les rumeurs de la montagne rouge, en chœur, convergent
Joseph Sannicandro - tape loops & electronics
Stefan Christoff - field recordings & piano
« chacun hésite entre le passé vivant dans l’affectif et l’avenir mort dès à présent. »
côté a
old cassette samples
field recordings from la grève illimitée 2012
piano recordings from Sala Rossa (St. Laurent Piano Project sessions)
analogue tape loops
côté b
field recordings from Montreal during night protests of the student strike
les casseroles!
live recordings from la bataille de Victoriaville
drumming, Mouvement de mobilisation des étudiants en musique (Movimento)
« les rumeurs de la montagne rouge, en chœur, convergent » cassette is sold out!
Howl is releasing eighty copies of this project on a red (carré rouge) cassette, 10 minutes each side (listen fully at the links above or download here). order the cassette, wrapped in a hand stamped card-stock cover, feat. design work by Stefan. thank you extended to : Adrian Roy Taylor, Nazik Dakkach, Xarah Dion, Tamara Filyavich, Aaron Lakoff, CKUT radio, A Closer Listen
“In making this work linked to the events of 2012 from the vantage point of 2014, the result couldn’t help but feel a bit haunted. I’m all for the powers of myth making, but the backward gaze of nostalgia can be very dangerous. As such, I didn’t approach this as a work trying to memorialize or glorify the events of 2012. Les Rumeurs is a meditation reflecting on how it feels after 18 months of the PQ, of continued austerity politics, of distracting debates about a racist charter, of almost no debate about what comes next.” — Joseph Sannicandro
“These sounds were recorded during moments when the streets of Montreal were alive with protest. An incredible moment, not to be viewed as exceptional but understood as a part of an extensive political process rooted in the grassroots power of the student movement, and also in a steadfast commitment to transformative social change. That restless and uncompromising energy is quickly apparent on the recordings. — Stefan Christoff
reviews / press
- broadcast on Free Kick Radio (CKUT 90.3 fm)
- photos by Marco Simonsen-Sereda from Montreal launch
- CKUT radio broadcast charts (May / June 2014)
- A Closer Listen review
- broadcast on Symbiose (CIBL 101.5fm)
- broadcast on Jeunesse cosmique (CISM 89.3fm)
- review on Radio Gwendalyn (translation in English)
live performance at le cagibi in Montreal, taken by Marco Simonsen-Sereda.
audio from live performance in December 2014 at la plante in Montreal, listen to recording via A Closer Listen at:
« les rumeurs de la montagne rouge, en chœur, convergent » is an artistic reflection of Stefan Christoff and Joseph Sannicandro in the wake of the vast social movement that shook Montreal in the Spring of 2012. As a part of CKUT’s Radio is Dead, a program dedicated to radio art, their creation understands that one cannot separate artistic from political and so it makes both more relevant and more resonant emotionally with people who experience it. It draws in the listener by creating a true emotional connection of music and the strong narrative of many voices involved. It’s radio art that was produced in the same places where it was meant to be heard: the streets, the communities and the moment of political shift.” — Tamara Filyavich, CKUT Arts and Culture coordinator
listen to an interview with Joseph Sannicandro & Stefan Christoff speaking about the project live on Radio is Dead on CKUT fm in Montreal.
listen to an interview with Stefan Christoff discussing the project with poet Vincent Tinguely on The Kitchen Bang Bang Law music program on CKUT fm.
listen to an interview recorded on the Montreal Sessions on CKUT fm in Oct. 2014, hosted by Paula from Island Frequencies, Stefan speaks about les rumeurs de la montagne rouge, en chœur, convergent sound art project in relation to the Quebec student strike and also the WIRE TONES ep also released by Howl arts.
