The four seasons of Paanäjarvi on Radia: the spring

And the sun came up

  Broadcasted on Monday, October 3 at 11:30 pm on Radio Grenouille 
and the whole week on the Radia network: http://www.radia.fm

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Ecouter / Listen
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 And the sun came up is the first sound piece of Nicolas Perret and Cédric Anglaret’s project The four seasons of Paanjärvi in which, since 2009, they focus on the soundscape of the small russian village of Paanajärvi. Isolated in the thick primary forest of oriental Karelia, Paanajärvi seems fallen out of the time. Its inhabitants, the last custodians of the disappearing Karelian culture, live a tough life that is strongly bond to the nature surrounding them.

In the beginning of May, Paanajärvi plunges into spring. The snow melts, the river breaks free from the ice and everyday new birds arrive, new insects overrun the swamps, closely followed by thousands of frogs. For the inhabitants it is time to go outdoor and resume their activities: preparation of the fields for the coming cultures, repairing and putting the row boats back in the river, fishing...

Radia is a network of independent radio stations who have a common interest in promoting and producing artworks produced for radio as well as in forming projects based on broadcasting and cultural exchange. Radia produces a weekly radio show that is broadcasted by each of the member radio stations, representing the local artistic community of each station, whilst pointing to an emergent collective notion of self-determined art for radio.

Field recording session in Paanäjarvi -- Spring 2011

 

In the beginning of May Paanajärvi plunges into spring. The snow melts, the river breaks free from the ice and everyday new birds arrive, new insects overrun the swamps, closely followed by thousands of frogs. For the inhabitants it is time to go outdoor and resume their activities: preparation of the fields for the coming cultures, repairing and putting the row boats back in the river, fishing...

Due to the lack of industrial sound motifs the soundscape of Paanäjarvi is a nowadays rarely heard one. There are almost no motors, no electricity, no telecommunication lines, no roads nearby, even no flightpaths. Every sound is extremly clear and distinct. This gets reinforced by the strong echo created by the forest around the village.

Field reording session in Svaneti -- Lamproba

It's winter, it's cold even if the snow just arrived for real and the main objective of this trip is to record Lamproba. Lamproba or Lampari (depending of the place) is an ancestral celebration that takes place in nearly every village of Svanetia in honor of the defuncts. It lasts two days. On the first day people gather in the center of the village with food, sing, toast and drink in memory of the dead. The second day or the following night they gather in the cemetery and every family brings a bundle of firewood that is stuck in the snow and left to burn while they pray and psalmody.

 

Prayers in Mulakhi's cemetery 

 

Singing during the first day of the Lamproba celebration in Larushti 

Location spotting in Svaneti

We spent the first two weeks of November in Georgia for the preparation of our upcoming field recording project in Svaneti, a remote moutainous region of the southern Caucasus. The project is about the soundscape and sound memory of Svanetia. We'll be working in echo to the silent 1930's documentary Djim Shvante (Salt for Svaneti) by the famous director Mikhaïl Kalatozov and interrogate the soundscape of the region, 80 years after the filming.

Nico auditioning for a local band

This first trip was made possible by the step beyond mobility grant of the