Скачать или смотреть Cattle Call at Olhavanvuori

This sound sample simulates what singing would have sounded like at the Olhavanvuori rock art site in Kouvola, Finland, about 5,000 years ago. The singer performs a traditional Scandinavian-style cattle call in front of the painted lakeshore cliff, which responds with an echo. Rock art sites with images of animals, humans and boats are believed to have been ritual sites for prehistoric hunter-fisher-gatherers.

The auralization was made in collaboration between musicologists, archaeologists and artists, using an in situ impulse response recording, a dry studio recording and convolution reverb technique. The work was part of the Academy of Finland funded project ”Acoustics and auditory culture at hunter-gatherer rock art sites in Northern Europe, Siberia and North America” (2018–2023) at the University of Helsinki.

Convolution & sound design: Perttu Kesäniemi, Mikko Ojanen, Jaska Uimonen
Vocal improvisation: Emmi Kujanpää
Studio recording: Perttu Kesäniemi, Heta Eronen, Tuulikki Toppari, Mikko Ojanen
Impulse response recording: Riitta Rainio, Julia Shpinitskaya
Ambient sound recording: Riitta Rainio
Photograph: Julia Shpinitskaya
Software: Logic Pro X Space Designer
Studio: University of Helsinki Music Research Laboratory & Electronic Music Studio

Headphones are recommended.

Supplementary material to the article:
Rainio, R., Shpinitskaya, J., Rinkkala, P., Pekkanen, J., Kesäniemi, P. & Ojanen, M. 2024. Reflected Encounters at Hunter-Gatherer Rock Art Sites by the Water. Sound Studies: an Interdisciplinary Journal. https://doi.org/10.1080/20551940.2024...