Heading to the Field

Heikki Uimonen

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Dear all

This is to let you all know that the Someco research team is packing their fieldwork bags and preparations are well underway. Collecting recording equipment and related documentation tools, filling in the necessary research forms, contacting villagers, etc. is slowly but surely being done. We’re familiarising ourselves with the existing literature, focusing on Five Village Soundscapes (1977) and Acoustic Environments in Change (2009), which documented the field trips 50 and 25 years ago, respectively (see https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-7266-82-3).

In 1975, the internet was more science fiction than reality; in 2000, it was available through modems, internet cafes, and mobile phones, but certainly not as ubiquitous as it is today. Concerns about global industrialism have been replaced by concerns about global warming. We suspect that these changes have also altered the sonic environments in Sweden (Skruv), Germany (Bissingen), Italy (Cembra), France (Lesconil), Scotland (Dollar) and Finland (Nauvo).

The Someco team will spend the spring of 2025 collecting data on the sonic environments of six European villages and how environments are experienced, including the changing interaction between place, sound and listening. Drawing on ethnomusicology and anthropology of sound, we will focus on material, economic, technological, legal and cultural factors, with particular attention to the Anthropocene, digitalisation and the impact of different types of mediated content and their manifestations.

We are very much looking forward to meeting new and old friends in the villages!

Best regards,
Heikki