PROCESS
Connected to this assignment, and wanted to do some small part to keep Bassel’s cause and case out front. I’m not a foley artist and field recording is not my game, though, so consider this less a soundscape than a track that might run over closing credits.
Married some royalty-free congas, tambourines and trap kit loops on an Acid timeline.
Selected two samples of Bassel speaking from the video: “I’m sorry I can’t see you.” and “That can be controlled.”
Locked in a drone with an EHX Superego and Freeze running through a Strymon Blue Sky.
Improvised a bed with an ebow.
Then riffed around the most “eastern” scale I know. The result may be more Spanish Gypsy than Syrian, but still felt Mediterranean. Just wanted to evoke a mood.
“The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth.”
– Albert Camus
We can all be disappeared now. More and more it’s an intransitive verb.
Peace,
:^D
PROJECT
Disquiet Junto Project 0108: Free Bassel
For this week’s project, we’re going to create soundscapes for an ancient Middle Eastern city. And in the process, we’re going to raise awareness about an imprisoned open-source developer with strong ties to the Creative Commons community. Bassel Khartabil, before his arrest on March 15, 2012, in Damascus, was working on several projects, among them a 3D rendering of the ancient city of Palmyra. Much as Bassel was trying to revive an ancient world, you are, in essence, keeping one of his projects alive while he is incapable of doing so.
The project instructions are as follows:
Step 1: View this video for background on Bassel’s digital Palmyra project:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G7fyWS-ysA
Step 2: If you aren’t viewing this instruction on the Disquiet.com project page, go to the following URL to view three still images from Bassel’s 3D work:
disquiet.com/2014/01/23/disquiet0108-freebassel/
Step 3: Create a soundscape of between one and three minutes that might be employed in an immersive, completed digital visualization of ancient Palmyra.
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More on the campaign to free Bassel
For their collaboration on this project, special thanks to: Niki Korth, Barry Threw, and Jon Phillips.