Frederike Moormann
Sprjewja (AT)
Ongoing research on Spree river & white singing traditions in Sorbian culture as a musical way of reflecting on a destroyed landscape, empowering, connecting and taking space.With Walburga Walde & Jarobinka Ensemble.
Audio snippets of diverse field recordings: mine pumps, Spree river, Walburga Walde (conversation), Jarobinka ensemble, 5:00 min
Translation of conversation snippets
with Walburga Walde
1st excerpt (1:15)
So you drive… a long way along the forest. It always moves me, driving from Upper Lusatia into Lower Lusatia. And then to think: wow, this is such a dead area [of the open cast mines]. You drive through it as if through a tunnel. And then you come out at the end… Yes… and of course now, after the lignite, lots of lakes everywhere. But in these songs I also see a lot of meadows, and I mean, sure – with the flowers. Sometimes they speak of sheep and shepherds. So I also see something dreamy in them, somehow.
2nd excerpt (3:23)
That's the only strength you can draw from it. Bringing back what was lost here by singing it… and bringing it back to life. Reaching across into history, further… yes. Going into what is alive. Let's sing the songs again, let's bring them back to life, let's tell the stories…