Sound Artist Nikki Sheth has created a soundwalk of Stirchley for the Ten Acres of Sound Festival. The walk encourages a deeper connection with the natural environment and a new awareness of the hidden sounds around us – both natural and man-made.

Listen to the hidden sounds of underwater currents, bats hunting above the River Rea, a day at Birmingham Bike Foundry and electromagnetic sounds. As the walk progresses, the field recordings develop into smaller musical compositions, progressing from a natural to imaginative sound world.

Follow the soundwalk on your smartphone using SOUNDkitchen’s free SOUNDwalker app that guides listeners along the walk and triggers audio when at a listening point. If you can't get to Stirchley you can listen to the sounds here!

This project was devised by Nikki Sheth in association with Artefact Projects, Ten Acres of Sound and SOUNDkitchen.

For more info: https://nikkisheth.myportfolio.com/stirchley-soundwalk

Stirchley Soundwalk - Ten Acres of Sound Commission

Moving from a underground metro platform, via an escalator, towards the exit, ending in a small tunnel for pedestrians and bikers.

My Binaural Diary: Spatial Transition Metroplatform To Exit Tunnel 15 - 12 - 2020

Hayley and Ryan chat about a recent sound walk around Ryebank Fields in Chorlton/Old Trafford as well as our changing soundscape during lockdown.

Warm wintery wishes to you all. Watch this space for our relaunch in the new year!

If you’re interested in the campaign to save Ryebank Fields, visit www.saveryebankfields.org

Introducing, The Manchester Ear Podcast | Ryebank Fields, Chorlton | 7.12.20

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

Soundwalk Collective.

The Manchester Ear aim to get people involved with listening to the environment through monthly excursions in and around Manchester.

New podcast series coming soon....

👂👂

Introducing, The Manchester Ear Podcast | Ryebank Fields, Chorlton | 7.12.20

The Manchester Ear

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