credit: Cities and Memory

Spectral formation (yes to peace)

When we hear our own voice, we are already separated from that moment in which we spoke. As we pay attention to listening, we thicken the “now” with recollection, anticipation, and imagination. When we speak on the radio, our voice is further extended out through medial spacetime to receivers that we cannot even know are there. Radio is an act of trust, a gift… as is all language. But in radio the spectral presence of speech is enacted explicitly. Shortwave voices are heard as revenants of the radio frequencies, returning and returning again to haunt places they have never been, connecting moment to moment in an already-present remembrance, an already-remembered present.

The source material is a transmission on Radio Havana Cuba, 2 August 2017, recorded by Anthony Messina.

Publication

“Spectral formation (yes to peace)” was created for Shortwave Transmissions, a project of Cities and Memory. Like all of their anthologies, composers are given a source file from which they must work. the results are here.

Today is UNESCO World Radio Day, and to celebrate we’re proud to announce the launch of our latest global project, Shortwave Transmissions!

We’ve teamed up with our friends at the Shortwave Radio Archive to present more than 120 incredible recordings covering eight decades of the history of radio – all remixed and reimagined by artists all over the world.

Shortwave radio is one of the most fascinating sonic worlds – capturing vital moments in world history as well as the thrill of pirate radio, clandestine radio stations, secretive number stations and military and spy radio. All of humanity is truly out there to be listened to at the turn of a dial.