For this listening group Óscar Mascareñas will introduce two of his most recent sound works that include field recordings from Ireland and Antarctica. The former are represented in the album Burrenscapes (Diatribe 2022) and include sounds of birds, lakes and the Atlantic ocean recorded in the Burren region in Co. Clare, which Óscar brought into dialogue with human voices, strings, Indonesian Gamelan and electronics. The latter in his work Deep Blanco, which is part of the Polar Sounds Project (organised by Cities and Memory in collaboration with the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB) and the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research). In this work the underwater sounds of the rarely studied Ross seals can be heard in conjunction with Gamelan demungs and electronics. Óscar will speak about the creative process involved in these two works and also raise philosophical questions about the use and integration of field recordings in human-organised music.

Óscar Mascareñas is a poet working in the fields of sound, movement and letters. He holds a PhD in Music and an MA in Chant and Ritual Song (University of Limerick, Ireland), as well as a BSc in Industrial Physics and Engineering (ITESM, Mexico). He has published work in Europe, Africa and the Americas for the past 26 years. His research interests cover a wide range of subjects and disciplines, from poetry, composition and performance in contemporary practice, to early music, Zen and radical pedagogy. He lectures and researches in music and contemporary practice at the Irish World Academy, and works independently as a composer, pedagogue and performer internationally.

The album Burrenscapes can be downloaded from www.diatribe.ie/burrenscapes and/or accessed through Spotify, iTunes, AppleMusic, YouTube Music and other platforms.

Deep Blanco can be heard here: https://audioboom.com/posts/8229985-deep-blanco

For more information on Óscar's work people can visit www.ioscar.ie

Tuesday April 25th

Unit 44 (Kirkos)

Doors: 7pm

Event begins: 7:15pm

Tickets are free and donations are very welcome! Book tickets here

The School of Wild Listening is a platform for the discussion and dissemination of ecological sound art and music. In our current age of ecological disconnection, listening provides a means to explore and cultivate a deeper connection to the world around us. This listening provides a knowledge for initiating cultural change and allows us to pro-actively engage with the biodiversity and climate crisis conversation.

Directed by Robert Coleman.