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[1] 

Between 1850 and 1971 the Selk’nam or Ona, Indians from Fireland in the South of Argentina, died out. This disaster happened, because the new white people (mainly English) used the Indians as slaves and of course the Indians lost her land. The Indians had nothing to eat and so they got tuberculoses and died. They had to be Christians to get bread from the Salesian monks. In 1966 the American anthropologist Anne Chapman made a last recording from the Chants of the Selk’nam. The Shaman Lola Kiepja sang these songs. She was at that time 85 years old. From Anne I got the original recordings. These form the base for my composition “Hain”. Later I wrote “Karryon” (I listen to what other people are telling me) and here I used both my own recordings (interviews, songs) as well as the Chants of Lola

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[2] https://michaelfahres.bandcamp.com/album/the-tubes

[3] 

The breath sounds used in “The tubes” are produced by the giant volcanic tube system found near the village of Echedo on the Canary island El Hierro, where the surf of the sea sets the air in motion. In 1994 I recorded the “breathing” of the tubes for 15 hours and shortened these to the duration of 39’36”. This was necessary because the air noises were often very loud, the blast of wind very strong and the recordings oversteered and distorted. This was the first version of The Tubes.
The first solo voice of the piece was recorded in 1995 at ABC Radio studio in Sydney. The Aboriginal musician Mark Atkins played didgeridoos of different lengths (2 and 2,5 meters). The second solo voice was recorded in October 2000 by Jon Hassell on trumpet, using Dan Schwarz’s old tube mikes, at the “Factory place studio” of Michael Hoenig (former member of the synthesizer group ‘Tangerine Dream’) in Los Angeles. A fourth “synthetic” layer, which consists, among other things, of air sounds from humming tops and electronically generated sea noise, completes “The Tubes”.
In May 2003 “The Tubes” was mixed and finished again in the studio of Michael Hoenig. “The Tubes” had the radio premiere simultaneously in the “Studio for Acoustic Art” of “Westdeutscher Rundfunk” in Cologne and in “4FM” by the Dutch broadcaster NPS in Hilversum in January 2004.

[4] Nachhören in:

Mensch, Tier, Soundart III: “Cetacea” von Michael Fahres
WDR 3 Studio Akustische Kunst 04.01.2025 59:43 Min. Available till 04.01.2027 WDR 3
https://www1.wdr.de/mediathek/audio/wdr3/studio-akustische-kunst/audio-mensch-tier-soundart-iii-cetacea-von-michael-fahres-100.html

Zusammen mit dem legendären Meistertrommler Doudou N’Daye Rose erforscht Michael Fahres die Schnittmenge der Laute von Delfinen und der Sabar-Trommel-Sprache. Ihr gemeinsames Projekt bei Traumzeitfestival 2006 war ein polyrhythmisches Anti-Babylon.

[5] 

The “Risco de Tibataje” is an 8 km long and 1000 meter high rock face, which is located in the gulf of the smallest Canary Island El Hierro. It was recorded with three large drums differently positioned in front of the massif.
You can hear the “Bajada” rhythms, which, interpreted musically in various ways, are answered by Tibataje with reverb and echo. Tibataje resonates and sings his own song.
“Tibataje” aims at aggrandizing, clarifying, changing and uncovering the specific characteristics of the mountain using music as its means. The creative process confronted with the laws of nature and their sensory expressions are the leitmotif of this piece.
Center to the composition are rhythmic variations, used during a religious celebration taking place every four years, the “Bajada de la Virgen de los Reyes”. These rhythms are only played during the Bajada and are protected. Out of respect for this tradition, the recorded rhythms are an interpretation of the original ones. Three drummers react to each other, their own echo and the echo of the other instrumentalists. Tibataje resonates, answers and sings its own song. The composition tells the story of the landscape, like a sound polaroid, a sonic print of the surroundings.
The sound recordings were made in April 2009 during the project “Islas resonantes” commissioned by Septenio Canario (Gobierno de Canarias).
(see also Una Hora or El Risco)