nightsongs

Listen to the night…

For over 100 years, the steel industry has been part of the visual and sonic scenery of Esch-sur-Alzette and of the Luxembourg and Lorraine mining basin in general. Noise and a nuisance for some, soundtrack of a part of their life for others, the wailing of the overhead cranes and the roar of the working metal devices fill the night with their melancholic, sometimes threatening but always subtle presence. Children are lulled to sleep by these background sounds, while for others the distant humming and moans of the factories have become the companion of their long nights of toil or sleepless wandering…

The Nightsongs project takes this nocturnal soundscape and industrial atmosphere as a starting point for a series of electronic music compositions exploring the different facets and activities of the night and their poetic dimension. Using the technique of field-recording, the sounds and sonic footprint of industrial sites in operation (ArcelorMittal Belval) and at standstill (Metzeschmelz & FerroForum in Esch-Schifflange) from the south of Luxembourg have been recorded, sound mapped and edited to build a library of sounds and samples ready to be used. Musicians and electronic producers from Luxembourg, France and the UK then took over the sounds to compose and produce music according to specific topics and themes, all related to a poetic aspect of the night. The result is a sound creation composed of collages, music pieces, texts and soundscapes that invite the listener to a nocturnal time travel.

Beyond the musical dimension, the project also aims to preserve and archive a part of the sound identity of a region, thus allowing future generations to “hear and listen” to the industrial past of Esch-sur-Alzette.

Nightsongs – installation immersive @ Bridderhaus 14.10.2022-15.01.2023

L’installation sonore plonge le/la visiteur.rice dans une expérience immersive des extraits sonores grâce au système multicanal ambisonique « Trinity » de MadTrix et remet ainsi l’écoute consciente au centre de sa démarche. Telle une machine sonore à voyager dans le temps, l’installation amène l’auditeur.rice à travers différentes temporalités et tableaux sonores tout en l’invitant à habiter les paysages qui résonnent autour de lui/elle.

Vernissage le 14.10.2022 à partir de 19h00 au Bridderhaus, avec un DJ Set de SpudBencer.

Nightsongs – nocturnal sound walk

Take a walk around Esch-sur-Alzette (Belval…) at night while listening to sounds, music and recorded texts from the Nightsongs project on the GOH mobile application.

QR Code to download the Nightsongs app.

Nightsongs – 24.09.2022 live @ Kulturfabrik

The Nightsongs concert at Kufa will be the occasion to discover excerpts, remixes and reinterpretations of the project’s compositions & tracks live on stage. On the program: the jazz-electro universe of multi-instrumentalist POL BELARDI, the hypnotic and atmospheric techno of French producer TOH IMAGO (signed on the prestigious label InFiné) and the cinematographic and industrial tinged electronica of Luxembourg based electronic musician & producer RYVAGE. The artists will propose special and unheard live sets exploring the industrial soundscapes of Esch-sur-Alzette’s mining basin by using the sounds of the Nightsongs project and by mixing them with their personal musical and sonic universes.
+ DJ set by MISS SAPPHO
For lovers of industrial sounds, ambient music and refined techno!

Dans la presse:

Le Quotidien

woxx

RTL

radio 100,7

Artistic concept & texts: Samuel Reinard
Music: Ryvage (Samuel Reinard), Pol Belardi, Cehashi, Jerome Klein & Claire Parsons, Mudaze, Hinako Omori, Pascal Schumacher, Sun Glitters, Them Lights (Sacha Hanlet),Toh Imago, Twin XXA, Aymeric Westrich (Aufgang)
Field recordings: Oliver Lang, Samuel Reinard
Voice recordings: Denis Jousselin, Sophie Langevin, Elsa Rauchs, Claire Wagener

Production managers: Jill Christophe, Claire Wagener
Production and communication assistant: Sara Goerres
Music Development consulting: Victor Conradsson

A production of Independent Little Lies – ILL in collaboration with Kulturfabrik Esch-sur-Alzette, Konschthal/Bridderhaus, Les Ensembles 2.2, Madtrix, CNA, FerroForum and Portable Peninsula asbl. In the framework of the European Capital of Culture Esch2022, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Fondation Indépendance, SACEM Luxembourg, the City of Esch-sur-Alzette and frEsch asbl.

Photos © Emile Hengen, Gilles Seyler
Visual © Cropmark