Dialect melodies are passed along since time immemorial and yet are only spontaneously available in the moment. Before caught and preserved they have to be released. Antje Vowinckel reflects upon this paradox through a collection of dialect recordings which are then imitated by humming musicians who try to catch the correct melodic lines.
Vowinckel recorded most of the voices herself in remote areas of Europe and the United States, because there you can find the most sing-songiest accents. However, it is not so easy to preserve the rich diversity of melodies. The work also deals with the difficulties of recording and the limits of our melodic memory, capturing a poetics of the speaking voice.
Antje Vowinckel is a Berlin-based
sound artist and
radio artist. Her focus is on new ways of combining
text and
music i.e. in her projects on automatic speaking, simultaneous interpreting or compositions with dialect melodies. She has worked for German public radio stations and festivals as WDR, SWR, Deutschlandfunk, Ruhrtriennale, Eclat and performed in places like Issue Project room, Sophiensäle and ZKM. Her piece Call me yesterday has been presented in 16 countries. In recent years she also created video compositions and sound installations i.e. in the old town of Bucharest.
