AIYÉNIARIWO

AIYÉNIARIWO is a 60-minute documentary sound art work Designed for small movie theaters. There’s no image in this documentary, so is a pure sound landscapes experience. The work is divided into 4 acts, where the sounds of human beings and nature are delocalized and transformed to let the narration make sense from a purely sensory point of view.

AIYÉNIARIWO refers to the sound concept within the African mystical tradition, specifically in the Yoruba of Nigeria. A few years ago I was studying these concepts before going to Cameroon to record the sounds of the Baka pygmies, specifically as in African traditions the word “sound” was described as a vehicle that allowed to articulate an abstract idea in a concrete way – for example, to communicate thought as if it were matter -. The sound also has a power of invocation that would allow to reach psychic powers of a brutal power.

The African tradition considers the sound in a much broader way than the superficial meaning given to this word. The Yoruba of Nigeria have surely been the ones who make the most references to the mysticism of sound in their legends, poems and proverbs. It is common to find in his verses how sound becomes matter and then vital essence. For example, references to the first birth of the sound of water, and after the water itself.

The title you see below is a compound word, which means “The earth is noisy (you can also say a clamor, or a noise).”

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31092138

Length: 60 minutos
Directed by: José Bautista
Narrative Sound Design: José Bautista
Dolby Atmos Mastering: José Bautista at Best Digital Studios (Madrid)