Recorded at the Thaipusam festival, February 7, 2012, at Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur while working on field recordings for my upcoming radio piece “Crowd.” Please note that this is not a part of my piece, but a documentary recording of some of the trance music played there. I tried to implement Hugh Tracey’s technique of following the sound action, using a stereo pair of shotgun mics slightly above the heads of the crowd. This is an excerpt of a longer recording.

In this recording, pilgrims and devotees enter from left to right and stop under an arched gate to the stairs that lead up to the actual caves. The dance performed here is called Kavadi Attam. The dancer carries a cage-like structure, often connected to hooks in the skin (depth bondage) and bells (which you will hear clearly). This was recorded at the gate, standing right next to the band and dancer, having to duck repeatedly to not get hit by the Kavadi. This music is VERY loud, so the singer’s voice, despite using a megaphone, is ‘drowned’ by the drums.

some trance music at Thaipusam 2012, Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Marc Behrens works with electronic and concrete music, installation, performance, photography, text and video. He exhibited artworks or performed in many European countries, in South Africa, Chile, USA, Japan, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Australia, Israel and Palestine. Since 1989 Behrens has released more than 30 music albums. 
Selected collaborators: Atom™, Annesley Black, Miguel Carvalhais, Maile Colbert, Steve Van den Bosch, Bernhard Günter, Nikolaus Heyduck (Behrens Heyduck), Yôko Higashi, Francisco López, Julia Mihály, profikollektion, Paulo Raposo, Pedro Tudela, Ho. Turner, Achim Wollscheid