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Travelogue to Sichuan – Emmanuel Mieville

Artist: Emmanuel Mieville
Label: Elektramusic
Release Date: 2021-02-01
Genres: Contemporary, Electroacoustic
People: Emmanuel Mieville
Tracks
1. Chengdu-shi (preview)
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2. The Diamond sutrâ (preview)
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3. The Heart sutrâ (preview)
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4. Itiandi (preview)
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About New Album

You can listen preview of this album on this page.
Please also visit EmmanuelMieville’s Bandcamp page.

This album is available on download on our webshop.

Travelogue to Sichuan

The music is composed from field recordings made in China (Sichuan region), and south of Taiwan.

Textures and electronic matter are composed with filters, bass synthetiser, and granular synthesis of wooden doors and chinese female voice.What hovers above these pieces is the spirit of freedom and faith in buddhism I have experienced during my travels.Freedom of movement is also a key element, when I travel and record in asian countries, in mountains like Emei-shan, a famous taoist and buddhist landmark in China, or in temples where lay people are chanting sutras.Needless to say it’s a very dense experience.You must have total freedom and be deeply connected by spirit- if not by language – to the culture and the people surrounding you.

Warm thanks to Sun Wei, who helped me to find spots, introduced me to the Sichuan culture.This album wouldn’t have been possible without him.Deep thanks to Lin Chiwei (experimental composer from Taiwan) whose voice is present on track 2, reading the Heart Sutra.

An excerpt of the Diamond sutrâ :

« Why does the Buddha knows every human being thoughts ? They are called thoughts, but in fact, they are non thoughts. Because you cannot keep track of past thougts, retain present thought and predict future thought. »


Emmanuel Mieville

Paris-born composer Emmanuel Mieville studied sound engineering in a film school and musique concrète at the GRM (Groupe de recherches musicales) with Philippe Mion and Jacques Lejeune.He has also studied ethnic instruments and played Javanese gamelan in Paris for two years.

Since his childhood, Mieville has been constantly listening to creative radio programs, something that has fueled his approach to experimental music and soundscape composition. He has produced many programs for French national radios (France-culture and France-Musique), such as a piece commissioned by Radio-France for shakuhachi, voice and electronics. He is also a guest composer on Framework, the field recording show Patrick McKinley produces for Resonance FM, in London, and worldwide on internet.

His interest in aural perception and memories engraved in urban and wildlife environments yield compositions where field recordings are layered, mixed and sometimes manipulated with effects. His goal is to portray a specific location, to let its blurred and erratic sonic emotions reach the listener’s ears, to perform and compose the “concrete” substance of sound for the listener’s pleasure.

He has worked with Buto dancers and video artists. He improvised with fellow musicians like Eric Cordier, Guido Huebner, Benjamin Thigpen, Sun Wei, among others. His electroacoustic works have been presented in festivals by Motus and Licences-Brûlures des langues (France), Confluencias (Spain), and the Udine Composition Competition in Italy (final selection). He has performed concerts and improvised solo or with musicians in Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, France(Instants Chavirés), and Germany. He also performs other composer’s music, like K.H. Stockhausen with the innovative laptop ensemble CLSI.

He participated to the international symposium with artistic and scientific contributions :Invisible cities 2017, in Azores island, Portugal, where he gave a workshop on field recording and granulation of sounds-and closing concert of the event.He recently took part in a workshop with Chris Watson, organized by Camp in the Pyrénées, on field recordings, with insight approach to his aesthetic and recording technology.

He has contributed to the magnificent exhibition ”Audiosfera” in Museo Reina Sofia(Madrid), curated by Francisco Lopez, where 700 sound artists and musicians are presented in a deep listening environement, without installations and visual works.His music is released on the labels Tibprod (split CD with Töre H.Boe), XingWu (concert with Eric Cordier), and/OAR, Baskaru (2 full length albums), Cronica, Taalem, and Obs (Russian label).