June 1st 2023 – Premiere of “Taghia – Matriphonie de la Source” on Deutschland Radio Kultur

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Capture d’écran 2023-05-23 à 11.02.03

A sound composition by Gilles Aubry in collaboration with Bouchra Errahmani and Audrey Chen

Premiere on Deutschland Radio Kultur, Klangkunst, June 1st 2023, 24h05!

The composition highlights sung poetry and ecological voices in the Taghia Canyon in the Moroccan Atlas. It features recordings from the Nana Agouti water spring, a saint venerated as the mother of the community. Additional voices populate this environment, including women performing sung poetry (izlan), river and rocks, saints and spirits, as well as radio frequencies revealed through onsite experiments.

The piece relies on a matriphonic principle of transmission and interspecies co-formation. Songs by three generation of women are represented. If izlan poetry celebrates virtue, fertility, and communal life in the first place, it allows younger women to voice their concerns about traditions and gender roles. Worksongs and prayers reveal deep interconnections with the environment. Non- human lives mediate between people and supranatural forces, thus ensuring reciprocal exchanges.

The piece features additional vocal interventions by Audrey Chen, who was invited to improvise in response to the field recordings. Chen’s empathic listening is channeled through her voice, extending the matriphonic principle of the composition.

CREDITS

Duration: 47’50’’
Gilles Aubry – recording, composition and mixing
Bouchra Errahmani – speech and vocals
Women from Agouti: Haju, Taza, Zahra and Rqia – vocals
Audrey Chen – vocals
Linda Fouad – research assistant and translation
Photo by Linda Laraki