Boat People
Initially constructed to help the Industrial Revolution the British canals and rivers were a means of transportation of crucial importance for the industrial age. Nowadays both canals and rivers are used predominantly for leisure.
Boat People is a sonic portrait of the canals and river (Thames) that cross London, drawn by the voices of those who live and work on them and the surrounding soundscapes. The listener is invited to enter a journey through these hidden parts of the city of London, and once part of circulatory system of the industrial age, guided by the voices and stories of the individuals interviewed for this project.
Meant for the radio waves, this sound documentary in five episodes was first broadcast by London’s radio Resonance FM during October 2007, followed by Brussel’s Radio Panik.
The work features interviews with (in order of appearance) Jim Marshall, Juliet Rogers, Dominique Rivoal, Denis Moore, a minister of Saint Peter’s Church, Jeremy Batch, Penny Cuthbert, Bill Blaick, Mickey Gordon, Tom Suanders and Teresa Lundquist, all recorded during the winter and spring of 2007.
Sound artist recently graduated from Sonic Arts BA at Middlesex University, André Castro started his artistic education in 2001 in the areas of contemporary dance and performance-arts at c.e.m-centro em movimento (Lisbon). It was in this space that he first started to work with sound materials, and since has developed and presented in there some of his projects. His compositional work has been moving between two universes. Sometimes through the computer music world with its meditative textures, noisy sounds, blips, bits, algorithms, and custom built software. Other times, tiered of sitting in front of the computer, decides to go out with a microphone and dedicates himself to capture the incredible aural diversity of our world and the voices and stories that hide in each person. Beyond his individual projects a significant part of his practice has developed through collaborations with choreographers, musicians, visual artists and most recently scientists. Currently develops a radiophonic documentary about Lisbon’s subterranean world.
