Introduction to this CD selection

"Sometimes I wonder if the higher forms of aesthetic emotion are not simply a supreme understanding of creation. One day, humankind will discover an alphabet in chalcedony eyes, in the brown velvet of the moth, and then we will be amazed to find that the spotted snail was a poem, all along."

Alejo Carpentier

In spring 1999, La Orquesta Del Caos organised an international soundscape competition.

They received in the region of one hundred works by artists from all over the world, producing this small selection. There are of course many different concepts of what soundscape is and of its place in sound art in general. This selection cannot possibly cover all the aesthetic aspects of such a broad-based concept. What we have done is to take the liberty of choosing some, not all, of the works which have spent less time in the laboratory, with the simple aim of producing a disk which is an object of curiosity, not so much for its stylistic variety as for its documental interest.

One of the objectives of soundscape is to make listening an active exercise rather than the passive act we normally tend to see it as. We also have to bear in mind that sound is activity, movement, a disturbance of our environment. Anything that tends towards quietude tends towards silence.

We would like to thank everyone who sent in their listening exercises, and we are only sorry that the limitations of the support used to produce this catalogue mean that we cannot include all the works which were sent to us, but which will be played at our chill out activities and form part of our sound art archives.

Carlos Gómez

Works selected to be published on the En Red O. Soundscape CD/CD-ROM

Istambul crescendo. Werner Cee (Alemania)
1- Galata bridge (extracto). 09:10.

6 Aphorismen. Thomas Gerwin (Alemania)
2- Karlsruhe, Germany. 00:45
3- Kow Loan, Hong Kong. 00:10
4- Bordighera, Italia. 00:16
5- Hannover, Germany. 00:10
6- Ronchamp, France. 00:25
7- Menton, France. 00:09

Espacios sonoros Conquenses. Julio Sanz Vazquez (España)
8- Jard’n del Escardillo (rumores de jueves). 03:42

Equinox. Pedro Guajardo (España)
9- Equinox. 06:10

Enviromental field recordings. Steve Bradley (USA)
10- Bad british boys. 04:31
11- Electrical power explosion. 00:36

Fraser river bridge. Frank Koustrup (Canadá)
12- Fraser river bridge. 06:15

Triptych. Lelio Camilleri (Italia)
13- Triptych. 05:02

Animalplanesmachines. Marc Chesterman (Nueva Zelanda)
14- Animalplanesmachines. 02:22

A one day soundwalk through Venice. Massimo Catalfo (Italia)
15- San Marco (extracto). 06:11

Paseo sonoro. Rei Rolle (Argentina)
16- Paseo sonoro.03:03

Cityscape. Justin Bennett (Inglaterra)
17- Tanger. 00:54
18- Fes. 01:53
19- London. 01:40
20- Amsterdam. 01:32

Total Duration. 54:56

En Red O. Soundscape