Wanderlust #68: Dinosaurs Among Us

Dinosaurs Among Us by David Hopewell

**See below for English**

Mae David Hopewell yn gerddor ac yn artist sain sy’n byw yng Ngogledd Cymru gyda diddordeb neilltuol mewn myrfyfyrio, recordiadau amgylcheddol a pherfformiadau byw. Mae ei waith yn ymddangos yn aml ar amrywiaeth o osodiadau cyngherddol, arddangosfeydd mewn orielau celf ac yn cael eu chwarae yn achlysurol ar BBC Radio 3.

Mae’n anodd i glustiau dynol werthfawrogi cymhlethdod cyflymder sydyn cân yr aderyn yn llawn. Pan gaiff ei harafu mae’n hynod: riffiau Charlie Parker; corau, canu uwchseiniol, rhyw foi yn chwibanu tiwn boblogaidd; hymian yn ysgafn. Caneuon adar yn ystod y gwanwyn yng Ngogledd Cymru yw tarddiad y synau ar Dinosaurs Among Us. Mae Dinosaurs Among Us ac Urvogel yn cychwyn gyda recordiadau wedi eu harafu ond heb eu golygu. Yna, mae darnau o gerddoriaeth a ganfuwyd yn cael eu datblygu i greu rhannau cyfansoddiadol mwy strwythurol.

Deinosoriaid pluog oedd hynafiaid adar yr oes fodern. Efallai bod y creaduriaid hynafol hyn wedi swnio fel y caneuon a arafwyd o’r adar. Mae’r cymysgedd hir (long immersion mix) a thrwythol yn defnyddio’r recordiadau i greu amgylchedd acwstig 26 munud o hyd sy’n cysylltu synau dychmygol deinosoriaid â chaneuon adar ein byd heddiw ac electroneg stiwdio.

David Hopewell is a musician and sound artist living in North Wales with particular interests in improvisation, environmental recordings and live performance. His work appears regularly in a variety of concert settings, as installations in art galleries, and occasionally gets played on BBC Radio 3.

The high-speed complexity of birdsong cannot be fully appreciated by human ears. When slowed down it becomes a thing of wonder: Charlie Parker riffs; choirs; overtone singing; some bloke whistling a catchy tune; gentle humming. The source sounds for Dinosaurs Among Us are recordings of springtime birdsong in North Wales. Both Dinosaurs Among Us and Urvogel start with unedited, slowed-down recordings. Snippets of found music are then teased out into more structured compositions.

The ancestors of modern birds were feathered dinosaurs. Perhaps those ancient creatures sounded like the slowed-down birds in this piece. The long immersion mix uses the recordings to create a 26m minute-long acoustic environment that links the imagined sounds of dinosaurs with the songs of modern birds and studio electronics.

You can find Dinosaurs Among Us on Bandcamp, as well as more music from the same label.