Photography and phonography always have had similar paths throughout history. Both practices started by substituting painting in the role of documenting “reality” through visual or audio representations, but as painting, they quickly departed from the presumptive veracity of mirroring reality becoming subjective portraits of the ephemeral.
In the 1970’s R. Murray Schaffer, within the Acoustic Ecology movement, coined the concept of Soundscape as part of a move to find a terminology that focused on sound and the act of listening. Soundscape paralleled the landscape, but in contrast was drawn to the aural rather than the visual.
Soundscape provide an alternative way of looking into history. Not into general history- but into a specific moment, a specific place and time (era).
As with the act of recording in photography, the act of recording sound is consciously also a choice to describe a specific moment, a specific place. As with photography, a sound recording will also act as a representation of a chosen frame of space and time as perceived by the listener. After the event has ended, the audio recording will continue existing as an objectification of that specific moment.
What we as able-bodied beings tend to ignore is that no place is ever completely quiet. Sound is a key component that forms the experience of what surrounds us. Soundscapes directly plug listeners into the framed environment, transforming recorded moments into the present moment, by using memories and experiences to construct a personal, yet fictional experience. It's actually a very sound city is an attempt to reassess our biases connected to the city of Karachi through an alternate way of looking at the city, not through the eyes this time, but ears.
You can find more soundscapes on the Soundcloud channel. Use headphones for best experience. If you wish to collaborate with me, email me at asad_ali.09@live.com, or tweet me @omgasad.
