The Ear Has To Travel #5 – Revisiting The Soundscape with KitKat

“Imagine radio that, instead of numbing us to sound, strengthens our imagination and creativity; instead of manipulating us into faster work and more purchasing, it inspires us to invent; instead of overloading us with irrelevant information and fatiguing us, it refreshes our acoustic sensitivity; instead of moving us to ignore thoughts and surroundings, it stimulates listening; instead of broadcasting the same things over and over again, it does not repeat; instead of silencing us, it encourages us to sing or to speak, to make radio ourselves; instead of merely broadcasting at us, we listen through it.” (Hildegard Westerkamp in The Soundscape on Radio)

This special edition of The Ear Has To Travel aims to connect to the tradition of community radio and the work of the World Soundscape Project while also critiquing and updating ideas about what the concept of the soundscape means and the practices soundscape composition encompasses.