Cóisir an
tSionnan contains a number of media and sound components that
when combined represent the totality and ambition of this work.
All available
data from the ESB regarding salmon rearing and restocking, as well
as other river based data were collected. This allowed us to track
salmon that return to the River Shannon from the Atlantic. We were
particularly interested in the four-year life cycle of the farmed
salmon of the River Shannon. Farmed salmon are electronically tagged
with a 1mm microchip inserted into the beak of young fish before
being released. This makes it possible to then track and record
data about the fish.
The salmon begin
their four year journey on the Shannon, crossing the Atlantic as
far as the coast of Newfoundland, before returning home again to
the Shannon to spawn and die.
We analysed
the data received from the ESB and developed an evolutionary
algorithm (computer simulation of the life of a salmon) that
would "swim" through a river of musical notes gathered from a corpus
of 165 traditional Irish melodies relating to the River Shannon
and its environs.
Live field
sound recordings from the ESB fisheries at Parteen and along the
River Shannon itself was compiled to further enhance the sound/music
composition. The resulting work has a distinctively Irish flavour.
The finished
composition is to be performed in the great Turbine Hall at Ardnacrusha,
courtesy of the ESB, Sunday October 20th, 2002. The performance
is webcast live from this venue.
A limited edition
CD or DVD will be produced after the event and clips will be available
from this web site.
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