Andrea Langlois et al - Islands of Resistance - Pirate Radio in Canada

The Power of Small • 209
kathy kennedy
Score from Hmmm/Soundwalk
held tones of humming. The effect is a river of human vocal sound,
soothing, organic and nonverbal. Ahhh. Participants have reported a
sense of echolocation as they interpret the environment around them
by hearing their own sounds in context. This calls to my mind the visceral
and sensual nature of singing. So far, these pieces have been performed
on my personal transmitters in Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver,
Kitchener and Kingston. One particularly successful HMMM was in
Lima, Peru in one of the noisiest parts of the city. Unable to see my
personal, unlicensed transmitter, the police decided to try to arrest us
for disturbing the peace. They were clearly disgruntled by having to
agree that we were, in fact, making that area quieter and more peaceful.
Better than trying to make people be quiet.
The metaphor of the body is unavoidable in my radio works. The
body is an essential element in my work, and the radio is generally
used to remind the audience of the natural range and quality of sound
diffusion. The radio expands the span of audio transmission only to
a degree that reminds us of the natural limitations of physical space.
There is usually a kind of magic and wonder around the fact that cer-