Harmonic Fields, Laby - Long Eks - Free Audiobook

Close-up of long straps tensioned across the wind.

Lakes Alive brought French artist and composer, Pierre Sauvageot (Lieux Publics, France) to create an interactive musical soundscape on Birkrigg Common, near Ulverston, Cumbria from 3-5 June 2011.

500 Aeolian instruments (after the Greek god, Aeolus, keeper of the wind) were installed for 3 days upon the Common. The instruments were played and powered only by the wind, creating an enchanting musical soundscape which could be experienced as you rested or moved amongst the instruments.

The installation used a mixture of traditional and purpose built wind instruments. For example metal and wood wind cellos, long strings, flutes, Balinese paddyfield scarecrows, sirens, gongs, drums, bells, harps and bamboo organs. They were organised into six movements, each named after a different wind from around the world. The sounds that they created and the tempo of the music, depended entirely upon the strength and the direction of the wind.

The sounds on this map were recorded by Dan Fox, director of Ulverstons Sound Intervention. All captured during the week of the build and the three days it was open to the public. They are stereo files recorded in mid-side format.

The Aporee map represents the aeolian instruments in their exact locations. Although the audience were free to roam wherever they pleased, it was composed as a roughly clockwise route from the Bamborgue (1) to the Final (6).

The wind during the building of the installation was generally light. There were only a few people around and not many instruments had been rigged. This contrasts with strong winds, hundreds of instruments and people during the performance days.