A offering to the Ganges
Oct 11, 2020, 04:23 PM
Varanasi river ceremony reimagined by Cities and Memory.
It was fascinating to read the context of this field recording - the ritual prayer of offering to the river. The recording is very beautiful and has a magical, mystical feel to it, as the songs and instruments blend and dance together.
For the reimagined piece, we've approached the ceremony from the perspective of the Ganges, as if listening from beneath the waves. What if the river could hear the offerings being made to it?
We hear the ceremony going on above the surface of the water, muffled and mysterious, barely able to hear the words of the song. The music and bells tinkle down through the water and penetrate periodically, and the growing bass pulse represents passing boat traffic slowly drowning out the ritual above.
Everything here apart from the bass pulse is made from the field recording, stripping the MIDI from the music to provide most of the sounds, and an a cappella stripping of the vocal providing us with the raw material for the vocal bed in the piece.
It was fascinating to read the context of this field recording - the ritual prayer of offering to the river. The recording is very beautiful and has a magical, mystical feel to it, as the songs and instruments blend and dance together.
For the reimagined piece, we've approached the ceremony from the perspective of the Ganges, as if listening from beneath the waves. What if the river could hear the offerings being made to it?
We hear the ceremony going on above the surface of the water, muffled and mysterious, barely able to hear the words of the song. The music and bells tinkle down through the water and penetrate periodically, and the growing bass pulse represents passing boat traffic slowly drowning out the ritual above.
Everything here apart from the bass pulse is made from the field recording, stripping the MIDI from the music to provide most of the sounds, and an a cappella stripping of the vocal providing us with the raw material for the vocal bed in the piece.