Tomáš Šenkyřík is a musicologist with interest in field recordings. He is interested in acoustic ecology and discovering musical structures in nature. He is fascinated in finding musical qualities in dialogues between natural and unnatural sounds. He likes listening to nature without noise pollution, especially fragile and quiet sounds. From 1999-2008 he worked in the Museum of Romani culture as an ethnomusicologist. He is a member of Skupina, an artist group interested in field-recordings, soundscape, oral & aural history, and acoustic ecology. He is a founder of a soundmap, www.soundscape.cz
Soundscape of South Moravia, Virtual Field Recording Trip from the Confluence of the Morava and Dyje Rivers to the Peak in the Wild Carpathians
(conference paper)
The landscape’s current sound environment often reveals more than a picture. In my fieldrecordings I can very clearly observe the increasing noise level. Especially the noise that isattacking us from heaven (aircraft pollution). Heaven is increasingly filled with airplanes every year, and our forests and meadows are increasingly exposed to increasing unpleasant noise. Through the recordings I will show how one of our oldest rare forests is humming. Then I will introduce how such a forest sounds when there is complete silence. It is obvious that the noise free interval (Gordon Hempton’s term) still getting shorter. I will also ask these questions in my lecture: What can we do about it? How can we ourselves positively influence the landscape. I will also emphasize that creating positive changes in the landscape means creating a new soundscape. I will illustrate my opinion with sound samples.
From Lowlands to Highlands, Sound Journey around South Moravia Region
(audio performance)
What is the sound of Southern Moravia? What are the sound messages of the South Moravia fauna in the air? How does the dawn chorus sound from the highest places of South Moravia and how does it sound in the lowlands at the confluence of Dyje and Morava?