Data

Composition: Berio Molina
Texts: Alba Cid
Texts compilation: Clube Espeleolóxico Maúxo
Imags compilation: Ramon Almuinha
Sound recordings: Xoán-Xil López and Berio Molina

Production: aCentral Folque, Sétima, Acusmaser

Based in the book Tesouro Espeleolóxico Galego by aCentral Folque Ed.

Synopsis

A pickaxe, a radial, even a pistol. These memories of the underworld begin with a dry, violent sound, as befits any act of subtraction. A single shot undoes in a matter of seconds any geological symphony, the thousands of years necessary for stalactites and stalagmites to form, centimeter by centimeter, in a subtle dripping process.

The chronicles of this destruction run through the images, sounds and texts of this hole. The scenarios that were a celebration of astonishment, one of the signs of the power of geological processes, accompany us mutilated.

From the very formation of the Earth, there were so many uses of caves that any enumeration becomes incomplete and personal, and yet, it is an unrenounceable alphabet: Refuge during the monsoon season. Hiding place for those persecuted for their political or religious activities. Basalt calendar. Prison, place of torture. Domain of the bats. Dance halls, with huge stalactites as lamps.
Some holes sing softly, but others provoke shivers. Thus, with a tremor at the root of the spine, these memories of the underworld begin.

Sound recordings

MutedHole is made by archive material older than 1970 that Clube Espeleolóxico Maúxo has collected over the years, which was part of the book O Tesouro Espeleolóxico Galego. But in regard to sound, there was no knowledge of any recordings of the Galician caves, and that was why we decided to go and record some of them.

You can check out this small sound archive on the xscxxtxr page: Covas, furnas, túneles… memoria sonora do inframundo.