![\"Ghostly](\"https:\/\/www.gruenrekorder.de\/Photos\/gruen_231_320px.jpg\" "\\"Ghostly")
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Ghostly Waters | David Ve\u0301lez<\/a><\/strong> Between July and August 2023, I made an extensive series of underwater and subterranean recordings in the River Calder and its basin, across the towns of Warley and Norland in Calderdale, England.<\/p>\n About the River Calder Recording and Editing Notes Reflections Illustrations Notes The River Within (The Urban Nature Sonic Pavillion\/SAIC) Chicago, US 2024 1. Ghostly Waters<\/p>\n Excerpts: 1 Track (70\u203218\u2033) Audio Mastering: Bruno Duplant Underwater and subterranean recordings made by Dr David V\u00e9lez in the River Calder and its basin, across the towns of Warley and Norland in Calderdale. Recorded and edited by D. V\u00e9lez in 2023, in Northern England Field Recording Series by Gruenrekorder <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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\nThe River Calder is the main water source for farms in the Calderdale and Kirklees boroughs, thanks to its richness in calcium and magnesium carbonate, formed hundreds of metres deep, 310 million years ago during the Carboniferous period. At that time, the Calder basin was home to an exuberant biodiversity comparable to the Amazon rainforest. Amphibians such as Microsauria, Eryops, Diplocaulus, Labyrinthodontia, and Nectridea thrived until the \u201crainforest collapse,\u201d a drastic climate shift \u2014 including a 6 \u00b0C drop in temperature \u2014 that extinguished them and many other life forms. Today, the Calder suffers from uncontrolled sewage leaks, making it the second most polluted river in England, a product of careless practices from private water forms. <\/p>\n
\nUsing hydrophones and geophones, I documented the sounds of the river\u2019s black-coloured water, soil, and boulders \u2014 a habitat shaped by dark minerals and organic residues as the Calder percolates through coal seams, carbonaceous shales, and ironstone. The river\u2019s coarse, bubbling, gurgling, crumbling, tapping, scraping, and dripping sounds created a mysterious, ghostly aurality, perhaps linked to the density of the media through which sonic waves travel there, which to me echoed the river\u2019s biological decay. Among the recorded sounds, some were particularly quirky and murky \u2014 a series of growling, expressive tones that intrigued me, as I could not identify their source. They may have been produced by fish feeding on algae, such as roaches or chubs, species especially vulnerable to contamination. Moreover, many of the recordings, especially those made underground, were so subtle that I had to set the recorder at a high level, resulting in a hiss. Friction against the hydrophone and geophone cables also introduced unwanted noise, both of which I embraced in the editing process to emphasise the pollution affecting the Calder. I then layered water, soil, and boulder sounds to create depth \u2014 drawing out enigmatic, ghostly resonances. <\/p>\n
\nThe guttural sounds of roaches and chubs, the hiss, and the ghostly elements I hear in the Calder link its past and present, serving as a reminder of the environmental changes that have occurred since the era of the great amphibians of the Carboniferous. In this sense, these recordings stand as a call to defend our rivers and their inhabitants from the pollution born of private irresponsibility \u2014 to decelerate the imminent extinction of the human species and to leave future inhabitants species of the Earth a healthier ecosystem.<\/p>\n
\nTo accompany the recordings, artist and illustrator Lina Velandia created a series of drawings evoking giant amphibian ghosts from the Carboniferous era, product of her experience listening to the recordings.
\nLina is a Colombian visual artist based in the UK, whose work operates at the intersection of cartoon aesthetics, pop culture, and neo-expressionism. Through spontaneous, character-driven drawings and a vivid use of colour, she explores themes of feminism, migration, well-being, and precarity, engaging questions of identity and vulnerability.
\n@todoloquesemuevesuena<\/p>\n
\nGhostly Waters is the fourth part of a series of artworks created using this group of recordings from the River Calder, together with the installations:<\/p>\n
\nThe Calder in your Guts (Sounds of Dissent\/DCI) Dublin, Ireland 2024
\nThe Calder in your Bones (HCMF\/Cultures of sound) Huddersfield, UK 2023<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_1_placeholder\n
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\nSpecial thanks to: Lasse-Marc Riek, Roland Etzin, Lina Velandia, Bruno Duplant, Jelena Gligorijevic, University of Huddersfield, Cultures of Sound, Dublin City University, SAIC, Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago, HCMF, and Ruchi Singh.<\/p>\n
\nIllustrations: Lina Velandia
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