The Whistling Republic

Radio art

2003

Catalogue number : 5

On La Gomera, an island of the Canary archipelago, a whistled language is still used among the inhabitants and helps them to communicate over distances of up to four kilometers. During a stay on the island, I wrote many short texts based on real experience as well as fictional scenes I imagined. I asked the locals to whistle those texts over a distance of a couple of kilometers where I positioned myself with a microphone. I recorded the whistles coming from afar as well as the attempts at understanding and deciphering those messages. I created this text-sound composition based on those recordings.

Idea, composition and production : Alessandro Bosetti
Executive pruducer : Markus Heuger.
A commision by WDR Studio Akustische Kunst, 2003.

Recordings on location in La Gomera, Canary Islands, 2002.
Additional recordings WDR Studio Akustische Kunst, Köln 2003.

Sound engineer (Köln) : Daniel Velasco.

Thanks to Lino Rodrigues, Isidro Ortiz, Antje Vowinckel.

 

© Alessandro Bosetti / 2024