Urban Ambiances — صوت القاهرة

All the versions of this article: [English] [français]

Work in progress…

I still have to explain better here my research on the sound/acoustic dimensions of Cairo (Egypt).
This project could bear the name of صوت القاهرة, that can be translated as “the voice” or “the sound of Cairo”.

Or “Mics in the Ears” from the name of the experimental procedure (with binaural microphones) developed with Nicolas Puig in Cairo.

– I will here refer to my first article written about the sounds of Cairo (in French): Sound ambiances of Cairo: To propose an anthropology of sound environments and the chapter published afterwards (in French, you can read and… listen): “The atmosphere is great”, or the evanescent relationship to soundscapes in Cairo, but this one too (in English), “The sound of society”: a method for investigating sound perception in Cairo, or this other one to be published very soon (in English): Mics in the ears: How to ask people in Cairo to talk about their sound universes.
– Regarding conferences and lectures, all in French so far for this subfield of my researches, there was this one, interesting: “The atmosphere is great”, or the evanescent relationship to soundscapes in Cairo, and others like this one, Can we do an ethnography of sound of Cairo?, and this one a bit later: Mics in the ears: how to ask people in Cairo to talk about their sound universes (…).

There was of course that exhibition set up at the Musée de l’Homme: Dans les oreilles d’un Cairote.

This exhibition presented the work that Nicolas Puig and I started together on the experimental procedure “Mics in the Ears” that we published in two stages (in English, in David Howes’ journal Senses & Society):
– Methodology and initial analyses: “The sound of society”: a method for investigating sound perception in Cairo,
– Analyses and final results (and availability of all our material in open access): Towards a Sonic Ecology of Urban Life: Ethnography of Sound Perceptions in Cairo.

Waiting maybe for a sequel, here is a recording of Raymond Murray Schafer, known for his work on the Soundscapes, which comments on the soundscape of a Parisian street: “The sound of a woman’s heels, the echo of a wall, bells in the distance ... In ambiances and in English, a brief and playful listening lesson.”
on Arte Radio. Recording: Feb. 06, Mix: Samuel Hirsch, Dir.: Anthony Carcone.
http://arteradio.com/son/22427/pays...