Arto Lindsay's 7 Types of Ambiguity - A Parade is a stereo mix of an original sound installation that was installed at ECAL / University of Arts and Design, Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2022 as part of a research project led by Thibault Walter and Stéphane Kropf called Phantom Power. The idea was simple, and yet the process and level of collaborative work implied was enormous: how to recreate a carnival parade -of the kind Arto had witnessed in the streets of Bahia in Brazil numerous times- inside a white cube and using only sound. How to replicate the complex intrications of those stories, heard or fantasized, the smaller blocos of musicians crossing the path of blasting sound systems mounted on trucks, those religious rythmes mingling with popular traditions, class and race struggle at street level " prime example of the proximity of sexuality and religion, of tradition and novelty and a place for true social innovation " and the effect it all has on the bystanders that are completely part, or even become the subjects of the whole?
Arto went to Salvador de Bahia with a narrative of a parade in his mind, and recorded excerpts in a terreiro, a temple of Afro-Brazilian religion, with four musicians leader of blocos, three of which he had previously worked with. Those mixed tracks were crafted into a sound sculpture directly in the room in Lausanne on a 27 channels immersive installation, adding layers of meaning within the room itself, hallucinations, weather patterns or places, like when the parade stops during a rain shower or gets so close to the ocean as to lose the sound of the percussions in waves.
This 26'30'' composition was later remixed, the spiral of speakers on the floor of the room engraved on a vinyl, and the position of the listener defined for your experience of this record, Arto Lindsay 7 Types of Ambiguity - A Parade, out on February 2nd 2024 on No Salad Records.[info sheet from distr.]