The mother of all battles

"The material I chose to work with- short wave transmissions  from the beginning of the first gulf war of 1991 (?) was so touching and grim that I felt the best approach was to bring light to it. I remixed a track of mine, SKELLINGTON SECOND LINE into it to help keep it moving and to give the urgency of the original broadcast some ballast and forward momentum. My track was made on Dumbek, Qarqaba, Toolhandles, and finger snaps. I cut the original 58 grueling minutes down to a selection of static, voices and music that ‘spoke’ to me and then cut them into my accompaniment. Having no understanding of Arabic, I used the voices as purely sonic elements, rearranging them with no ear to their meaning. I sincerely hope that it gives no offense to native speakers of Arabic and that my offering can be taken in a spirit of play."

Composition by Hearn Gadbois. 

Part of the Shortwave Transmissions project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of shortwave radio - find out more and see the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/shortwave