yellow cricket·2017
Yellow Cricket is a storytelling project about transitions. Inspired by the Tibetan manuscript Bardo Thodol, Yellow Cricket is the story of Ana, a girl who finds a yellow cricket in her garden during a summer night. Surprised by this strange creature, she tries to catch him, however, when she touches the cricket, she appears in an unfamiliar place for her. It is then when she discovers that the Yellow Cricket is a portal, allowing her to travel through different dimensions. In this story, Ana travels through different places, exploring the deep dimensions that run parallel to ours.
The bardo thodol
I was first introduced to the Bardo Thodol by accident, almost 20 years ago. My father, a psychiatrist, used to work with patients with depressions, and probably this text (published under the name The Tibetan Book of Dead) was part of his reading list for his professional practice. Reading this book at the age of 13 changed my conception about death completely, from an awful event that we all try to avoid, to a natural transition of life that we must accept in order to stay in peace.
For the Tibetan Buddhist culture, the Bardo Thodol is utilized as a funerary text that is "recited to ease the consciousness of a recently deceased person through death and assist it into a favourable rebirth" (Stefon, 2015). The content explains the concept of Bardos, which are the intermediate states between death and rebirth. During these stages, the consciousness travels through three main bardos: the moment of death (Chikhai bardo), the encounter with reality (Chonyid bardo) and rebirth (Sidpa bardo).
During the narration of the text, it is explained that all images surfacing during these intermediate states have a psychological origin, as they are projections from our own mind. That is one of the key aspects that was adopted by the analytical psychology founded by Carl Gustav Jung, who also wrote an essay tilted “Psychological Commentary on The Tibetan Book of the Dead”, in which he applies concepts of this philosophy into Western culture.
Years later, the Tibetan Book of the Dead became popular during the 1960’s after the publishing of The Psychedelic Experience (1964) by Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner and Richard Alpert, who co-created a guide for LSD trips based in the book translated by Evans- Wenz. This latest version inspired different artists, like The Beatles in the song “Tomorrow Never Knows", or Gaspar Noé with the movie Enter the Void.
Although the original manuscript has been interpreted in different cultural environments, there is one aspect that remains constant, and that is the connection with the self and the acceptance of our fears, which ultimately free us from the limitations of our mind.
As an artist and composer, I decided to create my own interpretation inspired by this text because it invites the listeners to ponder on a process that involves all human beings. My final intention was to generate a question rather than provide an absolute answer. Therefore, the use of storytelling was essential, as narratives can remain open in this scenario.
Music And Sound Design Composition
One of the elements that I kept present during this stage was a heartbeat, as I was planning to maintain a constant rhythm during the whole story, similar to meditation.
Though music was not created yet, I wanted to establish the soundscape before employing melodies or traditional sounds. That’s why I created a soundscape with field recordings of nature, which I manipulated to evoke musical instruments.
After the project was finished, I found a quote from the American composer John Cage, who referred to this idea of composition in his manifesto,
“The Future of Music”:
“I BELIEVE THAT THE USE OF NOISE. Whenever we are, what we heard is mostly noise. When we ignore it, it disturbs us. When we listen to it, we find it fascinating. The sound of a truck at fifty miles per hour. Static between the stations. Rain. We want to capture and control these sounds, to use them not as sound effects but as musical instruments. Every film studio has a library of “sound effects” recorded on film. With a film phonograph it is now possible to control the amplitude and frequency of any one of these sounds and to give to it rhythms within or beyond the reach of the imagination. Given four film phonographs, we can compose and perform a quartet for explosive motor, wind, heartbeat, and landslide. (Cage, 1966) “
Having many of the soundscapes ready not just helped me to get more ideas for the script, but was also very useful as a guide during the recording sessions with musicians, as the technique that I employed was based in visualization and improvisation. In this process, musicians listened to the descriptions and the sonic atmospheres, and afterwards they played until we agreed on the best take or idea for the track.
There are two main aspects that facilitated the flow of creative energy in the recording session: first, the communication with the artists, which happened during the first 40 minutes of the session. We didn’t record immediately; instead, we talked about the story, and also discussed personal thoughts about the idea behind the project. This dialog was crucial to establish a real connection with the work.
The second aspect was the setup of the studio, which was ready to record at any moment. I prepared the workplace with anticipation in order to allow ideas flow without being interrupted by any technical issue. Since the method of composition was based in visualization and improvisation, every creative spark was relevant for the track. Usually, the best takes were the ones that happened during the first 30 minutes of the recording.
This notion of the recording studio as a creative space and event, is similar to Brian Eno’s methodology:
“In–studio composition, where you no longer come to the studio with a conception of the finished piece, or perhaps with nothing at all. ...In a compositional sense, this takes the making of music away from any traditional way that composers worked, as far as I’m concerned, and one becomes empirical in a way that the classical composer never was. You’re working directly with sound, and there’s no transmission loss between you and the sound- you handle it. It puts the composer in the identical position of the painter- he’s working directly with a material, working onto a substance, and he always retains the options to chop and change, to paint a bit out, add a piece, etc. (Eno, 2004)”
Brian Eno is one of the artists that have influenced me throughout this project, as well as Midori Takada (Japanese composer and percussionist) and Laurie Anderson (American artist, songwriter and poet). These artists have in common a solid use of silence and space in their compositions.
The importance of performance was essential in this project. As the sonic concept that I was trying to achieve was based in silence, it was crucial to establish a quiet and peaceful environment in the studio.
Sound Symbolism
While I was composing the soundscape for the story, I realised that there were some specific sounds that made more sense in the environment that I was trying to achieve. This made me think about the importance and meaning behind each sound, as they have a strong effect in the listener’s perception.
Similar to the brain’s response to certain patterns in music (e.g. major chords generate an emotional effect of happiness) non-musical sounds also have a similar effect in our behaviour, for example: the sound of running water, or emergency sounds such as sirens or alarms.
In the book “The Soundscape” by R. Murray Schafer there is a chapter dedicated to the meaning of sounds, titled “Symbolism”. This chapter indicates a list of different cultural perceptions related to specific sounds, many of which I instinctively selected for this project. Sounds of nature, such as water, have been associated with the idea of purification, refreshment or renewal in the ancient Greek world. Likewise, wind sounds have been linked with the uncanny spirits in different African cultures. On the other hand, the sound of a bell, which in Yellow Cricket is heard when Anna touches the cricket, has its own cultural meaning: for the Native American tribes in Arizona this sound is used to exorcize witches, and in ancient Rome bells was utilized to drive away ghosts (Schafer, 1993).
reference
Cage, J. (1966). Silence. 3rd ed. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, p.3. Eno, B. (2004). Audio culture. New York: Continuum, p.129. Schafer, R. (1993). The soundscape. Rochester, Vt.: Destiny Books, p.170, 171. Stefon, M. (2015). Bardo Thodol | Tibetan Buddhist text. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: http://www.britannica.com/topic/Bardo-Thodol [Accessed 25 Jun. 2016]. Credits
Written and Composed by Lister Rossel
Vocals and Lyrics by Nina Miranda.
Art cover by Luisa Rivera
Instrumentation:
Guzheng by Mengmeng Wu
Guitar by Sean Ahern
Piano by Utkucan Eken
Percussion by Jansen Santana
Violin by Alex Afia
Synths & beats by Lister Rossel
Mixed and mastered by Lister Rossel.