. 

Listen through headphones to hear the binaural 360° spatialised sound.

I / Don't Miss (Binaural)

Listen over headphones to hear the binaural 360° spatialised sound).

Bengali folk music is greatly influenced by its environment and the occupation of its people. The different forms of folk music represent the people who sing them, the region they come from and the type of work they do. Lōka explores the experiences and music of the Bengali workers who migrated from rural Bangladesh and India to work in the factories and mills of the UK in the 1950s. This journey is told sonically through the transformation of a variety of folk songs and instruments, field recordings, archival material, historical narratives and oral histories into an immersive 8-channel composition.

Part I: takes inspiration from the soundscapes and folk songs associated with the livelihoods of rural and urban Bengali workers, who work as farmers, boatmen, fishermen, cartmen, weavers and rickshaw pullers. It follows the journey that workers took into the cities of India and Bangladesh, having to leave their loved ones behind in search for work.

Part II: is informed by the experience of workers in the mills and factories of Lancashire in the 1950s, and the under-representation of the significant community of migrant workers from South Asia who also worked in the mills. The folk songs they played allowed these workers to bond as a community, sharing the feelings of parting, loss and exploitation that they faced. It also draws comparisons between the Lancashire folk songs from the time which sing of similar tales of misery with industrialisation and the shift from rural to urban work. 
credits

With thanks to: Anindita Ghosh (historical narrative), Masih Alam & the Krishno Chura ensemble (Bengali folk music and instruments), Les Cartes Postales Sonores (archival Bangladeshi field recordings), Jennifer Reid (Lancashire folk songs, clog dancing and narrative), Manchester Central Library Sound Archive (‘Sounds of the Lancashire Textile Industry’) and Quarry Bank Mill for allowing me to record their machinery.

Lōka - Part II (Binaural)

Lōka - Part I (Binaural)

As Manchester’s streets and skyline are warped by the ever-accelerating process of urban renewal, the city’s edgelands and green spaces are at risk of being swallowed by waves of property development. Not only does this raise questions about the ecology of the city, as carbon sinks are flattened and wildlife is displaced, but it speaks to broader trends pushing urban residents away from shared space, community and local identity.  

This project shines a light on these spaces and the activists, academics, and local people who have taken up the daunting fight against corporate interests in the city in the name of biodiversity, urban ecology and community wellbeing. As we are faced with crises of both environment and mental health, the role of public green spaces has become ever more crucial in the eyes of those who enjoy, nurture, and maintain them.  

As the tide of urban growth edges closer to the open boundaries of our shared spaces, the trees, wildlife and insects continue their gentle movement, unaware that these spaces are likely reaching the end of their rich lineage. If nothing else, this project documents these final days. 

This work weaves together recorded conversations, composed music and field recordings from a handful of Manchester’s urban wildlife havens. Interviewees include community activists Julie Ryan and Tara Parry from ‘Friends of Ryebank Fields’, award-winning alternative tour guide Hayley Flynn (Skyliner) and Dr Jenna C. Ashton (artist, curator and lecturer at The University of Manchester).

Commissioned by Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 2020.

Edgeland

Sound Artist, Composer, Storytelling

Currently undertaking a PhD in Composition at The University of Manchesters Novars Research Centre

www.hayleysuviste.co.uk

Hayley Suviste

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