Image by mercuryvapour via Flickr
ACROSS THE MILES
by Contributing Editor Des Coulam. Recording the street sounds of Paris attempting to capture that gratuitous, never-ending show for which no ticket is needed.
EARLY JANUARY ALWAYS makes me think about the sounds of Paris that I recorded in the year that has passed--and the sounds that I might record in the year ahead. At the start of each New Year, I always look back on my previous year’s work and select a “Sound Of The Year.” It’s always a difficult task.
After much consideration, this year I have selected a Parisian sound from 2010 which I would like to share with you.
It’s the sound of a man with a little street organ in the Marché Noël in my quartier.
And why is it my “Sound of The Year?”
First, it is undoubtedly French--a man, surrounded by children from the local école maternelle, singing a favourite French children’s Christmas song, Le Petit Garçon.
Second, the children add an air of innocence and complete unrestrained joy to the recording and …
Third, thanks to the internet, this recording from my quartier of Paris has flown across the miles to be broadcast on an Australian radio station in Sydney on Christmas Eve.
Click here to listen to my Sound of The Year
I hope you enjoy this recording as much as I do, and I wish you all a very Happy New Year.
Des Coulam has a passion for recording and preserving our sonic environment. He writes and records the Soundlandscapes blog at www.soundlandscapes.wordpress.com