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(animatic illustration of concept)
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Swing Low is an audio sculpture work based on the old ‘Negro’ spiritual, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”. Through a dynamic, multi-channel sound focusing system, the audio samples ‘swing’ back and forth across the room like a pendulum - or lynch rope. Bearing a reference to lynching - the hung body, hanging from a tree and the subject’s voice - the disembodied and elusive voices present in the audio, take on a phantom-like presence as they physically swing through the actual body of the listener. The voices
momentarily take possession of, and capture the body of the listener as subject in a historical narrative that maintains vast global relevance with respect to the continued and growing oppression of cultures and individuals world-wide. Furthermore, given that the audio can only be heard while the body of the listener is physically present within the ‘zone’ of the work, the body of the listener becomes an object of the sculpture
itself.
The audio content itself is built up of samples taken from existing and project-specific a capella recordings of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”. The audio samples are limited to instances in which the singer sings, “swing low”. These samples are played one at a time through each of three swinging sound focusing speakers. The playback is continuous, and though each sample has different start and end times, there will always be three samples sounding simultaneously; when one sample ends, another fades in to take
its place, thus producing constant changes in the texture of the overall sound. Sonic fragments and tones slip in and out of harmony and dissonance while simultaneously moving in and away from the auditory range of the listener. The combinatory effect of the fleeting sounds has a continuously changing character
that resembles at times an abstract harmonic chorus, the chanting of monks, dissonant moans, and magical incantations. The experience is both hauntingly beautiful and abrasively disturbing.
“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” is a song born from a tragic history that has had an astounding number of recordings made from little-know groups and individuals, to world renowned pop singers all over the world.
Strangely, “Swing Low” also became a theme song for England’s Rugby World Cup tournament. Though several persons are accredited with first committing the song to paper, it is generally acknowledged that it was created by a former slave whose name is unknown. The spread of this voice of anonymity to the voice of popular culture icons, further enriches the ironic conceptual of the work. |