Kalerne.net is on pause.... after being extremely busy, the website had technical problems. Now we're settled for the whole Spring on the tiny islands of Peng-Hu archipelago, spending time doing field recordings and local works. Hope to restart activities at the beginning of the Summer. Many new projects (including great publications) will need to be shared...
A view from the first experimental music studio in Peng-Hu :

Two essays by Jacques Sirot, kindly translated from French by Sally-Jane Normal :
- An acoustic event in Monoprix
- An hommage to Luc Ferrari
And a review of Arches by Jay-Dea Lopez on The Field Reporter blog.

New additions : a few reviews of the CD "Taî-pak thiaⁿ saⁿ piàn" by Alan Smithee, Frans de Waard, Guillermo Escudero and Jesse Goin. But more important... is in French, sorry...
Jacques Sirot rend un hommage à Luc Ferrari en racontant leur rencontre. 

First of all : Merry Dragons for the year 2012 to everyone.
The second half of 2011 has been expectably really busy because of a huge project of collaboration between dance company HORSE and Volume-Collectif. Plus regular pedagogy activity, field recording sessions and... new publications !
The first publication which is now available in the Kalerne shop is a gorgeous double CD by Yannick Dauby containing most of his soundwork created for the Horse dance company. It was released by Atelier Hui-Kan and Horse.
Atelier Hui-Kan also collaborated with Kalerne Editions for another CD of Yannick Dauby which retraces four years of listening to the urban soundscape of Taipei. Its taiwanese title is Taî-pak thiaⁿ saⁿ piàn and it is available now.

Just added a new compilation from Russia (Label : Nitkie), with sound works more or less related to field recordings, by Matthieu Ruhlmann, Yannick Dauby, Michael Northam, Eric La Casa and Cedric Peyronnet, John Grzinich, Francisco Lopez, Jeph Jerman, Ralf Wehowsky, Christophe McFall, Murmer. Title : The Sound Ecology : Range.

Article à propos du projet en collaboration avec la communauté aborigène de Taoshan. Explication sur le pourquoi et le comment de la publication finale "Listen to the Atayal in Taoshan". (in French only, sorry)

An announcement for three online releases :
- An old piece but still available on-line : Ulu Lone was a collaboration by Marc Namblard and Yannick Dauby, published on SilenceRadio. We just mirrored that.
- The Banded Crake of Taiwan : a sound recording of its call have been released on Kalerne here, but also on our sister-website, Promeneurs écoutant, which is run by a pair of amazing sound recordists, Marc and Olivier Namblard.
- Very proud to be part of the Touch Radio collection : Yannick Dauby's composition Arches is an hommage to the wolves. Don't miss it.

Shijingren is the audio-visual-textual collaboration project of Yannick Dauby & Wan-Shuen Tsai.
The last project has been published ! And is now available in the shop. "Treasure" is a book+CD and a wandering in the surroundings of Treasure Hill. Discover the video of presentation on Shijingren website.

It was almost one year without updating the personal webpage of Yannick Dauby. Now done.
We'll soon add a new book+CD publication in the shop section : a project by Shijingren (Yannick Dauby & Wan-Shuen Tsai) realized about Treasure Hill. Keep in touch.
We are seeking journalist and distributor for sharing the work made in collaboration with Atayal aborigine community in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Please read the blog of Atelier Hui-Kan about it. If you can help, please contact us.

Two new CDs in the Kalerne Shop ! Those are amazing works devoted to field recordings.
HEARD LABS : scientific laboratories explorations by Ernst Karel
WIND (PATAGONIA) : ode to the movement of air by Francisco Lopez.
Both are published by And/OAR (long life to this essential label).

Un essai à propos d'une écoute corporelle : De l'oreille et du reste du corps.
In Chinese : 耳朵與身體其他部位

Happy New Year of the Rabbit !
Kalerne Shop re-opens with new and old out-of-stock items !
A new updated selection of CD and vinyl records including long for selling worlwide.

And here is a new publication by Atelier Hui-Kan : 聽見桃山 － Listening to the Atayal in Taoshan
The community-based project in Atayal aborigine village Taoshan, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has ended by a beautiful CD, devoted to Atayal Culture. It contains field recordings, spoken words in Chinese and Mandarin, vocal and instrumental traditional music. The booklet contains all the English translations of songs and poems. Have a look to the video announcement.
Available online on Kalerne Shop.

Last days of an exhausting year. During the last months, there was really no time for doing sound composition, or nature recordings, no performances planned, no text written. Everything was devoted to two community projects in Hakka and Aborigine villages of Taiwan. We ended the work and will release soon online some informations about this project and the related publications.
Meanwhile, and since many friends were sharing my lack fo sun rays, I propose to listen to an old composition... Soleil.

It has been a very long time we could spare some time for recording the songs of the Frogs of Taiwan. But last Saturday I could get a new specie in my uncomplete collection : the Sauter's Frog ! Have a look to the blog of Atelier Hui-Kan for a few picture of that evening.

Update on the blog of Atelier Hui-Kan : work in progress in Táo Shān 桃山 Elementary Shool. A project about "art in community" commissioned by Cultural Affairs of Hsinchu county, dealing with field recordings, Atayal culture, sound poetry and traditional music.
Back in stock in Kalerne Shop : Yannick Dauby's CD "Février", published in Japan by Cherry Music in 2006. Reviews and samples on the label's webpage.

Some notes about a few CDs some friends shared with me. Quite enjoyable music !

Overflows is the title of the last CD of Yannick Dauby, released this month by France-based label Sonoris.
Yannick Dauby, originated from Mediterranean Alps and currently based in Taiwan. Sound and location, sound and community, sound and ecology, are the main topics of his projects. Overflows is a composition based on field recordings in natural, industrial and urban environments dealing with the overwhelming of listening. Fans of Francisco Lopez, Jean-François Laporte or Eric La Casa will be delighted.
Overflows est le titre du dernier CD de Yannick Dauby, publié ce mois-ci par le label bordelais Sonoris.
Yannick Dauby vit et travaille à Taïwan. Actif dans le domaine de la phonographie (ou field recording), il compose à partir des captations de son environnement naturel, industriel et urbain. Travail minutieux et précis à forte concentration poétique, 'Overflows' est une déambulation dans une écoute du monde suramplifié. À rapprocher des travaux d'Eric La Casa, Marc Namblard, Emmanuel Holterbach, Pali Meursault, Francisco López.
(description en français par le distributeur Metamkine)

It is time to change the homepage illustration ! Dolphins image succeed to frogs mosaique.
Because the CD "Songs of the Frogs of Taiwan vol1" by Yannick Dauby is almost SOLD OUT !
It is a big surprise but we hope to repring it soon (this summer) or later (next year). The volume 2 is still an active project : so far four of the 16 remaining species have been recorded. We hope to complete the sound inventory of Taiwan's amphibian fauna next year. So Vol2 should be available during summer 2011.
Another unexpected news concerning frogs is a threatening invasive specie being spotted in western Taiwan. Yang Yi-Ru already observed Polypedates leucomystax years ago, but now it seems reproducing and increasing its population in Taichung. Maybe it'll become the 33rd specie of Taiwan, but Pr.Yang is worrying that it comes into competition with the more local Polypedates megacephalus...
Last but not least : "Songs of the Frogs of Taiwan vol1" has been selected in the "Design and packaging" category for the Golden Melody Awards 2010. We are competing with four others CDs for the prize. Of course the jury couldn't resist to incredible artists such as Jam Wu and Li Jun-Yang who made the illustration ! :-)
Let's go back to cetaceans : the last trip to Hualien for recording dolphins wasn't a big success... We hope to meet cetacean biologist and collaborate for gathering more effectively the clicks and whistle of these fascinating animals...

Recently asked to collaborate to a public art project related to marine and harbour environment, I took the decision to realize something I hope since twelve years : go on an expedition for recording the sounds of cetaceans. Being one of the Cousteau-bred generation who spent hours and hours amongst the skeletons of whales in Oceanography Museum in Monaco, I finally went on whale-watching boat, in Hualien, Eastern Taiwan, in order to get an idea about this ambiguous and problematic context/situation. There, I finally ended in the office of one of the most important conservation and educational organization concerning Taiwan's marine environment : Kuroshio Ocean Educational Foundation. The connexion has been made with these passionated and knowledgeable volunteers and a collaboration is to come. Hope to record soon the sounds of the two dolphins species I could observe this week, the Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) and Spinner Dolphins (Stenella longirostris). Maybe the final aim isn't so much about gathering sounds but to understand how and why cetaceans are so important animals for personal and collective mythologies...
But for now, I just put online some old and short works related to cetaceans...

Kalerne is back ! After months of unsolved technical issues, new content appears !
SInce last year, many projects have been developped in parallel. Amongst those the Chiayi Sound Archive. The last recording session happened this winter 2010 in the mountains of Alishan. Have a look and listen to the Ritual for the God of War , amongst Tsou aborigines.

No important movements since the publication of the last CD. Except that a new project develop seriously, a lot of field recordings of natural environment, oral history, music collecting and other sounds : Chiayi Sound Project. This collaboration with Taiwanese folk music label Treesmusic 大大樹 is aiming to build a sound archive of the sound of the region of Chiayi, in the South of Taiwan. You may have a look at the recently opened blog .
Also, the content of Kalerne.net has been slightly reorganized. Especially all the activities related to Taiwan which are spread in the different existing categories. Hope you won't be lost...

HURRAH ! The new CD is out ! Yannick Dauby has recorded half of the species of Taiwan's frogs. Have a look to the amazing illustrations by taiwanese artists ! Listen to the sound extracts ! Read the booklet ! Enjoy the songs of the nature & love the frogs !

A new work by Yannick Dauby on ARTE-RADIO : a frog-collage from Taiwan ! Listen to it also here.
Nouvelle pièce de Yannick Dauby sur ARTE-RADIO : un collage de grenouilles taiwanaises ! À écouter ici.

La première publication de Shejingren (Yannick Dauby & Wan-Shuen Tsai) a vu le jour ! Notre livre Villages, Vestiges (144 pages avec CD audio) est un aller-retour entre les habitats traditionels de l'archipel de Peng-Hu (Taiwan) et quelques bâtisses abandonnées de Cunlhat (Auvergne). Lire la présentation de ce livre ainsi que quelques extraits sur le site de Shejingren . Ce livre est disponible dans la boutique Kalerne.
Shejingren (Yannick Dauby & Wan-Shuen Tsai) is very proud to announce the publication of Villages, Vestiges. This book (144 pages) accompanied with an audio CD retraces an ongoing process of exploration of traditional and abandonned houses in Cunlhat, Auverge (center of France) and Peng-Hu Archipelago in Taiwan.
Read a complete presentation with extracts of the book on Shejingren website. You can order the book on the Kalerne distribution page.

Quelques commentaires à propos de huit livres traitant de l'écoute de l'animal. Entre bioacoustique, zoomusicologie, art sonore et anthropologie... Sorry, no English translation today...

Have you heard about the Hakka people of Taiwan ? About instrumental Bayin music ? About the rare Tiexianzai ? And even about the Dam project in Meinung ? If yes, then maybe you don't need to go and listen our report about Bayin in Meinung !

Have you seen the new homepage image ? This is a Golden Weasel that would have loved to explore my bagpack when hiking in Shei-Pa National Park. You are invited to take a look and a listen to bird songs and pictures of this beautiful mountain area of Taiwan.

New CD added in the distribution catalogue : Wind[Patagonia] by Francisco Lopez. Don't miss this stunning immersion into the movement of air. Also added to the Shop, the last three Kalerne Temporary Editions, CDrs by Yannick Dauby (Nous les défunts, Songs of a few crickets from Europe, Volcanic Tattooed Toads).

One of the problem when one has friends living in remote area is that it is difficult to meet them. The advantage is when those friends are visiting, they have amazing stories to tell, transporting us into their own experience and imaginary. Hitoshi Kojo and Carole Kojo Zweifel, two oniric and sonic story-tellers, were living in Mongolia during six months or so. Kalerne is immensely glad to share a few fragments of their daily life in steppes and taïga, in the locations of Khuvsghul & Khoton.

One of our closest collaborator and friend, Hughes Germain, is lucky enough to work in Africa, in Burkina-Faso to be more precise. He kindly shared to us two amazing phonographies where some people's work underline the acoustic of the city...
L'un de nos plus proches collaborateur et ami, Hughes Germain, a la chance de travailler en Afrique, au Burkina-Faso pour être plus précis. Il nous partage avec nous deux incroyables phonographies, où le travail manuel souligne l'acoustique de la cité...

Sometimes, amongst old or more recent books I meet surprisingly poetic quotes and illustrations. Here is my selection.
Je rencontre parfois dans mes lectures des citations ou illustrations qui ouvrent de véritables espaces imaginaires. En voici une sélection.

Another ethnomusicological fragment of Taiwan : the traditional song Bao-Ge, as it is practiced in Peng-Hu archipelago. As we are speaking of Peng-Hu... Have you heard about the last disaster, the death of 99% of all corals (except in Chimey island) during the winter 2008 ? Now, we can see in the future another disaster : an amazingly stupid mass-tourism development based on the construction of... A CASINO. Imagine the kind of tourists attracted by this new activity, imagine the effect on local education and mentality. You'll find more information in Chinese on the blog Love-Peng-Hu. Good Luck Peng-Hu. :-(

I have been invited to work on a sound archive project in Chiayi, Taiwan. Here are a few anecdotes from the first recording session.

Kalerne is now distributing a selection of publications related to our favourite topics : Sound Art and Environment. For the moment two CDs has been added : A project about Singing Sands by Isobel Clouter and Rob Mullender, and an in-site improvisation in a forest at the border of Italy and Slovenia by the collective Revenant. Check our catalogue !

Avis ! Pour bien finir l'année 2008, et pour se régaler les oreilles, les Éditions Kalerne offrent un disque de Marc Namblard "Chants of Frozen Lakes" aux nouveaux abonnés de la revue Sonatura. Profitez de cette occasion exceptionelle (valable du 24 au 31 décembre 2008) et faites passer le message !

Yes, but in Taiwan ! Here it is.

Just added to the collection of Kalerne Temporary Editions :
kaltemp05 : Volcanic Tattooed Toads
kaltemp06 : Songs Of A Few Crickets From Europe
kaltemp07 : Nous, les défunts
These three CDrs are physical and hi-quality version (sometimes extended version) of works published online. They are available only in Taiwan, in good shops such as Yo-He Book in Danshui...

Jacques Sirot, un visiteur régulier de Kalerne, nous envoie ce suprenant témoignage à propos d'un phénomène acoustique survenu dans un supermarché...

Here is a new section of articles :  Fragments of Ethnomusicology. Why ? Because in Taiwan, we have opportunities to encounter traditional forms of music. For example : Hakka Bayin, Penghu's Baoge, Aboriginal songs. And most of the musical entities are disappearing slowly. So here is the first fragment that we would like to share : the Pasta'ai of the Saisiyat.

Rain, rain, rain. A lot of typhoons for this autumn in Taiwan. Last year, Gruenrekorder published an online release entitled "Autumn leaves". Here is one of the pieces of this compilation : a phonography from Kuan-Yun Mountain.

Taiwan, summer 2008. A flock of cicadas. A lot of ghosts. Processions, chants and death. Have a listen !

A new category of articles : Chiroptera, devoted to the bats.
And a new article by naturalist Antoine Griboval who made experiences with stereo ultrasonic transducers...

After a few hesitations, here is the english version of the two first conferences held in Taipei Artist Village, last autumn. Thanks a lot to Patrick McGinley for the translation.
The new image on the front page is an old photograph found in an abandonned house in Peng-Hu Archipelago. More informations and projects about Peng-Hu in the next months...

At least ! I've recorded them... The Volcanic Tatooed Toads !  ^_^

New cricket in the collection ! Pteronemobius heydenii, the Marsh Cricket !  Recorded last night in Auvergne (France) !

Another phonography of Taiwan : the wind of Penghu archipelago.
This soundwork will be played during Shejingren exhibition about abandonned coral houses at CoLLombier (Auvergne, Fr) this month. 

La création sonore, résultat de l'atelier mené sur les îles du Frioul en avril 2008, ainsi que le documentaire retraçant ce projet, a été diffusée le Dimanche 25 mai à Montevidéo, à Marseille, lors du festival Engrenages. Elle est désormais en ligne.
Have a listen to the sound work realized during a workshop about soundscape and phonography in Marseille, in April 2008, about the small island Frioul.

Quelques jours avant la séance d'écoute de la création de l'atelier Kelmori, voici quelques phonographies réalisées sur les îles du Frioul.
Did you notice the new illustration ? This humanimal was drawn by Caroline Bouissou ! 

Auditory tourism : Have a listen to four locations in Donostia, Spain !
Kelmori est à jour ! 

An article about speed and animal songs.
And another about les Crapauds (which means "the toads" in French...).

For courageous listeners, there is a new phonography in the "Herpetology and Entomology" section. It relates... Well... Everything is in the title : The Agony Of A Frog.
Kelmori project is also updated.

Kalerne Editions, in collaboration with Atelier Hui-Kan 回看工作室, released their first CD.
Chants Of Frozen Lakes, by naturalist and sound artist Marc Namblard, contains 55 minutes of amazing field recordings of a rare natural phenomena : the acoustic resonances of a frozen lake. This release is available through our online shop. Have a listen to the audio extracts...

In collaboration with Atelier Hui-Kan 回看 工作室, Kalerne Editions will publish very soon its first audio CD. It'll be a full-length release of Marc Namblard's field recordings. Marc is a French naturalist and sound artist who spent winters and winters to record acoustic resonances of frozen lakes. Stay in touch for more informations. And check Atelier Hui-Kan's blog for images from the printing company...

A short report about a pedagogic intervention at Taipei Municipal Dun Hua Primary School 臺北市敦化國小.
Have a listent to the kids's reinterpretation of Taiwan's soundscape !

For those travelling or staying in Taiwan... Atelier Hui-Kan 回看 工作室 is a new-born organization promoting artistic, environmental and pedagogic activities. Visit the blog !

On the 21st of Feb.2008 was the 6th and last session of the "Soundscape and Soundart" Seminar held in Taipei Artist Village. For this session we had a very special guest : Chen Chen-Hsiang, who is a naturalist and bioacoustician, specialist in cicadas. Here are the recording (in Chinese), informations and notes (in English) of this conference : CHEN Chen-Hsiang : About cicadas from Taiwan and their songs.
Also added : playlist of the 6th session .

Added : Playlist of the 5th session of the Soundscape and Sound Art seminar.

Does Taiwan's mountains have a frog doing ultrasonic songs ?
The answer is : maybe Rana swinhoana is able to produce and perceive sounds above our hearing limitations.
Check out the article about Swinhoe's frog in 'Entomology and herpetology' or 'Animal phonography in Taiwan' sections. Direct link.

Kalerne's best wishes : Let's hope that the number of animal and plants species that will be considered as extinct during this year of 2008 won't be too important.

Gland, Switzerland, 12 September, 2007, World Conservation Union (IUCN) – Life on Earth is disappearing fast and will continue to do so unless urgent action is taken, according to the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. There are now 41,415 species on the IUCN Red List and 16,306 of them are threatened with extinction, up from 16,118 last year. The total number of extinct species has reached 785 and a further 65 are only found in captivity or in cultivation. One in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70% of the world’s assessed plants on the 2007 IUCN Red List are in jeopardy. Read more

Added : the playlist of 4th listening session of Soundscape and Soundart Seminar in Taipei Artist Village. This was a selection of amazing sound works devoted to animal sounds.

Kalerne Temporary Editions includes a new CDr : La rivière penchée, a reissue of Yannick Dauby's LP published in 2003 by Alluvial Recordings.
Also the english translation of Digital Sound Art Prize 2007 arrived : "Sound Art ?" in the Essay section.

I was invited by EtatLab to participate to the jury of the Sound Art Prize of the Digital Art Awards in Taipei. The report I wrote about this concourse is in "Activities in Taiwan / Soundscape and soundart seminar" for the Chinese version, and in the section "Essays about sound environment / Paysages sonore et art sonore" for the French version. The English version will come later...

A new article about some recordings of water bugs in the Herpetology and Entomology category (Phonography).
Chinese version of the conference text about phonography is in the Soundscape and Sound Art seminar category (Activities in Taiwan). We hope that the English version comes very soon...

Visit the new section devoted to Kalerne Editions. Sometimes Kalerne will have some physical
outputs. The first three releases are : Songs of a few amphibians from Taiwan, Songs of a few crickets from Europe, Songs of a few cicadas from Taiwan. Read the story of these three cdrs...
Added also the playlist of the second sessions of the Soundscape and Soundart seminar.
And finally the links page appeared...

A new category devoted to interviews and meeting with people involved with listening, field recording and environment. The two first articles are about Francisco Lopez and Kiyoshi Mizutani.
Also new, a phonography from Taiwan : frogs and prayers...

Un petit essai d'ethnographie du nouvel an napolitain par Olivier Féraud. Voir la rubrique consacrée aux paysage sonores. (Sorry, if you can't read French you'll miss an essay by Olivier Féraud about napolitan new year's night)
 

Another moment with Taiwan's naturalists and animals. Not birdwatching but frogwatching !
Listen to this small documentary in Wandering in Taiwan category (Activities in Taiwan section)
or in Audio Documentary category (Sound Creation section).

Have you ever heard the Serpent Crested Eagle and/or Taiwanese Birdwatchers ?
Go to the [sound creation / audio documentary] or [activities in taiwan / animal phonography in taiwan] sections !  

Six sessions including discussions and listening of soundworks by international artists and researchers.
Themes : listening the environment, phonography, soundscape and experimental music.
From September 07 to February 08.
Please see "Activities in Taiwan" section for full description. 

New articles :
- Gryllidae
- Pipistrelles
- Lane 72, Minjih St., Yong-He

News on Kalerne.net :
- a section devoted to field works and regular activities in Taiwan.
- a new project, Kelmori, about the soundscape of small mediterranean islands. 

Welcome on the new form of kalerne.net !