English No. 21 HEAR THE WORLD

Painting with music – Martin Klimas’ Sonic SculpturesSounds of peaceFeist – the power of stillnessFlattering fluttering photography! Irving Penn and Issey MiyakeThe voice of João Gilberto

THE MAGAZINE FOR THE CULTURE OF HEARING ISSUE TWENTY-ONE

KT TUNSTALLPHOTOGRAPHED BYBRYAN ADAMS

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HEAR THE WORLD9 CHF 8 USD 6 EUR ISSN 1863-975574099 4 197409 906005 21

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It is more than just a virtually invisible hearing aid. Phonak nano is the perfect combination of maximum hearing performance and minimum size.

So small and comfortable – just wear and forget.

Contact your hearing care professional today to discover Phonak nano.

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Nothing to see. Everything to hear.


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HEAR THE WORLD ISSUE TWENTY-ONE

Editorial 5

Hear the World Initiative

Hear the World Sound Academy 6

CHANCES* exhibition in Hamburg 7

COME AGAINNews

Silence is golden 10

Frequently Asked Questions 12

What’s that sound?

Skates cutting into ice 14

Products 16

HEAR THE WORLD“Listen up everyone!” – how Dynamic SoundField

makes even problem students sit up and

pay attention 22

Feep follows function – how wake-up sounds became

a musical tribute to German designer Dieter Rams 26

The House of Hearing in São Paulo – it’s amazing

what you can hear in an oasis of quiet 28

Painting with music – Martin Klimas’ Sonic Sculptures 30

SAFE AND SOUNDQuiet please, we are shopping! Design, sound

and shopping at Tokyo Midtown 36

Sounds of peace 42

EASY LISTENINGWe are not to play with our food? 48

HEARING IS LIVING

A study by Hear the World 50

KT Tunstall – the ego-archeologist 52

Feist – the power of stillness 56

Flattering fluttering photography! Irving Penn and

Issey Miyake 58

The voice of João Gilberto 64

PUBLISHER’S INFORMATION 66

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EDITORIAL

Dear reader,

ABOUT THE COVER

KT Tunstall was photographed by Bryan Adams.Both artists support the Hear the World Initiative.

“Unfortunately, it’s only when we experience a problem thatwe realize just how precious our hearing is”, says musicianKT Tunstall, our new Hear the World ambassador, and shesays it from experience. The world-famous artist has slighthearing loss in one ear – another reason for her commitmentto our initiative. She has a message particularly for youngfellow musicians: Pay attention to your most importantsense, don’t take chances when it comes to excessive soundvolume and to overstraining your ears! And do somethingabout it right away, if you notice any change in your hear ing.There are brilliant ways to compensate for it nowadays.Welcome, KT, to Hear the World!

Staying with music, the world’s oldest musical instrument is probably a percussion instrument – perhaps a hollowed-out pumpkin or another dried fruit that could be used to produce rhythmic drum or rattle sounds. Now, TheVegetable Orchestra has rediscovered the musical potentialof fruit and vegetables – and turns eggplants, cucumbersand even carrots into instruments. Who said “Don’t playwith your food”? The fanciful musicians have now releasedtheir third successful CD entitled Onionoise. Bon appétit!

Are there sounds and tones that promote a peaceful mood?Are acoustic symbols also suited to reminding us of the over -arching notion of peace and to helping us actively maintainand shape it? It seems so. For we can hear peace in certainsounds, such as wind whispering through the grass, or adove cooing. Max Ackermann takes us on a journey insearch of the sounds of peace.

The universe of hearing is inexhaustible – experiencing theworld of sounds, language(s) and music and being able toget as much out of it as possible, is the central focus of thismagazine. As such, we are always happy to present a littlepiece of musical history to you. Which is invariably also atale of lifestyles and hearing cultures. In this issue, UlrichRüdenauer presents a very special kind of nouvelle vague,namely the new trend of music that bossa nova and itsinventor João Gilberto were in their time. This giftedBrazilian singer has always strived to achieve the ideal of“perfect music” – and created a version of cool jazz thatcombines a feeling of longing with musical ingenuity andoriginality.

Last but not least, I would like to draw your attention tothe detailed report on our study “Hearing is Living”. Whatsignificance does hearing have in the different areas of ourlives? How important is hearing in partnerships, friend-ships, family and work relationships? What influence doeshearing have on how we spend our free time, our healthand our well-being? We addressed questions like these inour in-depth study.

I hope that once again, this issue of HEAR THE WORLDinspires you to go in search of many intense and excitingacoustic experiences! Enjoy…

Best wishes,

Alexander Zschokke

The chirping of the birds in the early hours, the babblingof a brook, the chirring of the crickets – this range of allkinds of different sounds completes our perception of aplace. All these sounds, loud ones and quiet ones and in allkinds of pitches, form in us a picture of our environment;the sounds around us together with all their associationscomplete the impression we get of where we are.

The natural wonder that is the Grand Canyon is actuallyone of the most beautiful places on the planet to experi-ence precisely this soundscape and its significance. Forthis reason, a team of 17 young people with either normalhearing or hearing loss chose this destination to spend aweek in August 2011 in the context of the Hear the WorldSound Academy. They were accompanied by scientists andNational Park staff. Working together, they compiled acous -tic data for a podcast, which the National Park Serviceaims to publish.

In the middle of this impressive landscape, surrounded bythe monumental, steep, towering cliffs and with just theclear blue sky over their heads, they listened to the quiet,nothing but the rushing of the river and the odd bird screeching – a simple, but impressive picture that visual -izes the magnitude and power of nature and reduces manto the scale of bare existence. All the young people whoresearched these soundscapes were fascinated andimpressed.

Yet the wonderful Grand Canyon is in grave danger oflosing its fantastic soundscape, which would change itsentire character. On some days the rotors of the helicop -ters doing their tours drone through the whole valley andbeyond and drown out all the sounds of the river and birds.The rapidly increasing noise pollution resulting from thedevelopment of the Canyon as a tourist attraction is com-pletely changing visitors’ acoustic perception of it. Quietplaces have become rare.

Nonetheless, alongside the many silent moments, theSound Academy’s goal, in addition to scientific research,was to promote a sense of community and communicationbetween the young people. Talking with like-mindedyoungsters about school life and everyday problemsbrought a great deal of lightness and fun to the magnifi-cent setting. 16-year-old Hanna from Colorado returnedfrom her trip full of enthusiasm: “I have never felt so freeand happy in my life, because I always had the feeling thatother people can’t understand me properly. For the firsttime, here I could really be who I am – without being afraidof prejudices.”

Whether in the wide outdoors or during a conversation,listening closely is important in every place in the world!

Read more about the group’s Canyon experiences at:

http://www.hear-the-world.com/sound-academy

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HEAR THE WORLD INITIATIVE

Hear the World Sound AcademyThe soundscape of the Grand Canyon

Can you imagine what it is like to wake up in the morning and not be able tohear anything? What might seem like peace on earth for some city dwellers,driven half-crazy by car engines, horns and bicycle bells, is sad when youare surrounded by nature. Many participants in the Hear the World SoundAcademy experience this deficit every day.

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These children were photographed by German photographerPhilipp Rathmer, who, together with Hear the World ambas-sador Patrick Nuo, went to Nairobi, Kenya in May 2011 towork on a Hear the World Foundation project (on which we reported in issues 19 and 20). CHANCES* is the name of the photo exhibition, which on the opening night alone onNo vember 16, 2011 fascinated over 400 guests.

Be it with an impish grin, a stubbornly furrowed brow ora shy smile, each of the gazes of the 19 large, dark-brownpairs of eyes reveals a unique personality and a movingstory. All of these children are affected by hearing loss andurgently need help in order to have even a chance of abroadly normal life. They all attend the Joymereen schoolfor children with hearing loss in Kenya’s capital cityNairobi. Thoughtful, sometimes sad, but often cheeky,alert and full of hope of getting a real chance, their expres-sion says it all as they gaze down at gallery visitors.

Photographer Philipp Rathmer, who has worked withmodels including Eva Padberg, sporting personalities likeVladimir Klitschko and musicians like Lady Gaga, has succeeded in capturing the personality of these 19 childrenaged between 3 and 17 years. His approach is simple andclear, and thus all the more impressive. Over the course ofthe exhibition, the sale of the photographs raised over28,000 Swiss francs, 100 percent of which will go to help -ing children with hearing loss in Nairobi.

The Hear the World Foundation has been working in Nai -robi since 2008. In close collaboration with Cargo HumanCare, the Foundation has established a hearing center inthe city. German ENT specialist Dr. Michaela Fuchs regu-larly offers free consultation sessions there and conductshearing screenings.

“You can’t imagine it, without us these children generallyhave zero chance in life. They are often simply lockedaway by their penniless parents and never go to school,”reports Dr. Fuchs. Which is why the Hear the WorldFoundation supplies hearing aids to needy kids in the city,donated by Swiss hearing aid manufacturer Phonak.Replacement batteries for the devices, which are con -stantly needed, are provided by VARTA Microbattery. Thismeans that the students at Joymereen, among otherschools, and children from Mathare Valley, Nairobi’ssecond-largest slum, receive free hearing aids, which inKenya are too expensive for most people to buy. And inorder to ensure permanent medical and audiological carefor the children, the Hear the World Foundation has builtup a support group with local and international partners.

The more than 400 guests at the opening on November 16,2011, including Hear the World ambassador and projectpatron Nuo and photographer Philipp Rathmer, as well as numerous other well-known personalities such as TimMälzer, Mimi Müller-Westernhagen and Jorge Gonzales,were impressed by the exhibition. “When you have been ina slum yourself in a city like this, it is nothing like all thepictures you see on television. It really gets to you,” saysNuo of his visit to Africa. As well as his black-and-whiteportraits, Rathmer also presented documentary-style colorphotographs of everyday life in the Kenyan capital, which –despite the misery – show the colorful hustle and bustle oflife in all its facets.

Further information: www.hear-the-world.com/chances

You can help too and support the Hear the WorldFoundation: An effective hearing aid can change a child’s

life, open up myriad opportunities and have a lasting

positive influence on their education and career!

The Hear the World Foundation is tax exempt

throughout Switzerland.

Bank details for donations: UBS AG Zürich,

Account: Hear the World Foundation,

SWIFT: UBSWCHZH80A, IBAN: CH12 0023 0230 4773 8401U

Many thanks for your donation!

CHANCES* exhibition in Hamburg19 faces – 19 chances

Visitors to Flo Peters Gallery in Hamburg/Germany in November 2011 weregreeted by 19 huge black-and-white portraits – each measuring over onesquare meter. They found themselves looking into the faces of African boysand girls hang ing on the gallery walls.

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For one day at least, the initiative seeks to bring back thejoy of silence to us. And offers us an opportunity to thinkabout music and its effects on us, its significance in ourdaily lives and in so doing perhaps to come to appreciate itmore once again and revise our expectations of it.

Originally conceived as “a five-year plan” in 2005 and assuch completed in 2009, the busy artist’s idea is continuingto make a splash internationally in numerous publicactions. Many companies and private individuals take partin No Music Day and voluntarily forgo music and noises for one day – no iPods hum in their ears, no radios blare,and record stores and the rock band’s rehearsal room stayclosed. Some radio stations have even jumped on the band-wagon and for 24 hours broadcast a completely non-mu -sical program.

It is strange that we need an occasion, a given day, to takeit down a notch and come out from under the omnipresentcloud of noise above us, but why not? After all, the food-conscious fast for a week now and again or have a veggieday to restore balance. So let’s follow the call for silenceand every year pay homage to the patron saint of music –Saint Cecilia – on November 21, the day before her feastday. In complete silence.

Sandra Spannaus

www.nomusicday.com

NEWS

Silence is golden

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The longing for silence, oft spoken and besung, seems stronger than ever inthese times when our hectic and noisy daily lives drive us into meditation centers and yoga courses to relax. The well-known British ex-pop musicianBill Drummond, who has garnered attention with his eccentric actions, recog-nized this at an early stage and launched No Music Day some years ago.

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A great many things can cause hearing loss. One cause is what is known aspresbycusis, a normal age-related degenerative process. It affects individualpeople differently. So one person might have good hearing for a very longtime, while another might experience increasing hearing loss early on.Other causes of hearing loss might be noise, infections, head trauma, toxicdamage or tumors. Unfortunately nothing can be done about age-relatedhearing loss. But you should definitely protect your ears from noise to pre-vent additional damage.

Dr. Michaela Fuchs, ENT and travel medicine specialist

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why is it that some people have good hearing well into old age and others don’t? I have read that noise can lead to hearingloss. But that doesn’t apply to everyone with hearing loss. And some people who didn’t protect their ears still hear well. Is there something we can do to preserve our sense of hearing, or is it a question of fate?

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Yes, there are genetic forms of hearing loss that can appear in isolation or as a symptom of a syndrome (Usher syndrome, Alport syndrome, Pendredsyndrome, Waardenburg syndrome). In total we know of well over 100 syndromes that are associated with hearing disorders.

Dr. Michaela Fuchs, ENT and travel medicine specialist

Is hearing loss hereditary?

WHAT’S THAT SOUND?

Skates cutting into ice

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The tried-and-true skin care range of the Australian cos-metics company Aesop consists of high-grade plant-basedproducts that are gentle on the skin. For decades, theyhave contributed to a healthy and balanced lifestyle – justlike music also promotes a sense of well-being and can liftour mood.

On the CD 105 minutes, Aesop has compiled a collection ofmusic that moves us, brings our emotions to the sur face,reminds us of the past, seduces us into dancing or pulls onour heart strings. And whisks us away to far off places: FromOriental tunes by Mercan Dede and Hüsnü Senlendirici tomelancholy tangos and waltzes by Serbian Boris Kovac tomusic that makes us want to jump up and dance by theRomanian ensemble Fanfare Ciocarlia, this internationalcompilation comprises uplifting songs that awaken thatrelaxed holiday feeling in our own four walls.

In its stores, Aesop spreads this music around the world,and we should do the same. Suitable for any occasion, this musical selection is a welcome companion in all ourfavorite places. 105 minutes of pure joie de vivre are avai-lable from Aesop stores and online.

www.aesop.com

PRODUCTS

Aesop: 105 minutes

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The use of bells is widespread in Japan and moreover is part of a long-standing tradition. In addition to theirfunction as toys, they have been used for centuries both at table and during meditation as signals.

Presumably, the Japanese know as well as we do that wooden products are unobjectionable and natural. Withthis in mind, renowned Japanese composer, songwriterand environmental activist Ryuichi Sakamoto works toprotect trees as absorbers of CO2 with his More Treesinitiative and has lent his support to the Bell-orgel col -lection by Japanese design company Nendo for Isetandepartment stores.

The bells in the Nendo collection, made of Japanesecypress wood, invite us to touch them and enjoy the feel ofthe wood. Of course, they can also be rung. The threemodels in the collection, a standing, hanging and handbell, were designed by Nendo and decorated in highlydiverse ways by 57 different designers or design groups.This playful, creative approach has produced extraordi -nary bells – wild and simple, playful and sober, colorfuland monochrome or completely transformed into animal orhead shapes. The high-grade wooden bells are thus a realeye-catcher and have diverse uses.

www.sitesakamoto.com

www.more-trees.org

PRODUCTS

Nendo – Jingle bells, jingle bells…jingle all the way!

The minimalist and at first glance somewhat unspectacularLoewe Air Speaker surprises users with its technical finesse and extremely user-friendly design. The wirelessAir Speaker can play music from an iPhone, iPod, iPad orfrom iTunes at the tap of a finger – via wireless LAN, LANor Powerline. Of course, the speaker can be plugged intothe mains too, but that spoils the aesthetics and is abso -lutely superfluous. Boasting two subwoofers, two tweetersand two mid-range speakers, the AirPlay speaker byLoewe, one of the first of its kind on the market, is highlyinnovative and practical, suitable for everyday use anddecorative to boot.

There are almost no limits to users’ personal aesthetic pref -erences – the inset on the top of the speaker is available in many different colors, allowing for individual tailoringof the black or silver aluminum casing. The Air Speakersubtly and elegantly brings music into our living spacesand can be positioned unobtrusively on a sideboard orshelf. This impressive piece of equipment, which has themakings of a true classic, is available from November.

www.loewe.de

PRODUCTS

Hot sounds, cool design

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How well can you hear people? Can you follow conversa -tions even in noisy environments, for instance at largemeetings or parties with loud music in the background?Situations like these are particularly challenging forpeople with hearing loss. They often have great difficultyfollowing the conversation and are therefore limited interms of their own participation. Despite this, many peopleare still reluctant to wear a hearing aid – often for aes -thetic reasons.

Phonak nano is the solution. It is the smallest Phonak cus-tom-made in-ear hearing aid and is virtually invisible inthe ear. With the help of cutting-edge digital design andproduction technology, it is individually made for eachwearer and so fits as deeply as possible into the ear canal.And because it is so comfortable to wear, users can simplyinsert the hearing aid and forget about it.

In addition to its benefits for the aesthetically-minded, thetiny device also offers outstanding sound quality. Indeed, it features the highest-performance sound processor thehearing technology industry currently has to offer. ThisSwiss quality product combines maximum performancewith minimum size – for perfect sound quality without for-going cosmetic design.

For further information:

www.phonak.com

PRODUCTS

Phonak nano – the hearing aid for the aesthetically-minded

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In 1844 Frankfurt medical physician Dr. Heinrich Hoffmannwrote and illustrated the book Struwwelpeter (Shock- haired Peter), known today throughout the world. A collec -tion of children’s stories, it was intended to deter childrenfrom misbehaving and to help parents raise their childrenwell. Although Hoffmann had not even heard of “hyper-activity” and “central perception and processing disor-ders”, he hit the nail on the head in terms of describingthe symptoms of ADD/ADHD with his story of “Zappel-Philipp” (Fidgety Philip), who did not even hear the re -bukes of his parents. Scientists are still unsure wherethese deficits, originating in the central nervous system(CNS), come from. Yet it has been confirmed that they arenot the result of a congenital hearing impairment or hear -ing loss due to illness. Some scientists believe that about50 % of all cases are hereditary. Others blame imperfectneurobiological development. One cause of auditory disor-ders that make it difficult to understand language, forinstance, could be the impairment of what is known asWernicke’s area in the brain, which is involved in under-standing language. However, there is no evidence for this.

What is noticeable is that the increase in ADD and ADHDwe are observing today goes hand in hand with the like -wise increasing sensory overstimulation of children, whosebrain is still in the developmental phase. As Bremen-basedneuroscientist Gerhard Roth notes: “The brain flounderswhen it is overloaded. If it is stimulated too little or toomuch, it takes absurd paths in the natural maturation pro-cess.” And child psychiatrist Professor Gerd Lehmkuhlfrom Cologne University Hospital also said in an interview:“Environmental influences increase the risk of ADHD inchildren, for instance when a child is subjected to sensoryoverstimulation and is under great pressure to conform.”So when searching for the causes of central auditory dis-orders, we should also assume that overloading childrenwith electronic and digital media and overambitious,achievement-oriented parents pushing their children toofar play a considerable role when children react with neu-ronal problems.

Young brains need quiet before facing the demands

of the digital age

One man who has spent a great deal of time looking atwhether and how digital modes of communication andgames affect the brain development and behavior of chil-dren is American computer scientist David Gelernter, who, with his research, laid the foundations of the WorldWide Web and whose name is strongly associated with thedawn of the digital age. He calls for the following: “Youngbrains need quiet. Don’t give them a cell phone until theyare 14. Make sure children don’t get their hands on ‘itoys’,or they’ll wind up in electronic purgatory.”

On the effects of the Internet, against the use of which inAmerican elementary schools Gelernter spoke out in vain,he says: “I have the impression that by virtue of its struc-ture alone – one click on a hyperlink and you are in anothercyberworld – the Internet shortens children’s attention span.Children no longer learn to spend time getting to grips witha difficult subject. But now text messages and incessantphone calls are even more perfectly suited to transformingthe electronic child into the protagonist of a slapstickcomedy in which there are constant interruptions.” If weagree with these opinions, it may be a logical consequencethat attention and perception disorders, with or withouthyperactivity, are causing teachers ever more problems,especially in Western industrialized nations. Our electroniclifestyle could lead to learning disorders such as these being– in the truest sense of the word – “preprogrammed”. ›

KNOWLEDGE

“Listen up everyone!” – how Dynamic SoundField makes evenproblem students sit up and pay attention

Around 5–10% of all schoolchildren are affected by auditory Attention DeficitDisorders (ADDs) today. When hyperactive behavior is involved too, the termused is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This hybrid varietyis the most common. The complex of symptoms, which is difficult to identify,presents students with great obstacles during their school life.

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In response, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)has drawn up guidelines stating that children under theage of two should not be in front of a screen, meaning TV,DVDs, computers and computer games should be taboo.Children aged two and above are conceded a maximum of two hours of child-oriented television a day. There areeven workshops for parents on offer entitled: “Do we needan ADHD school?” Yet whether it makes sense to puthyperactive children together in one class is surely open to dispute. That said, students’ auditory attention and processing deficits not only impair their own ability tolearn and grades, but children with ADDs also distractother students by interrupting lessons, thus shorteningteaching time and putting an unreasonable strain on boththe teacher’s voice and nervous constitution. Given that,statistically, it is possible that every class of 25 to 30 stu-dents will contain one with ADD/ADHD, we can imaginewhat this could mean for teachers and other students.Although not all of these children jump around the class-room, the fact that most cannot control their impulses,speak out of turn and generally are inattentive or alwaysin motion means they are a permanent disruption that alsostrongly impairs other students’ ability to concentrate.

Dynamic SoundField – a new hearing system

comes to light

It is understandable that people want to discuss the neces-sity of ADHD schools, but such institutions would have themajor disadvantage that children with any kind of audi toryprocessing disorders would be marginalized and labeledas having a disability. On the basis of teaching centered on a “naturally hearing-oriented approach”, Phonak hasdevel oped for all schoolchildren a system of classroomamplification that enables especially children with centralhearing impairments to become better integrated in nor-mal school life. The main problem of those affected is thatthey are unable to follow the lesson when there is disrup-tion in the class and it is noisy, as they find it difficult oreven impossible to hear the teacher’s voice over the con-stantly changing background noise and distinguish it fromother voices. The Dynamic SoundField system, with itswireless FM transmission of sound, offers a unique solu -tion to this problem by automatically adjusting the volumeof the teacher’s voice to the changing noise level in theclassroom. Meaning that all children can always hear theteacher equally well – even when noise rises above normallevels. For Dynamic SoundField is able to amplify the teach -er’s voice to up to 20 dB. Moreover, the signal-to-noiseratio (SNR) – the specialist term meaning the relationshipbetween a speech signal and unwanted background noise– is superior to all other conventional soundfield systems.Which means: even students with ADD or ADHD have theopportunity to concentrate fully on the teacher’s voice and follow the lesson. Thus the advantages of DynamicSoundField in schools are that students understand wordsequences and sentences much better, are more attentive,can cooperate better with other students and ultimately

learn the basic skills needed for further school educationmore quickly, namely reading, writing and sums. Teachersalso benefit from Dynamic SoundField, because lessonsflow much better when students are focused. There is lessstrain on their voice, and time off owing to excessive stressand temporary loss of voice can be avoided. Ultimately teachers are able to do their job with much less stress,which in turn benefits their students. In addition, DynamicSoundField significantly helps the fellow students of chil-dren á la Fidgety Philip, who are previously inattentive,frustrated (owing to their difficulties) and constantly rest-less, to concentrate much better on the lesson and learnmore effectively.

Easy installation and use – perfect performance

The basic components of the Dynamic SoundField systemare the award-winning inspiro transmitter with a miniswan-neck microphone – or a lapel microphone – and aloudspeaker for each classroom. It transmits the teacher’svoice directly and without annoying echoes, reverberationor feedback. The speech signal and its volume are alwaysprecisely adjusted to the changing background noise in the classroom. For optimum performance, the long, thinloudspeaker should be positioned either on a wall mountor on a stand at the front of the room. As the inspiro trans-mitter is compatible with FM receivers on Phonak hearingaids, students with hearing loss can also benefit fromDynamic SoundField. Particularly students with hearingloss in one ear are able to follow the lesson without diffi-culty.

Anno Bachem

www.isense.phonak.com

www.dynamicsoundfield.com

The JBL On Air™ Wireless will revolutionise the way you listen to music. It streams your entire iTunes 10 library from any Mac computer or PC — and from any iPod, iPhone or iPad device running iOS 4.2 — to any room in your house over your Wi-Fi® network. Now you can listen to any song or playlist, see song titles, artists and album artwork on a full-colour LCD display, and enjoy full navigation and playback control via your iOS device with the free Apple Remote app. So don’t get up — unless you feel like dancing.

www.jbl.com

The JBL On Air™ Wireless AirPlay speaker dock streams your music anywhere in the house.

© 2011 HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated. All rights reserved. JBL is a trademark of HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated, registered in the United States and/or other countries. JBL On Air is a trademark of HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated. Apple, AirPlay, the AirPlay logo, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Mac and iTunes are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. iPad, iPhone and iPod not included. Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Features, specifi cations and appearance are subject to change without notice.

SOFA DEEJAYS.

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A filmed report on modern design or architecture alwayshas to be accompanied by jerky jazz or annoying twelve-tone music, to underline its experimental approach, butalways also to highlight the different and strange qualitythat people once saw in many progressive designs – andoften still do today.

Although in the 1950s and 1960s many musical productsmade design history (we need think only of the famous“Snow White’s Coffin” of 1956, the Braun SK4 record player), the public do not necessarily associate the highlyfunctional and formally reduced designs of the modern erawith an upbeat musical gaiety. That said, it is precisely theformal austerity and simplicity of the designs that Ramscreated as design chief at Braun that appear to repeatedlyinspire musicians. For instance, back in 1996 German artistJohannes Wohnseifer released his Braunmusic LP, forwhich he had DJ friends of his create samples from thewake-up tones of Braun alarm clocks. And recently Britishmusician and composer Jon Brooks developed a series ofshort pieces of music based on the penetrating beep of aBraun alarm clock, released under the title Music forDieter Rams.

The compositions, which are intended as tributes to one ofthe most influential designers of the 20th century and hisdesign approach, reflect a new enthusiasm for the modern.For a long time, the simple product designs of German func -tionalism and especially those of Dieter Rams were deemedunemotional, overly sober and overly functional. Yet in thelast 20 years they have been rediscovered. A number ofsuccessful Apple products are formally based on numerousdesigns Rams created for Braun in the 1950s and 1960s.In recent years Rams has been celebrated as one of themost important designers of our time in major exhibitionsworldwide. His designs are now considered prime examplesof lasting design. Decades after their creation, they have an almost forgotten story to tell: They tell of the search forlasting, simple and better designs, qualities that once gaverise to the discipline itself. They convey something of a be -lief in the good, which in the age of economy and marketinghad almost been dismissed as nonsense. And sometimesthey even serve as inspiration for composers.

Jon Brooks, who terms his mini album a “study in limitedresources”, initially recorded tones with the help of contactmicrophones attached to Braun alarm clocks, which hethen made over on a synthesizer to produce nine short pieces of music. He selected German phrases as theirnames, such as “Zukunft als Konzept” (Future as concept)and “Zurück zum Puren, zum Einfachen” (Back to thepure, the simple), which had jumped out at him frombooks on Rams and Braun design. He called them “Regie”(Direction), “Feldstärke” (Field strength), “Aus – Ein” (Off– On) or “Elektronische Schaltungen” (Electronic circuits),thus deliberately drawing associations with electronicmusic and German bands like Kraftwerk. Although theentire album is based on alarm-clock sounds, you can’t tellthat when listening to the generally meditative, minimalelectro pieces. Far more important is the story Brooks tellsabout the genesis and inspiration of the songs and also the clichés about Germany that emerge together with thetitles: the German language is abrupt, German designstrict, rational and straightforward, and all Braun designswere of course the work of Dieter Rams!

In actual fact, the AB 30 alarm clock that Brooks used tocreate his tribute was designed in 1982 by Braun designerDietrich Lubs, although under Rams’ aegis as design chief.Yet today this simple clock is a little piece of design history,which despite its sober form is even a suitable projectionscreen for stereotypes and passions. And whose insistentalarm tone, which many know and few love, is now thebasis of a fitting homage – even if the music probablywouldn’t appeal to Dieter Rams himself. Brooks’ Ramsmusic is not a parody or ironic comment on the modern age.Rather, the nine tracks are miniature musical aperçus,which appeal to design enthusiasts and benefit from thenew interest in all things modern. And as per the cliché offunctional design, they are particularly abrupt and rational.Off – On. Feep.

Markus Frenzl

http://jonbrooks.bandcamp.com/album/

music-for-dieter-rams

THE SOUND OF THINGS

Feep follows function – how wake-up sounds became a musical tribute to German designer Dieter Rams

Modern – for most people this word still sounds like sober, unemotional andcold architecture and design. It is hardly conceivable that a documentary onthe Bauhaus or Ulm School of Design would be backed by opulent waltzes.

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So there could hardly be a better location for the PhonakHouse of Hearing (Espaço Phonak – Tecnologia em Audição).After all, the goal here is to create a unique space. A placewhere both professional users and interested members ofthe public can learn more or less everything about hearingand hearing aids. From theory to practice, from technol ogyto design. In short, the House of Hearing offers a comprehen -sive acoustic and learning experience and is much morethan just a flagship store.

Fittingly, this elegant building is also located on AvenidaRebouças, which is one of the city’s main traffic arteries.Thousands of vehicles pass by here every day. Althoughactually, it would be more appropriate to say crawl, for often the flow of traffic creeps slowly through the city,accompanied by an excruciating squeeze and screech.

Directly in front of the entrance to the House of Hearing,visitors can easily see the current noise level, in decibels,on a large, unmissable sound column. Yet looking throughthe two-story glass façade, they get the impression that theyare entering a true oasis of quiet. Just inside the entrance,an appealing pool in the foyer area conveys a sense of calm,clarity and openness, which is found in all the building’srooms. A stylish lounge with television and fireplace clearlyshows that this is no ordinary acoustics store. The intentionhere is to inform visitors and enable them to experiencequality of hearing as quality of life, wholly in line with theHear the World Initiative, whose famous ambassadors,photographed by Bryan Adams, form a gallery in the foyer.

Visitors can use eight iPads at a counter to find out aboutthe latest technologies and products as well as servicesrelating to hearing and hearing aids. And of course, variousdemonstration points offer visitors a number of personalacoustic experiences, without any distractions from the noiseof the big city and facing a calming indoor garden. Anotherexclusive feature is an insight into Digital Production – a production technique for in-ear models that uses a digi-talized 3D image of the customer’s ear impression.

Professional acousticians are on hand to answer any ques -tions visitors may have, be they users, journalists, students,parents with their children or elderly people. For as well asbeing a source of information, the House of Hearing is alsoa platform for the mutual exchange of ideas and experiences.

The auditorium, called the Sound Experience Room, islocated on the upper story. Lectures and events on techni-cal as well as general issues revolving around the topic ofhearing are held here on a regular basis. Many of theseare geared towards a particular target group, enablingspeakers and organizers to deal with specific issues atlength.

Details on the events and further information on the Houseof Hearing are available on the website. Moreover, theHouse of Hearing has conference rooms, rooms for pro-duct launches and a fully equipped kitchen. Naturally, allrooms are barrier-free. In a special wing connected to thebuilding, two acousticians advise customers and fit hea-ring aids.

And to make the experience complete, there is a small baroffering refreshments. With – you’ve guessed it – live pianomusic. In short, the House of Hearing is a place whereeveryone is welcome, but noise has to stay outside.

Frank Hatami-Fardi

www.espacophonak.com.br

ARCHITECTURE

The House of Hearing in São Paulo – it’s amazing what you can hear in an oasis of quiet

São Paulo, a city that never seems to rest. Over ten million people live andwork here. And that’s not even counting commuters and people who live on the outskirts. Here, the modern romance of what is otherwise a big-citybackground hum quickly morphs into plain simple noise.

Klimas continually finds new forms of representation andrecently wound up at music. Marcel Krenz took a look atMartin Klimas’ work for HEAR THE WORLD and in par -ticular admired the fusion of sound and image in his SonicSculptures.

Martin Klimas’ art is art of the moment. Time and again,the photographer captures an irretrievable moment. As inEadweard Muybridge’s studies of horses in motion, in hisphotographs dynamism plays a key role. Known for his“shot” vases, exquisite flower arrangements in decorativecrystal vases, Klimas is the new master of depicting frozenmotion. Here the artist shoots delicate vases at high speed,with the crack of the gun triggering the flash that makesthe snapshot of the shattering vase possible. As such, he cel -ebrates precisely this photographic moment as an action-packed still life.

With technical perfection, Klimas creates in a controlledstudio environment an image of a fragmented reality,which simultaneously embodies destruction and creation,beauty, violence and chaos. Klimas repeatedly finds newforms of expression on the basis of this experimentalsetup: In his series of temporary sculptures he shows fall -ing objects, such as porcelain figurines. Photographing with the aid of strobe lights, Klimas produces a picture ofthe object, in free fall, between the still-visible originalintegrity of the miniature sculpture, its past, the momentof its destruction in the present and the shattered reality ofits immediate future. In the photographs, the figurines –from Asian kung fu fighters to Rococo cocottes in biscuitporcelain – are suspended in a way, frozen between theirpossible states of existence.

Yet Martin Klimas does not endlessly perpetuate this seem -ingly so simple principle; he continually invents new waysto depict the fleeting moment, the split second. His newseries Sonic Sculptures features numerous pictures ofdancing colors. The Düsseldorf-based artist uses variouspaints on a speaker diaphragm to capture on film varioustypes of music in constantly new ways. The sound waves of pieces by such diverse musicians and composers as PaulHindemith, Carl Orff, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Mouse onMars and Kraftwerk bring the paint to life with their vibra-tions. The resulting blobs of color display an ever-new vivid,active and leaping formal language and lend visual form to the work of important musical artists in the work of the visual artist Klimas. And even my nine-year-old nieceimmediately recognized that this form of three-dimen -sional painting with music is exciting: “Look, the music”,she said, and with her natural expression proved that see-ing and hearing are not contradictory and that we can stillapproach contemporary art in this way too.

Marcel Krenz

www.martin-klimas.de

ART

Painting with music – Martin Klimas’ Sonic Sculptures

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Since the beginning of the 20th century at the latest, it has been clear to us that the rise of photography as an artistic medium has also lent therepresentation of motion a new dimension. In this context, the photographyof German artist Martin Klimas, the heart of which is the dynamic snapshot, is particularly interesting.

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For when we have had a bad day, our partner is getting onour nerves or the boss can’t see our qualities, we consoleourselves with a little retail therapy. The act of shoppingrepresents a small or big luxury that we indulge in, it is aconsolation and reward, connotes a better life and gives us the feeling that with the right brand we can also buy the life that the rich and beautiful experience. Shopping(American concept artist Barbara Kruger put it in a nut -shell with “I shop therefore I am”) has for many people longbeen their purpose in life and raison d’être. In our cultureit has assumed religious functions such as the promise ofsalvation and the prospect of a better life. Since the mid-20th century, the cathedral of this religion has been theshopping mall.

Born of the centuries-old idea of encouraging more extra-vagant purchasing behavior by making stores accessible in all weather conditions with roofs, arcades, market hallsor walkways, these giant shopping centers have becomesymbols of a consumption-obsessed society. The shoppingmall is the “third place” – after the apartment and work-place the third most important place for people today. It has come to express the artificial and often dishonestworlds of advertising and brands. It represents a fully air-conditioned parallel universe, where the sector mix is morecleverly devised, the processes more perfect, the environ-ment cleaner and the façades more attractive than in reality.It is not the usual laws that apply here, but the presumablybetter rules of the mall management, which makes use ofthe house rules if need be. In the 1991 movie Scenes from a Mall, set entirely within a shopping center, the temple ofconsumption even assumes cathartic functions: A marriedcouple, played by Bette Midler and Woody Allen, are shop-ping when long-smoldering conflicts finally erupt, confes-sions of betrayal are made on the escalators, they fight andbreak up, only to reconcile after a number of margaritas andpurchasing an expensive dress. Liberated from their prob -lems, they leave the mall and go back to their daily lives.

Naturally, the artificial, hardship-free world of the shop-ping mall deserves its own soundscape, which seeks tocreate a cheerful and carefree atmosphere. Yet in actualfact, it generally consists of a constant carpet of super - ficial elevator music peppered with pop beats that blarefrom the stores now and again and advertising slogansfrom the TV monitors in the tech-stores, or the announce-ment that little Cindy would like her parents to collect her from the kids’ play area. So it is hardly surprising that contemporary shopping mall concepts blaze newtrails not only in architecture, but also acoustics and sounddesign. At Tokyo Midtown, a building complex opened in2007 in the Roppongi district of Tokyo, particular impor-tance was attached to a sound system that is visually integrated in the architecture, yet at the same time offersas genuine a sound as possible. It took three years just to draw up the list of requirements for the complex’ssoundscape. Indeed, in the expansive main conference hall for instance, the designers wanted to facilitate bothconcert-hall acoustics and guarantee a natural soundwhen the huge room is divided up into smaller units.

Experts consider Tokyo Midtown to be one of the most suc-cessful major urban mixed-use complexes of recent years.After the Japanese Defense Agency headquarters movedout at the beginning of the millennium, vacating 69,000square meters in the middle of the city, a consortium of sixcompanies invested US$ 3 billion in the construction of a new inner-city center. Numerous architecture studios,including SOM, Nikken Sekkei and Tadao Ando, wereinvolved in developing this “urban revitalization project”.They created a city within the city, with mixed usage anddefined spaces for working, living, relaxing and of courseabove all for shopping. The entire complex consists of sixbuildings and a park, which for a new inner-city develop-ment is incredibly large. The complex’s most striking fea-ture is the 248-meter-high Midtown Tower, housing on its53 floors not only shops, offices and restaurants, but alsoone of the city’s most expensive hotels, the Ritz-Carlton. ›

TRAVEL

Quiet please, we are shopping! Design, sound and shopping at Tokyo Midtown

Just a hundred years ago, shopping for the essentials was a task people werehappy to have their staff do. Yet in the 20th century, spurred by promises ofhappiness from advertising and marketing, shopping became an increasinglyimportant activity, a socially relevant exercise, indeed, an identity-creatingcultural mechanism.

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Art and design play a key role at Tokyo Midtown, indeed,they could be deemed the ensemble’s guiding principle. TheSuntory Museum of Art, which collects Japanese art andcraftwork, is also located here, meaning that a veritablemuseum is part of the retail experience. A few floors above,Design Hub offers numerous Japanese design groups a plat -form and also provides, for instance, the exhibition spacefor the winners of the annual Good Design Award. More -over, 21_21 Design Sight, a design museum conceived byTadao Ando, is located at the edge of the complex’s largepark area. Its three directors Issey Miyake, Taku Satoh and Naoto Fukasawa, all big names in various branches ofthe Japanese design scene, conceive exhibitions that illus -trate Japanese design culture and its influence on Westerndesign, but always also take a look forward to the future ofthe industry.

In a country where, compared to the West, product cultureplays a very different role, where even the smallest thingbecomes the center of attention and where Hello Kitty junkis often seen next to incredibly expensive craftwork, theproximity between art, design and commerce does not seemto raise any eyebrows. Despite their closeness to shopping,art and design at the Tokyo Midtown complex are neverdegraded to an amusement park motto. Although of cour-se an artificial, unreal, perfect world has been createdhere too, the operators and designers have managed toavoid giving the impression that the thematic focus simplythinly veils a shrine to consumption. And the soundscapethat envelops visitors on a regular shopping day at TokyoMidtown also surprises the Western ear, dulled by theincessant media frenzy. If you listen very closely whilestrolling along from one exclusive store to the next, youwill notice that something is different compared to othershopping malls: it is quiet.

Markus Frenzl

www.tokyo-midtown.com

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When someone gives another person a brotherly kiss,whether it be a smacker or a silent affair, when a pigeoncoos and we think of a dove of peace, when a lamb baasnext to a cradle in a church, or palms, olive branches andlaurels rustle, we could think of these sounds as acousticsigns, either very close to or further away from peace,bound to concrete or symbolic gestures.

But who hears peace when grasses whisper in the wind?Even though a number of vendettas, often lasting decades,have been ended with the ritual presentation of bundles of grass? Very quiet sounds too, like those of someoneweaving wreaths, the rub of ribbons on foliage, are notparticularly peaceful for very many people. Especially as itwas unclear for centuries whether a wreath was a symbolof peace or victory, perhaps for the simple reason thatpeace was seen as a brief period of non-war between onevictory and the next opportunity to fight.

Sounds of peace from the depths of our culture

Yet delving deeper into the catacombs of cultural history,we hear clearer signs … if we open our ears to them. SinceClassical Antiquity the voices of Eirene and Pax can beheard whispering there, the embodiments of tranquility andpeace. Someone pounds on the ground with the caduceus,a staff of peace entwined by two snakes, the scepter of theGreek god Hermes or Egyptian god Thoth, the staff of thenegotiator. And when lions roar, religious scholars who havestudied these topics, rabbis and some Jehovah’s Witnessesthink of the seer Daniel, who in Babylon was thrown intoa lions’ den and of whom it is said his faith alone wasenough to satisfy the animals’ hunger.

Lest listening bring peace

The idea that there can be peace is older – among otherthings it was championed by several religions, in whosename, however, men have over time repeatedly called toarms. Yet it wasn’t until the 18th and 19th centuries thatthe step was taken from the notion to the organization ofpeace. And with the dawn of the 20th century, first theLeague of Nations and then the UN promised to ensure a lasting peaceful coexistence.

The British newspaper The Guardian recently named psy-chologist Steven Pinker the “optimistic voice of science”, yetcould have named him one of the most contested voices.Why? Because in his book The Better Angels of Our Na ture,the Harvard professor argues that we as a people havebecome less violent. Today we are statistically less likely toexperience a violent death. This has been the case aboveall in Europe since the Enlightenment, and that althoughthe monstrous world wars of the 20th century have beenfactored into the not quite sound comparisons. In any case,Pinker explains his theory of the victory of peace citing“changes in our cultural and material milieu”.

That said, there can be no doubt that it would be an out -rageous exaggeration, a hopeless claim on material andhistory, to believe that listening could bring peace. We couldjust as easily say it ensures human rights are implementedand – in the same arrogant vein – lead to a better world.But before we shake ourselves like a wet dog to cast off thisfallacy, let’s pause for thought. For … in actual fact thereare political principles, various phenomena and initiatives,all of which go well beyond the reach of a quantum ofmedia work and certain music at a certain time, that makethis link at least worthy of consideration.

Sounding the song of war

Violence has its cheerleaders and war its brass bands, whocall “To arms” and with their horns sound the mort. War -fare has spawned entire music genres, such as the battlemusic “Battaglia”, which enjoyed popularity from the earlymodern age until well into the 19th century. At some pointit morphed from an aristocratic form of music into a part ofpopular festival culture, which accelerated when increas -ingly the lower social strata not only performed militaryservice but also financed the wars.

Operation Desert Storm in 1991 did not have its ownmusic, so the snap decision was made to use pop musicfrom the Vietnam War. It was played to troops from heli -copters. Anthony Swofford described this in his bookJarhead. A Marine’s Chronicle of the Gulf War and OtherBattles and noted that it had had the desired effect. ›

THE WORLD OF THE SENSES

Sounds of peace

We all know of the red telephone that linked the United States with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the original hot line. When it rang it was, as we can appreciate today, a sure sign of peace and a no to war. For indeed, there was none.

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Wars evolve and in their emergence and course patternsare discernible which are similar to a terrible fashion andcondense into history as the decades pass. And worse still,cause all the people who have suffered or are suffer ing stillto be forgotten. We could list a great many things that char -acterize our current understanding: perhaps that every -where is on fire, that there are more wars than those thatare called or are allowed to call themselves such. That thenumber of mercenaries is increasing and ever more childsoldiers are going off to battle. That on the one hand it hasbecome clearer that wars are fought for economic reasonsand for resources, but on the other we increasingly hear of“necessary” and “just” wars, wars fought for humanitarianreasons, for democracy, for the rights and protection of thecivil population, indeed, even for peace itself.

War is and always was audible, even the possibility of it.Thus during the Cold War the sonic boom was consideredthe “sound of freedom”. And a sense of hearing promotedwar, whether “holy” or not, with the sound of drums andshouting, noise as an element of psychological warfare,bagpipes, yodeling, war songs and marching music, evensound design and sonic warfare, the clang of ship hulls, the screams of torture, through to acoustic weapons andcommunication techniques, tapping systems over land orwater, and media such as telephone and radio.

Media can justify and fuel wars, and respond to themquickly with features or propaganda. Modern war is one ofvisualizations and war reporting also seems to be one ofimages. Movie theaters show action movies claiming to bewar or anti-war films.

And being relatively easy to use and having an enormousreach, the medium of radio also plays a crucial role in conflicts. The major world services do commendable workin this field, as do many small projects. In 2008 the UNdrew attention to Radio Okapi in the Congo with the docu-mentary film Shock Waves. And in South Sudan RadioBakhita seeks to resolve social conflicts. Of course, it alsohelps to broadcast the right music.

Music for peace

Dieter Senghaas, a conflict researcher, once focused his atten -tion on music. And he identified in the works of Bach, AlbanBerg, Jean-Philippe Rameau and Olivier Messiaen “notionsof peace”, in Mozart, Bruckner and György Ligeti he found“fantasies of peace”, in Guillaume Dufay, Arnold Schönbergand Kurt Weill “peace as a political project”. Be it in theopera Simplicius Simplicissimus, in Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem or the song A Voice from Guer nica, musicaltradition helps to articulate grief over a war and protestagainst it. One typical method to this end is to use the musicof the foe or victim, another to invoke music as somethinguniversal. The World Orchestra for Peace was established in1995 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the UnitedNations. It primarily performs in crisis-ridden regions.

On Wednesday, May 27, 1992, during the siege of Sara jevo,several mortar shells hit a group of people queuing forbread in Vase Miskina street at four in the afternoon. Morethan 60 were injured, 22 people died. On the following 22 days cellist Vedran Smailović played Albinoni’s Adagioin G Minor at this spot in honor of the dead.

In March 2008 tens of thousands of people gathered for a peace concert in Columbia. This fall Chung Myung-whun,Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the SeoulPhilharmonic Orchestra, made a breakthrough agreementwith North Korean officials to form an orchestra made upequally of North and South Korean musicians.

Also this fall, the British peace activists of International Alertreleased a video with music from Massive Attack entitledPeace Talks. It is intended to help spread the message thatit is words that resolve conflicts.

Listening for peace

The famous Swedish writer of children’s books AstridLindgren once wrote: “To speak about peace is to speakabout something that doesn’t exist.” According to the an -nual report of the Stockholm International Peace ResearchInstitute (SIPRI), current global military expenditure isaround US$ 1.6 billion. Expenditure on peaceful solutionsto conflicts is however far more difficult to quantify.

“Who calls for peace, that the world hears it, is forced to hear it? That it must bring joy to all peoples?” askedDietrich Bonhoeffer in his sermon on peace at the YouthConference of the World Alliance on the North Sea islandof Fanø in 1934. Just over ten years later, he died in theFlossenbürg concentration camp for being a member ofthe resistance against Nazism. It is impossible to ignorethe power of fact. And of course, listening alone does notbring peace. Yet it can hardly do any harm and sometimesmakes a noticeable difference to use our sense of hearingin this way. Indeed, the successes of intercultural commu-nication and global peace work demonstrate that. “Peacecomes about through understanding, not agreement”, orso an Arab saying would have it. But understanding issurely impossible if we don’t listen to one another.

Max Ackermann

THANK YOU.Your contribution helps children regain their hearing.Support our project “A bright future for children in Nairobi”, where we are enabling a support network for children with hearing loss – providing diagnostics and hearing aid fi ttings right through to speech therapy and a self-help group for parents.

Together we give children the chance of a better future.

Donation account: UBS AG Zürich • Account: Hear the World Foundation • Reference: Nairobi IBAN: CH12 0023 0230 4773 8401 U • SWIFT: UBSWCHZH80A • www.hear-the-world.com/foundation

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CLASSICS

We are not to play with our food?

Fresh vegetables from the weekly market. That goes forthe said orchestra, too. Where normally crunchy carrots,colorful peppers, juicy cucumber, crisp radishes and celerystrewn with a little parsley would make a nutritious salad,the Austrian ensemble surprises spectators by doing some-thing entirely different. As the name suggests, the soundartists transform vegetables into instruments and proceedto play them. They cut holes in carrots, peel eggplants, seedpumpkins and hollow out cucumbers to create hundreds ofinstruments like flutes, drums, horns, rattles, bongos andmany more besides.

In combination, they can even imitate marimbas, guitarsand various trumpets. Madness, you might think, butincredibly the musicians actually elicit tones from theircreations. And they are in no way inferior to some modernmusic pieces played on conventional instruments. Admit -tedly, some of the notes that come from rustling lettuceleaves and tapping zucchinis are highly unusual, fromgloomy to shrill to almost funky, but on the whole the effectis harmonious.

The Vegetable Orchestra is causing a stir, is enjoying great success and has already released its third CD withthe telling title Onionoise. At festivals the world over too,the veggie-friends are welcome guests. The artistic back-ground of the orchestra members is as colorful as theinstruments they play. Indeed, professional musicians,architects, designers and authors, among others, throwtheir ideas into the mix. So much creativity results in feel-good music in an extraordinarily natural environment –and as nature dictates that the ensemble’s instruments can only be played for a limited time, after the concert thecabbage heads, leeks and parsley that are still usable windup in the pan and there is soup for the audience! A trulytasteful way to end a very special experience …

Sandra Spannaus

www.vegetableorchestra.org

For the members of the Vegetable Orchestra, this admonition would most likely fall on deaf ears, for that is precisely what they do!

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MODERN

KT Tunstall – the ego-archeologist

Her own sense of hearing plays a crucial role in everythingshe does. As an ambassador for the Hear the World Ini -tiative, Tunstall wants to share her experiences from 15years as a live performer and help raise awareness – withno finger raised, but always ready to give younger musi -cians some good advice.

“Sound is a very important part of my life and something

I would hugely miss if it was ever impaired by my stupid

behavior.”

Kate Victoria Tunstall was adopted and grew up in a non-musical, academic family in the quiet university town of St.Andrews. She started having flute and piano lessons at justsix years old, and as a teenager taught herself guitar. Shespent her final year of high school in the USA thanks to ascholarship, where she soon came into contact with all kindsof musicians. Back in the UK, Tunstall studied music at theexclusive Royal Holloway College and soon after immersedherself in the lively music scene in her native Fife in Scot -land, where she played, for instance, with musicians fromthe popular Fence Collective and lived with Gordon Andersonof The Beta Band for a time. She was greatly influenced byhis eclectic “folktronica” sound. Another important stationon her life’s journey was the klezmer band Oi Va Voi. Al -though she wasn’t part of the official lineup, Tunstall’spres ence as singer and co-writer on their celebrated debutalbum Laughter Through Tears is unmistakable and made alasting impression. Klezmer meets electronic, and that onone of the hottest British labels (Outcaste).

At this point KT Tunstall was already being compared toNelly Furtado and Sheryl Crow, people were hearing abouther talent and her solo ambitions were taking off. Herdebut album, Eye to the Telescope, was released in late2004. It initially came in at number 73 in the charts, a re -spectable entry. Yet it didn’t stop there; things continued toget better for KT. She was asked to “substitute” for rapperNas, who had cancelled at short notice, on the cult BBCshow Later … with Jools Holland. With her blues-inspiredsong Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, the neo-folk divade livered a performance that was anything but boring. KTplayed and sang her own accompaniment in the form ofchoir vocals, tambourine and guitar riffs, all of which sherecorded live with a digital sampler and played back inloops. In a TV-compatible 3½ minutes, she put on a showthat took the audience by storm and left them hungry formore. Shortly after the broadcast, Eye to the Telescopewas re-released and this time climbed to number three inthe British charts. The US release was also a resounding

success, not least thanks to the casting show AmericanIdol. Candidate Katherine McPhee (who was to becomerunner-up) sang Black Horse and the Cherry Tree in thefinal and in so doing gave the song and its author a mightypush in the Billboard Hot 100: it moved up all of 55 placesto number 23. It is well known that an artist’s second al -bum is considered the yardstick for a successful musicalcareer. With the lavish production Drastic Fantastic, KTseemed to be doing everything right. Indeed, number threein the British and nine in the US charts speak a clearlanguage in commercial terms. This was an establishedfolk-pop songwriter proudly showing that she was on anequal footing with the superstars. Yet looking back, KTTunstall does not appear to be entirely happy with Drastic,describing the creative process of her current and thirdalbum as jumping from the “hamster wheel”.

Musically, Tiger Suit represents a clear and deliberate breakfrom the folky singer-songwriter style that brought her greatsuccess. That said, the sound, which is definitely moving inthe direction of the dance floor and which she calls “naturetechno”, is not completely unknown territory to her, shesays. Rather, it seems like “an archeological ex cavation ofmy self”. Indeed, she spent her formative years with elec -tron ic sounds, but the artist also has recent danceable musicby bands such as Phoenix and LCD Soundsystem on herradar. That Tiger Suit sounds in every respect more inspiredand multilayered than its predecessor may not least also bedown to the fact that it was recorded at Hansa Studios inBerlin. This was where David Bowie recorded his legendaryBerlin trilogy in the late 1970s: the albums Low, Heroes andLodger. In 1983 Depeche Mode mixed their most intelligentalbum to date, Construction Time Again, in the venerablerooms, which were however kitted out with state-of-the-art technology. And none other than U2 began recordingAchtung Baby in October 1990 in the master hall of HansaStudios. It would become one of the most successful albumsin the long discography of the Irish stadium rockers and isrightly considered a musical quantum leap. Just as Bowie,U2 and Depeche Mode redefined themselves in Berlin, afterthe Tiger Suit sessions at Hansa Studios KT Tunstall is nolonger the same either. With songs like (Still a) Weirdo, Push That Knot Away, Uummanaq Song and Glamour Puss,although she hasn’t reinvented the proverbial wheel, it isstill great fun listening to her work ing on her “archeologi-cal” and highly innovative sound.

Christian Arndt

KT Tunstall is a successful musician with Scottish, Irish and Chinese roots.Her younger brother was born deaf and she herself suffers from tinnitus andslight hearing loss in one ear. In an interview with HEAR THE WORLD shesaid, self-critically: “Unfortunately, it’s only when you experience a problemthat you really realize how precious your hearing is.”

(Sources: Allmusic.com, Rollingstone.com, BBC.CO.UK) Interview quotes: ArtisanNewsService, July 20, 2010)

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Interview with KT Tunstall

What was it like shooting with Bryan Adams?

Bryan has been a ubiquitous part of my aural world sinceI can remember. The whole thing was really exciting, it wasfantastic.

Why did you decide to become an ambassador for the

Hear the World Initiative?

Because it’s a great cause. I’m delighted to be part of acampaign that not only helps people find solutions that canimprove their quality of life but also educates the popu -lation at large about the importance of preserving theirsense of sound. My younger brother was born profoundlydeaf so I’ve grown up extremely aware of what it’s like forsomeone with hearing loss to live in a mostly hearingworld. I’ve always imagined what it’s like for my brother tocome to my gigs, to help me understand what he experi-ences. It’s really interesting.

Have you ever experienced problems with your hearing?

I suffer from tinnitus and have slight hearing loss in one of my ears. Unfortunately, it’s only when you experience aproblem that you really realise how precious our hearingis and how much we take it for granted. Sound is a veryimportant part of my life and something I would hugelymiss if it was ever encroached upon by my stupid behav -iour. It really highlights what I should have done growingup, and what I could be doing now, to protect my hearing.

Do you think your hearing problems have been caused by

your career in music?

Of course, especially when you have got an ear to the cymbals most of the time. I don’t use in-ear monitors. I ama staunch wedge user (on-stage monitor) because I need tofeel the volume. But you have to be very careful.

Do you think that being a musician has given you

a deeper appreciation of sound?

Definitely! There was a point where my tinnitus got so bad,thankfully it is under control now, but you know you canfeel helpless with a condition like tinnitus as there is noth -ing you can really do about it. There was a point where itbecame very difficult to tune my guitar because it got sobad … it’s also perversely interesting having it as well,because it is in C so I could always tune my guitar to C.(laughs)

If you could go back in time would you be more proactive

in your attitude towards hearing care?

I think I would definitely be more aware. If I was on stageand it was painful. I would do something about it.

So you are definitely conscious about it now?

For sure!

Would you ever intervene if you saw a younger

musician on stage playing music at potentially damaging

high volumes?

I would certainly be happy to share my experience withsomeone and give them a bit of advice. It’s just throughexperience and learning that I have learnt a safe levelbecause no-one is going to set that level for you. The moni-tor engineer isn’t standing in front of you, you have to askhim for what you want and then he does what you ask. Soyou have got to have a self-awareness.

What sounds do you love?

British birdsong is my favourite sound ever. There hasbeen a massive influx of parakeets in London, which reallypiss me off because they are really loud and annoying, it’slike a screeching sound. I am like ‘shut up’! The local birdssound amazing. I love the sound of crows, and blackbirdsare just incredible. When my younger brother got a coch-lear implant a few years ago it was amazing the things hecould hear all of a sudden but, because he was born deaf,he didn’t recognise the new sounds around him. He is hear -ing more, but he was like “what is that?!” There wasn’talways someone there to tell him – that sound is a lawnmower, that’s the washing machine. He’s a tennis coachand I drove home with him after work once. He parked hiscar and was like “what the hell is that noise?! Every timeI come home and I hear it and I’m like, what is that noise?I don’t know what it is.” It turns out it was all the crowsroosting in the trees above where he parks. Tons of themgoing rah rah rah rah … it was a completely new sound tohim and because he didn’t look up, he never knew so(laughs) he was glad to know.

What sound do you dislike?

I dislike feedback, it’s really bad. The worst. I really dislikewhen people gather phlegm from deep inside their throat.Phlegm gathering!

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“I LOVE THESOUND OF CROWS,AND BLACKBIRDS ARE JUST INCREDIBLE.”

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Feist – the power of stillness

For we can perceive, quietly and in a virtually wondrousway, the stillness in which Feist composed her music. Andwe realize that we are listening to a true anti-superstarstar. In general too, the 35-year-old Canadian doesn’tbehave like your regular pop star. Social networking andpermanent tweets are not her thing at all. Instead, she hasagain started writing letters and prefers long, face-to-faceconversations. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why hersongs feel as though they are directly addressed to eachlistener. And at the same time precisely why they are gener -ating a continually growing global fan base; people who aresearching for a safe haven in our fast-paced day and ageand who long to return to the really important, essentialthings in life. “You have to listen deep inside yourself, onyour own, to be able to produce something,” notes Feist.

After a good seven years of spending a great deal of timeon airplanes, stages and TV shows, even appearing onSesame Street with her hit 1234, Feist took time out. Eventhough previously she had simply accepted that this on-the-road lifestyle was hers to stay. It could have carried onthat way forever: the albums Let It Die, Open Season andfinally The Reminder (all Polydor) are appealing to evermore listeners to this day. Moreover her live performanceswith a band of several members and beautiful, generallyminimal visuals are unique. Yet she didn’t want to repeatherself endlessly and always play the same songs, eventhough performance requests kept on coming. So she pulled the plug and went back home to the garage she hadset up specially in the garden of her house in Toronto forcomposing in solitude.

“There’s a lot of output on tour,” says Feist, “and in thedowntime afterwards I was a sponge – I was trying to ab -sorb as much as I put out for seven years. I was being stilland trying to learn how to be quiet and remember thatsilence isn’t aggressive. Sometimes after being in a lot ofnoise and movement, silence and stillness can seem com-pletely terrifying.” The silence and self-imposed lonelinessultimately led to very profound, generally quiet songs. The lightness in the songs on The Reminder gave way to amonumentality in the recordings for the new album thatdoes not sound suffocated, but more mature. A logical stepfor Feist, as a talented singer and songwriter, towards akind of folk music that bears comparison with great worksof the 1970s. Such as Carole King’s timeless albumTapestry. Metals was recorded in live sessions with stringplayers, a choir, her long-time companions and very goodfriends Mocky and Chilly Gonzales, and producer ValgeirSigurðsson, who has worked with one of Feist’s early fonts

of inspiration, Björk. Beck keyboarder Brian LeBarton was also involved, who as well as playing also spliced the arrangements. She chose to make her record ings at acompletely isolated farm in California’s Big Sur NationalPark. Feist spent four intensive weeks there in February2011 with the other musicians. She loves this situationwhere everyone gets up, discusses things and eats togetherin an isolated environment – a close-knit community, livingand working together. And the surround ings had a hand inthis too:

“Recording can be a weightless free float from your day-life, and I like to pick places with certain fertile qualitiesthat can give me a visual hook that I’m there to do some-thing other than what I would otherwise do. And that cleanline between land and sea, the graphic edge of the continentpointing out toward the east, meaning not the ‘Atlanticnext stop Europe’ feeling, but ‘next stop somewhere you’venever been’,” says Feist. “Plus, you are somewhere thatlooks completely unfound and yet it’s been so perfectlyrecorded literarily. Steinbeck made 1000 albums there, ina sense! Henry Miller and Anais Nin probably consideredthat line between land and sea, too. And on top of it, wetruly found the perfect room to build a studio in, perchedon the cliffs. A giant, empty space.”

Listening to one of the strongest tracks on the album,Caught A Long Wind, we unwittingly see this landscape inour mind’s eye, the horizon, which leaves plenty of room forstillness and nuances. And can spread so much warmth.Feist’s songs strike a chord and touch us where we other-wise let in only very good friends, namely, our heart andsoul. This is a very rare ability, which few people have, andonly people who are honest. And these are the ones welisten to, without letting ourselves be distracted. Personalmessages, once again with the potential to be received andrecognized, perfectly balanced on the fine line betweenindependent and mainstream. Leslie Feist has written hernext chapter on the history of relevant pop music. By handand personally addressed to us.

Michael Rütten

Visual and acoustic insights into the recordings and

landscape in Big Sur are available here:

www.listentofeist.com

One of the greatest compliments we can give music is listening to it straight up. Without multitasking, without also thinking about all the things we stillhave to do and not even using it as background music in public spaces. This compliment, this affection surfaces when we listen to the songs on Leslie Feist’s current album Metals (Polydor).

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Flattering fluttering photography! Irving Penn and Issey Miyake

So it should come as no surprise that these two artists met many years ago at a fashion shoot and subsequentlycollaborated on various projects. From 1987 Penn photo-graphed Miyake’s collections for 13 years in the end andwith his pictures opened up new perspectives to the masterof materials. Miyake gave Penn, who incidentally neverattended one of Miyake’s shows, a completely free rein andvirtually trusted him blindly. The two artists inspired eachother and had a very special professional relationship, seemingly without the need for many words. Over the yearsthey nurtured an intense visual dialogue.

The exhibition Irving Penn and Issey Miyake: Visual Dia -logue at the museum 21_21 Design Sight in Tokyo presentsimpressions and snapshots as well as, naturally, examplesof the immense talent of both artists. It opened in Sep tem -ber and will run until April 2012.

69 highly expressive images, some in virtually screechingcolors, some in dark, more subdued tones, offer an in sightinto Miyake’s world of fashion and Penn’s photographic flair.The exhibition is set off by a diverse program of installa -tions, films and discussion rounds with well-known contem-porary artists and also features workshops for children.

Sandra Spannaus

Irving Penn and Issey Miyake: Visual DialogueSeptember 16, 2011 – April 8, 2012

21_21 Design Sight

9-7-6 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN

Irving Penn was one of the greatest photographers of our day. He died in2009 in New York. Issey Miyake is at present one of the most extraordinaryand successful fashion designers. Neither Penn’s photographs nor Miyake’sfashion creations are reserved in character. Both reflect, in every last detail,the creativity and individuality of their creator.

ISSEY MIYAKE Collection Poster, 1987.

Photograph by Irving Penn.

Poster design and typography by Ikko Tanaka.

Photograph copyright by The Irving Penn Foundation

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The voice of João Gilberto

It seems to want extreme closeness: João Gilberto’s voicesounds as though it softly creeps ever closer to the listeneruntil the singer’s mouth is just a few centimeters from thelistener’s ear. Whereas other voices swaggeringly seek tomake an impression, João Gilberto’s ducks away a little.Whereas others yearn, his speaks true emotion, magicalmoments.

This voice was born in 1958 in a bathroom. The then 27-year-old Gilberto, following a personal and musical crisis,had sought refuge with relatives in a small city calledDiamantina in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. He issaid to have shut himself in his hosts’ tiny bathroom formonths to work on his singing and guitar playing. It washere that João Gilberto became a musician, an innovator.He invented bossa nova in this isolation, far away from thehustle and bustle of Rio de Janeiro and yet with it verymuch in mind. Together with composer Antônio CarlosJobim he refined his ideas, and bossa nova became a topexport, the Brazilian version of cool jazz. It was in thisbathroom that he invented “the formula”, as writer MarcFischer called it in his book Hobalala, a wonderful lit er arydeclaration of love for Gilberto. “An equation of singingand guitar, breath and chords, with which Gilberto can turnany song into bossa nova.” Indeed, no less important thanhis voice was the innovative way of playing percussivesamba rhythms on guitar. No other musician fuses vocalsand guitar quite so harmoniously.

The voice virtually vibrates with longing. Perhaps longingis the only thing keeping us alive and life bearable. Thosewho get what they want are presumably closer to Hell thanHeaven. Longing means alertness, irritability, a floatingexistence, motion, passion, sometimes being thrown backinto the past. People with longing want to reach somethingthey presumably already know cannot be reached. Andsometimes they look for something to ultimately find some-thing entirely different. This longing is the rhythm of bossanova, and Gilberto its magical performer.

In those early days he recorded three legendary albums in quick succession with Antônio Carlos Jobim, he went toNew York, was part of the legendary bossa nova night atCarnegie Hall in 1962, was married to Astrud Gilberto, got divorced, turned his back on the popularization of thegenre into shallow easy listening goo and made ever quieteralbums at ever longer intervals.

Thus as the decades passed, the singer became a mysteri -ous, mythical figure. The more he retreated from the ordinary world, the more stories and anecdotes about himcirculated. Today, at the grand old age of 80, he lives anocturnal life in Rio de Janeiro, allegedly without everleaving his apartment, without giving interviews, withoutcaring about what is happening around him. Only with therecord company EMI is he fighting a long battle over thequality of remastered CDs of his first albums. At night heis said to sometimes play guitar for ten or twelve hours,guided by the pursuit of perfection. He has one child witha journalist who wanted to shoot a documentary about hima few years back – to this day the film has still not beenmade. There are only a few people who get to see him withtheir own eyes. Even his daughter Bebel, now likewise awell-known singer, is said to have trouble seeing him in theflesh. Gilberto is a phantom.

Yet we can trace the footsteps of this phantom listening tohis albums, especially one from 1973. The so-called WhiteAlbum is probably the closest to João Gilberto’s idea of perfect music: there is just the singer and his guitar; hecompletely surrenders himself. Marc Fischer discovered“longing itself” in João Gilberto’s singing. We can hardlyimagine a purer vocalization of this feeling.

Ulrich Rüdenauer

There are few voices closer to silence. João Gilberto’s voice seems to want to counter all the hubbub of everyday life with its absolute gentleness; there is no hint of virility or power in it. The floating lightness is its strength.

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66 HEAR THE WORLD

Publishing Company

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Publisher

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Cover photo

Bryan Adams

Contributors

Bryan Adams, Max Ackermann, Christian Arndt, Anno Bachem, Markus Frenzl, Frank Hatami-Fardi,Hennie Haworth, Marcel Krenz, Stefan Kugel, Daniel Lachenmeier, Céline Meyrat, Malin Rosenqvist,Ulrich Rüdenauer, Michael Rütten, Sandra Spannaus,Daniela Tewes

Art direction

Antonia Henschel

Production

Oliver Selzer

Translations

Jeremy Gaines

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Why not subscribe to HEAR THE WORLD – The Magazinefor Hearing Culture at www.hear-the-world.com. Annualsubscriptions cost 29 EUR, 47 CHF or 39 USD includingpostage and packaging. HEAR THE WORLD appears fourtimes a year. Every subscription serves a good purpose.The net proceeds are made available to the Hear the WorldFoundation, which supports products devoted to peoplewith hearing difficulties. To find out more about the activities of the Hear the World Foundation please visitwww.hear-the-world.com.

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In the next issue:

Nathalie Miebach

Sounds of the night

What is an audiologist?

It is more than just a virtually invisible hearing aid. Phonak nano is the perfect combination of maximum hearing performance and minimum size.

So small and comfortable – just wear and forget.

Contact your hearing care professional today to discover Phonak nano.

www.phonak.com

Nothing to see. Everything to hear.


Painting with music – Martin Klimas’ Sonic SculpturesSounds of peaceFeist – the power of stillnessFlattering fluttering photography! Irving Penn and Issey MiyakeThe voice of João Gilberto

THE MAGAZINE FOR THE CULTURE OF HEARING ISSUE TWENTY-ONE

KT TUNSTALLPHOTOGRAPHED BYBRYAN ADAMS

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