ListeningGreen — Artstation

**Listeninggreen, 2017**

From Street Sounds to Musical Rhythms.

Music played at a soundscape party at Grange Pavilion, Cardiff on Thursday evening 25th May 2017, with additions made in 2019.

Listeninggreen invited the residents to “open their ears” and reflect on what is happening all around them. The everyday sounds of wind, birds, footsteps, boats on the river, children playing, and parents chatting, these sounds are the life and nature of a neighbourhood. The residents recorded activities that interested them, and these turned out to be distinctive sounds that evoked impressions of their own neighbourhood and conveyed a sense of the place. Elmono then 'mixed' the sound samples into new musical compositions, presented above, for a local 'listening' event in the Grange Pavilion, a community space in Grange Gardens, to which all Grangetown residents were invited.

These are the first six mixes located with purple markers on the map above. The second six mixes with green markers are from a mini-album Elmono made to focus on a wider audience.

The listening party formed a climax of a Mobile Crowdsensing project run in Grangetown by Cardiff University through 2017. Residents worked with scientists and artists to evaluate the quality of their environment.

As part of this, a group led by listeninggreen has been encouraging residents to listen to environmental sounds. Soundscape is a more important aspect of urban planning than is generally acknowledged. We should be able to relax in the outdoor environment without the stress of noise which, research shows, can cause depression, illness and even weight gain. A sensitively planned soundscape, in contrast, can make a positive contribution to our well-being.

Mixed from sound samples collected during a delivery of bar stock to the Grange Conservative Club. Sampled on 2 March 2017 by the Listeninggreen team.

Samples collected on 10 March 2017 by the Listeninggreen team from Grangetown Primary School and from nearby park railings and switch boxes, in a mix composed by Elmono.

Sources recorded by Roberts Lapsevskis along the Taff Embankment between Aber Street and Ystrad Street in April 2017, and mixed by Elmono into a rhythmic composition.

Sources recorded by Roberts Lapsevskis in April 2017, some in his doctor's waiting room and others near the river beyond Cambridge Street.

Composed by Elmono from samples collected in Aprill 2017 in part by Likun Yang of traffic sounds at the north end of Taffs Mead Embankment and on the Penarth Road at the end of Blaenclydach Street and in part by Listeninggreen of river sounds on the embankment at the end of Bargoed Street.

Samples recorded on Sunday 14 May 2017 by Penny Tomkins in Bessemer Street, where a fruit and veg market becomes a car boot sale at weekends. They were mixed by Elmono.

Trees being planted by the council on the corner of Paget Street and Llanmaes Street on 10 May 2017. The samples were recorded by Anna Millett and mixed by Elmono.

Grange Gardens are public gardens in the heart of Grangetown, and Likun Yang recorded there on 3 and 8 May 2017. Her samples were used in this mix by Elmono.

Grangetown has a small local railway station where Likun Yang recorded some samples on 8 May 2017, later mixed into this rhythmic dance by Elmono.

The street market at Bessemer Street had a meat van when Penny Tomkins was recording on 14 May 2017. Her samples are here mixed by Elmono.

Clark's pie shop on the corner of Piaget Street and Bromsgrove Street is small yet famous. Anna Millett recorded there on 10 May 2017, and Elmono mixed this composition.

This mix by Elmono uses sounds from a Love Grangetown event at Grange Pavilion in the gardens on 13 May 2017. The samples were collected by Roberts Lapsevskis.

Artists
- Joel Elmono: Music (maker/producer), elmonski@gmail.com
- Glenn Davidson: Sound Artist/Researcher (Artstation), glenn@artstation.org.uk
- Mike Fedeski: Sound Artist/Researcher (Artstation).mf@artstation.org.uk

Listeninggreen, 2017