Unscripted Field
The sounds of everyday hustle in Taiwan and electronic sound created a unique soundscape to explore a collaboration between Yenting, a field recordist and artist from Taiwan and Navya Rudrappa, a sitar player based in Bangalore, India. They met for the first time during the soundcheck of their live performance at Forplay Society in Fort Kochi. What followed was an immersive improvisation of live sounds and its responsive interpretation on the sitar.
Some of the sounds used in the performance originated from recordings of last-generation blacksmiths at work in central Taipei, drawn from Yenting’s ongoing project “Blacksmith Project”. The performance took place on the opening day of a video work from the same project, Farewell, Blacksmith Street, presented at Forplay Society.
In this uncut live recording, the sounds traverse various environments and mediums—insects, birds, waves, metal, hands at work, even the snapping of a sitar string during the performance. While the restringing and tuning took a good 6-8 minutes to settle in, they allowed the unexpected moment to unfold organically without disturbing the flow. The entire process has been retained in this recording as it reflected the vulnerability and reality of playing live. It was a moment of shared presence with the audience.
Photo Credit: Vivek Muthuramalingam
Live Performance at Forplay Society
Mastering by Seljuk Rustum