Meri Kytö
I'm an ethnomusicologist and a cultural researcher working with private and common acoustic spaces in urban environments. In my articles I have been tackling
- tactics for background music in public space
- cochlear implants as soundscape arrangers
- ecocriticism in soundscape composition
- sensory attention, distraction and media technology in urban environments
- representations of the national in soundscape radio programs
- cultural intimacy in film sound design
- online frustration of neighborhood noise
- change and design of Finnish public library soundscapes
- the territoriality of busking in London
- sonic resistance during the Gezi Park protests
- apartment acoustemology and sonic etiquette
- acoustic communities of football fans
- domestication of sonic environment
- sonic representations of Istanbul in Turkish cinema
- tactics for background music in public space
- cochlear implants as soundscape arrangers
- ecocriticism in soundscape composition
- sensory attention, distraction and media technology in urban environments
- representations of the national in soundscape radio programs
- cultural intimacy in film sound design
- online frustration of neighborhood noise
- change and design of Finnish public library soundscapes
- the territoriality of busking in London
- sonic resistance during the Gezi Park protests
- apartment acoustemology and sonic etiquette
- acoustic communities of football fans
- domestication of sonic environment
- sonic representations of Istanbul in Turkish cinema
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Articles by Meri Kytö
In this study christmassy background music is being studied as being an integral part of urban soundscapes, urban space and musical cultures in Finland. The primary material data collecting method was to ask the public to report if they heard Christmas music while they were out in town. This consists of numerous short reports via instant messaging or using a given hashtag from acquaintances and members of the public of where and when they have heard music that they recognize as Christmas music. At times these reports included screen shots of music identification applications like Shazam. Reports were seldom neutral, but had a note on some aspect of the heard experience or even reports on not hearing any music. Secondary material in the study is an autoethnographical listening diary. During 71 days an online public diary was kept on what was heard and reported.
The material is divided into four recurring experiential themes that answer questions about its decorational and seasonal nature. These themes are 1) the experience of “bumping into” music and of contagion, 2) the beginning, the full mood, and anticipating of the ending of the season, 3) the avoidance of background music and gamification of this avoidance, and 4) the spatial ubiquity of christmassy music. The analysis is backed up with an overview of Christmas music as part of background music culture and as a designed product. This study presents a reading of christmassy background music as a sonic ritual of decoration and of consumerist sensory agency. The research shows that the everyday experience of hearing background music is more diverse and nuanced than those who sell and promote background music products tend to imply.
In this essay, I meander along auditory access as a mode of agency and listening walks as a possibility of sonic commoning in the urban environment – themes that have occupied my mind for a long time but always seem to flee conceptualization. The historic centre of Venice seemed to be a challenging – and thus revealing – choice of fieldwork and the related research questions: Among all the heritagisation, museumisation, and tourist invasion what are the acoustic communities one should understand the soundscape through? As Venetians have been catering to tourists for centuries, what is the role of the visitor in this soundscape? Is there a possibility for sonic commoning and how would it fold out? I don’t expect to find answers to these questions in this essay but instead a charted area in which to tread further.
Özet: Bu makale İstanbul'un Çengelköy semtindeki kişisel ve toplumsal ses ortamın dinamiklerini incelemektedir. Araştırma Ata-2 sitesindeki orta sınıf yaşamının sessel bir etnografisini sunar-ken, site sakinlerinin bir akustik topluluk olarak nasıl davrandıklarına ve bu topluluğu meydana getiren ilişki biçimlerine odaklanır. Çalışma, bir sitede ikamet eden insanların içinde yaşadıkları ortama özgü soundscapeler ile ilgili sessel etiketi nasıl oluşturduklarını ve akustik düzenin nasıl sağlandığını sormaktadır. Çalışmada akustik komşuluk ilişkilerinin, mekânsal ayrım ve strate-jik mahremiyet içeren rutinler, beklentiler ve öngörülebilirlikler çerçevesinde nasıl tanımlandığı vurgulanmaktadır.
This article deals with the articulation of sonic space in urban apartment block homes in Finland. The home soundscape does not limit itself to the inside of the apartment but includes sounds seeping from the outside like the clatter of the elevator, nearby traffic signals, a neighbour singing in the shower and the leaping steps of the paperboy on the stairs.
Following the methodological idea of acoustemology (i.e., acoustic epistemology), the producing of sounds and listening are connected with cultural practices that, in their turn, produce and mould our concepts of place, space and time. What can one learn about the borders of apartment homes by listening and how do meanings like privacy make sense in the sonic relations to the neighbours and the surrounding environment?
The writings gathered via the One Hundred Finnish Soundscapes project (2004–2006) produced descriptions of apartments from the 1920s to the present day, giving a glimpse of the soundscape competences of the residents. The analysis of the written descriptions suggests that there are mainly three different ways of constructing sonic privacy in apartment blocks. These include emphasizing feelings of belonging through identification and anticipation of recurring sounds. In many descriptions privacy is understood as isolation and the different techniques of constructing oneself temporary privacy are concretely shutting out the sonic presence of the outside world, fostering an attitude of disregard to the surrounding sounds or to actively enveloping oneself with sounds. The analysis is supported by an insight into the bylaws of housing cooperatives, adding an aspect of official sonic etiquette to the constant negotiation on when and what kind of sound is approved."
In this study christmassy background music is being studied as being an integral part of urban soundscapes, urban space and musical cultures in Finland. The primary material data collecting method was to ask the public to report if they heard Christmas music while they were out in town. This consists of numerous short reports via instant messaging or using a given hashtag from acquaintances and members of the public of where and when they have heard music that they recognize as Christmas music. At times these reports included screen shots of music identification applications like Shazam. Reports were seldom neutral, but had a note on some aspect of the heard experience or even reports on not hearing any music. Secondary material in the study is an autoethnographical listening diary. During 71 days an online public diary was kept on what was heard and reported.
The material is divided into four recurring experiential themes that answer questions about its decorational and seasonal nature. These themes are 1) the experience of “bumping into” music and of contagion, 2) the beginning, the full mood, and anticipating of the ending of the season, 3) the avoidance of background music and gamification of this avoidance, and 4) the spatial ubiquity of christmassy music. The analysis is backed up with an overview of Christmas music as part of background music culture and as a designed product. This study presents a reading of christmassy background music as a sonic ritual of decoration and of consumerist sensory agency. The research shows that the everyday experience of hearing background music is more diverse and nuanced than those who sell and promote background music products tend to imply.
In this essay, I meander along auditory access as a mode of agency and listening walks as a possibility of sonic commoning in the urban environment – themes that have occupied my mind for a long time but always seem to flee conceptualization. The historic centre of Venice seemed to be a challenging – and thus revealing – choice of fieldwork and the related research questions: Among all the heritagisation, museumisation, and tourist invasion what are the acoustic communities one should understand the soundscape through? As Venetians have been catering to tourists for centuries, what is the role of the visitor in this soundscape? Is there a possibility for sonic commoning and how would it fold out? I don’t expect to find answers to these questions in this essay but instead a charted area in which to tread further.
Özet: Bu makale İstanbul'un Çengelköy semtindeki kişisel ve toplumsal ses ortamın dinamiklerini incelemektedir. Araştırma Ata-2 sitesindeki orta sınıf yaşamının sessel bir etnografisini sunar-ken, site sakinlerinin bir akustik topluluk olarak nasıl davrandıklarına ve bu topluluğu meydana getiren ilişki biçimlerine odaklanır. Çalışma, bir sitede ikamet eden insanların içinde yaşadıkları ortama özgü soundscapeler ile ilgili sessel etiketi nasıl oluşturduklarını ve akustik düzenin nasıl sağlandığını sormaktadır. Çalışmada akustik komşuluk ilişkilerinin, mekânsal ayrım ve strate-jik mahremiyet içeren rutinler, beklentiler ve öngörülebilirlikler çerçevesinde nasıl tanımlandığı vurgulanmaktadır.
This article deals with the articulation of sonic space in urban apartment block homes in Finland. The home soundscape does not limit itself to the inside of the apartment but includes sounds seeping from the outside like the clatter of the elevator, nearby traffic signals, a neighbour singing in the shower and the leaping steps of the paperboy on the stairs.
Following the methodological idea of acoustemology (i.e., acoustic epistemology), the producing of sounds and listening are connected with cultural practices that, in their turn, produce and mould our concepts of place, space and time. What can one learn about the borders of apartment homes by listening and how do meanings like privacy make sense in the sonic relations to the neighbours and the surrounding environment?
The writings gathered via the One Hundred Finnish Soundscapes project (2004–2006) produced descriptions of apartments from the 1920s to the present day, giving a glimpse of the soundscape competences of the residents. The analysis of the written descriptions suggests that there are mainly three different ways of constructing sonic privacy in apartment blocks. These include emphasizing feelings of belonging through identification and anticipation of recurring sounds. In many descriptions privacy is understood as isolation and the different techniques of constructing oneself temporary privacy are concretely shutting out the sonic presence of the outside world, fostering an attitude of disregard to the surrounding sounds or to actively enveloping oneself with sounds. The analysis is supported by an insight into the bylaws of housing cooperatives, adding an aspect of official sonic etiquette to the constant negotiation on when and what kind of sound is approved."
AEC formed one of the most extensive soundscape projects since the original World Soundscape Projects of 1970s. The project accumulated a large source of practical knowledge about grass roots level soundscapes of six European countries through narratives, memory and transitional documents. The collected data is presented and interpreted in the forthcoming publication. The work is based on international, multi-disciplinary studies of changes in the soundscapes. The study included European researchers, artists, journalists, local inhabitants and Canadian pioneers of soundscape studies. All share an interest in the relationships between soundscapes, the environment, and its various inhabitants."
"Sata suomalaista äänimaisemaa" perustuu kirjoituskilpailuun, jonka satona on monipuolinen kokoelma kuvauksia, huomioita ja muistoja äänimaisemista. Kaikenikäiset kirjoittajat kertovat heille tärkeistä äänimaisemista, jotka liittyvät maaseutuun ja kaupunkiin, ihmisten arkeen ja juhlaan, luonnon rauhaan, työhön ja teknologiaan.
Kirjan kuudessa artikkelissa äänimaisematutkijat pohtivat tunteita, hiljaisuutta ja melua, urbaanis estetiikkaa, suomalaisuuden rakentamista ja äänimaisemien tallentamisen ongelmia. Kirjan liitteenä on CD, joka sisältää äänimaisemakirjoitusten pohjalta tallennettuja äänimaisemia ja haastatteluja.
SISÄLTÖ
Esipuhe
Äänimaisemat tutkimuskohteena
Noora Vikman: Suomalaisuuden sydänääniä luonnon helmassa
Helmi Järviluoma: Turvallisuuden tunne, äänimaisema ja eletty tila lapsuudenmuistoissa
Ari Koivumäki: Äänimaisemien tallennuksen haasteita
Heikki Uimonen: Mieluisat ja meluisat – ääniympäristön veto javastenmielisyys
Maria Aaltonen: Tystnadens ljudlandskap
Saara Hellström: Äänimaisema ja esteettinen kokemus
Äänimaisemakuvaukset
Kelloon katsomatta tiedän sen olevan seitsemän - Äänimaamerkkejä ja signaaleja
Kuuntele! Vielä niillä on puinti kesken - Peltotyöstä ja toimeentulosta
Kaiku kierteli kivitaloja - Tarinoita lapsuudesta ja nuoruudesta
Puhvetin puolella kilisee - Sosiaalisia äänimaisemia
Ennen suo sulaa ennenkö kurki kuolee - Mökillä ja metsässä
Maailman aika kuluu - Kotona ja rauhassa
Liitteet
Keruutilastot
Äänimaisematallenteet
Summary"
This paper deals with sonic meanings of Çarşı. It can be argued that this supporter group functions as an acoustic community. The marches, chants and sonic rituals draw the supporters together constructing a sense of a shared space in which there are communally used and interpreted sounds. It seems that this acoustic community is also supported by an electro-acoustic community. There are multiple ways in which the fans not being able to attend to the matches or pre-match gatherings in situ can share and learn about the acoustic atmosphere. One medium is of course broadcasts on television and radio, but just as important are the supporter sites and video sharing portals in the Internet.
Following the idea of acoustemology of anthropologist Steven Feld, sound as a way of knowing the world (i.e. acoustic epistemology) this paper seeks answers to the following questions: What can we know about the group by listening to it in different places and (virtual) spaces? What does chanting and sounding contribute to the group and what does the ways it manifests sonically tell about the community?
The questions will be answered mainly by field observations and diaries, recordings and interviews made at the Besiktaş Çarşı square, the Inönü stadium and the supporters’ Kazan bar in March 2009. The study will be supported by a television documentary "Asi ruh" made about the fan group, virtual fan sites on the Internet containing recordings, videos and conversations of the fans.
DOI: 10.1017/S0261143014000415, Published online: 28 August 2014