Institute of Contemporary Arts

The Experiment: October 2009

A circumnavigation podcast special!
With field recordings from Southern and East Africa, Central and South America and South East Asia.

A new season and a special edition of The Experiment podcast. Loosely divided into 4 tracks this edition is a patchwork quilt of sound recorded between August 08 and August 09 on a journey which started in Mexico City and ended in Nairobi, Kenya. Whilst the commentary might have temporarily disappeared into the ether; the podcasts ideals of closer listening still remain.

Combi, Matola, Dala Dala

Recordings from hitchhikes and bus journeys through Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania. 80kmph over potholes, a soundtrack blasted out through a broken speaker, all organisms welcome and there's always room for one more- even the most stubborn of pigs. The best A to B'ing imaginable (if that's your kind of thing).

Street Vendor Loop

A sound collage of street vendors from around the globe. The same routine, the same daily loop; a plethora of distinct calls that bring the daily bread. The hustlers loop around town, produce in hand, on foot, or by wheel. Distorted loops playing from a speaker taped to the back of a bicycle. A stall set up and removed in an instant, a sewing machine at the side of the road; peanuts, wooden frogs, coca cola and rat poison. From Ice cream carts in Bangkok to the coin shakers of Dar es Salaam.

Sibebe

Transmissions of faith across the radio waves to the rhythm of the 1 in 3. The echoes at the top of Sibebe Rock, Swaziland; one of the world's largest conductors of electronic phenomena.

Ometepe to Iguazu

A Jungle tryptych with recordings from Isla Ometepe (Nicaragua),  the Iguazu region (Argentina) and Don Det island (Laos). Primates and insect electronica at the edges of civilization.

Keep listening!

The Experiment is a monthly podcast commissioned by the ICA, this edition was recorded and produced by Jim Hammond.