Rediscovering Locality — A Sonology of Cork Sound Art +

This compilation, curated by Danny Mc Carthy, forms a 'sonic polaroid' of the current sound art/improvisation scene in Cork city, Ireland. Contributors include John Godfrey, SAFE, Quiet Music Ensemble, Kevin Tuohy, Christian Carley, The Quiet Club (with Mathias Forge) and many others.

“Listening Globally Playing Locally“ could form a subtitle of this collection, as there are at least seven different nationalities involved. At a time when the Cork scene has never been more vibrant or creative, this CD brings together established and emerging artists, each exploring different aspects of sound as a medium, with work crossing over most contemporary genres from noise to electro acoustic and in between.

When curating this collection for the Art Trail Festival, whose overall theme this year was “Rediscovering Locality”, I took a radical step in not selecting the works but in only selecting the artists. The artists selected the works that they themselves wanted to present. I feel my faith in the artists has been justified. It is worth mentioning that over the years there have been various compilations of the city’s music from jazz to rock and folk to punk but never one to document the artists of the city whose type of work this CD presents. It is to Art Trail’s credit that this initiative has been taken at last. There has been a long tradition of sound related work in Cork, where pioneering festivals have brought some of the leading sound artists in the world to the city. Hopefully this CD will go some small way towards making this city’s artists listened to elsewhere.

Danny Mc Carthy
Curator