Project Sincronia Sonora, with the NGO Thydêwá

For a couple of months I’ve been working on a new project alongside Tom Jackson and Brazilian NGO Thydêwá. We’re being funded with a grant from the British Counil and Oi Futuro, and will conduct a series of co-creative field recording sessions with volunteers from Brazilian indigenous communities in the Northeast of the country.

The project has been given some attention by the School of Media and Communication of the University of Leeds, my alma mater. The content is reproduced below, but you can click here for the source.

Andreas Rauh and Tom Jackson awarded funding with Indigenous NGO Thydêwá

With funding from the British Council and Oi Futuro and support by NGO Thydêwá, Andreas and Tom will produce audio material alongside members of indigenous communities in Brazil.

Questioning notions of idyllic natural soundscapes, the project investigates how contemporary sounds and the sonic environment experienced in indigenous communities are constructed and shaped by cultural conventions, social norms, economic constraints, as well as the interplay between individual and collective identities.

The project fits within the aims of NGO Thydêwá to foster indigenous electronic art and relies on co-creative activities developed by Tom, Andreas and volunteers from indigenous communities in the Northeast of Brazil.

The project, Sincronia Sonora, conceptualised by Andreas Rauh (Assistant Professor, Dublin City University), and delivered in collaboration with Tom Jackson (Lecturer in Digital Media, University of Leeds), will provide audio material for live performances at the III International Colloquium of the Latin American Research Network in Media and Practice, Leeds’ Light Night 2019, as well as recordings of soundscapes and other audio material for use by the communities and audio producers worldwide under Creative Commons license.

By focusing on an often overlooked aspect of everyday life – soundscapes in indigenous communities – the project aims to highlight social and cultural diversity of Brazil, and does so in a moment of profound change as collective rights and indigenous cultures are being threatened by Brazil’s Federal Government.