Down by the Pit of the Throat
عند حفرة الحلق
sonic testimonial by Yalda Younes (2022)
“My first attempt at working with sound without hammering my feet onto the ground, is an intuitive exploration of my throat cavity, on an evening when I was sick at home in Beirut.
Inflamed by a stubborn allergy induced by remains of glass dust, my vocal cords rebelled in full disobedience, sometimes withdrawing into total silence, other times, dissociating words from sound, and sound from control. Unsettled by the discord between thoughts, mouth and ears, I wanted to record the experience, before it vanished as abruptly as it appeared. I wanted to be able to come back to it after my voice clears out and dissipates the noise, that scraping noise, which urgently interrupts the normality of words. So I used my phone to record some random thoughts, alongside breathing techniques which I practiced to decongest my sinuses and try to regain, or perhaps lose, my familiar voice.
Hovering around body silencing, fragmentation and mourning deprivation, Down By the Pit of the Throat is an intimate sonic testimonial that reflects on the obsoleteness of discourse in the face of perpetual tragedies.”
- Yalda Younes
voice, breath, recording and composition Yalda Younes mixed by Khyam Allami commissionned by Redeem, a platform supported by the Berlin Senate duration 11’ 40”
Inflamed by a stubborn allergy induced by remains of glass dust, my vocal cords rebelled in full disobedience, sometimes withdrawing into total silence, other times, dissociating words from sound, and sound from control. Unsettled by the discord between thoughts, mouth and ears, I wanted to record the experience, before it vanished as abruptly as it appeared. I wanted to be able to come back to it after my voice clears out and dissipates the noise, that scraping noise, which urgently interrupts the normality of words. So I used my phone to record some random thoughts, alongside breathing techniques which I practiced to decongest my sinuses and try to regain, or perhaps lose, my familiar voice.
Hovering around body silencing, fragmentation and mourning deprivation, Down By the Pit of the Throat is an intimate sonic testimonial that reflects on the obsoleteness of discourse in the face of perpetual tragedies.”
- Yalda Younes
voice, breath, recording and composition Yalda Younes mixed by Khyam Allami commissionned by Redeem, a platform supported by the Berlin Senate duration 11’ 40”
