Central Asia PhoNographic Mornings #10 Tiger Gong 'Wool Whipping'

Stéphane Marin presents a weekly series of short soundscapes recorded in the mornings at various locations throughout Central Asia. Entitled Central Asia PhoNographic Mornings this series for Resonance Extra forms part of a wider project, Each Morning of the World, which invites sound artists, composers and recordists globally to share their own specific point of listening, either through a raw field recording or original composition.

In this episode, Wool Whipping by Tiger Gong:

"In 2002 I made a trip on an extended Silk Road path. Getting stuck on the Kyrgyzstan/Chinese border closed for one week by Chinese authorities after trouble in Xinjiang province, I decided to reach some half-nomadic shepherd family living beside one of the first jail built for the Silk Road, Tach Rabat. They pass summer in their yurts in the heights of the country, among other things preparing the felt of their yurts. Here is a sound extract of that mixed with an improvised basket game with the children. In the photos, you can see the bathroom and a Yurt, or the children and a horse from the shepherd."

Tiger Gong entered the sound world in 1981 with Terroristes Genetiques, probably the first radio show dedicated to noise music. Following that, he was part of ODD SIZE, a Parisian Label. And then he created Tiger Gong, a label with his friend KINK GONG, who was the first ethnomusicologist who specialised in local music from the Zomia area. He has continued to work with different radio sations, and has travelled extensively.