Kakadu’s Aboriginal owners recognise a season in April after the wet and before the dry called Banggerreng or Knock em Down Storm Season. Plants are fruiting and animals are caring for their young when the knock em down winds arrive and flatten the spear grass. As the knock em downs retreat, the dragonflies appear, signalling the beginning of the dry season.
Knock-em-down Sound System explores how Darwin’s unique climate and culture and has shaped community music through a series of public workshops teaching DIY Speaker Building and DJ Tools and Techniques, live performances, interviews, and a VR experience with an innovative vibrotactile floor to enhance immersion and create a shared virtual environment.
First steps in October 2023 involve consultation with the Darwin Sound System community, the Darwin City Council, Bagot Community, creative and technical collaborators to inform the design of the public workshops culminating in an open access performance.
Subsequent activities in April/May involve performances and interviews with contemporary, emerging, and elder musicians, technicians, DJ’s and sound system operators will be filmed to produce a documentary hosted on the SST website https://sonic-street-technologies.com/
Knock-em-down Sound System is funded by the European Research Council through Goldsmiths University, London, and the University of Sydney
Tentative schedule
· October 12-20th I will consult with the community stakeholders, the Darwin City Council, Bagot Community, creative and technical collaborators to inform the design of the public workshops.
· April 5-15th 2024 the team will deliver the workshops and performances across the two weekends.
Meet the team.
Dr Andrew Belletty is a researcher, sound designer and artist who grew up in Darwin and as a founding member of both The Swamp Jockeys and Yothu Yindi shares a long history with the Darwin music and arts community. As project lead for the Knock-em-down Sound System, Belletty aims to activate community by designing maker spaces and sound system events which are responsive to Darwin’s unique people, climate and environment.
· Charly Templar, DJ and workshop facilitator.
· Speargrass Hi-Fi , Ward, and Clarence’s Jamaican inspired Sound System.
· James Mangohig, Musician and Producer.
· Todd Williams, Artist, Musician, Producer and Director
· Colin Simpson, musician, and sound engineer.
· Stuart Kellaway, Yothu Yindi founding member and King Stingray Manager.
Community Partners
· Charles Darwin University
· Bagot Community
· Happy Yess
Written Work
Listening to Country: Energy, Time and Ecology in Aboriginal Worldmaking.
Abstract
In this thesis and through my creative practice I argue for a situated listening that draws upon the Aboriginal idea of ‘Listening to Country’ through song practice. It is based upon a model of listening that extends beyond audibility, to sub-audible energies and vibrotactile phenomena and, thus, suggests a more complex and grounded notion of sound, perception and a connection to the environment. It challenges the compartmentalization of the dominant euro-centric sensorium where sound has become something that can be easily quantified, recorded, reproduced, stored and disseminated through technological means and attenuated by digital media practices. Sound and listening is instead situated energetically, perceptually, corporeally, and environmentally, enmeshed with place and culture through practices connecting human to non-human bodies and entities. My creative practice is derived from my experiences and collaborative work with Aboriginal communities in song practices evincing a very deep, connection to ‘Country’ developed through highly trans-sensory attention and activation of place, and iterative through time unimaginable in Western cultures. Based upon these extended modalities I propose a de-colonizing critique of the euro-centric concept of sound and listening that is developed through my creative practice.
Cite: Belletty, Dr. Andrew. 2018. “Listening to Country: Energy, Time and Ecology in Aboriginal Worldmaking.” Sydney, Australia: University of New South Wales.
Read full thesis here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mpoeJtoLOsohnRhytk6UbJqwfKE7XRqQ/view?usp=sharing
Cultural Distortion: Rasa Aesthetics in Indian Cinematic Sound Design
Abstract
The soundtracks to Indian films possess radically different aesthetics to Western films, with those differences stemming from India’s ancient cultural history, religiosity, and diversity. I argue that the unique aesthetics of these soundtracks remains unlikely to change, and that Western filmmakers will ultimately need to understand these aesthetic differences in order to engage with Indian audiences, rather than expecting that this audience will embrace a homogenous Western aesthetic.
Cite: Belletty, Dr. Andrew. 2011. “Cultural Distortion: Rasa Aesthetics in Indian Cinematic Sound Design.” Sydney: Australian Film Television & Radio School.
Read full thesis here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KcYNXvKZM1xM9lsAv-98z8sOoCOSI44e/view?usp=sharing
Andrew Belletty 