Apian

Apian and Laurent Güdel just released an audio piece on Cassette.

Hiss is a sonic ethnography exploring listening practices in beekeeping. Made in collaboration with the beekeeper Hassan Souaf, the 29-minute piece navigates through the acoustic space of his apiary. Recorded near Inzerki, Morocco — home of the world’s largest migratory apiary — Hiss centres on Hassan’s modest congregation of bee organisms, hived in both traditional and modern beehives. Twenty-two years of practice has provided Hassan with listening abilities to analyse specific sonic cues, allowing him to monitor and predict bee behaviour. Building upon a conversation which discusses these skills, Hiss interweaves recordings of honeybees together with Laurent’s electronic music. The result momentarily unites an array of acoustic communities into a polyphonic interspecies composition.

The tape was designed by Dimitri Jeannottat, mastered by Bob Bellerue, and copy edited by Ellen Lapper. A special thanks to Hassan Souaf and Mohamed Ounih.

It is the first edition of 100 copies, and we’re selling them for 20€ + shipping (depending on the destination). The production price was exactly 15.58€ per tape – we got carried away with fancy printing and a dense leaflet, hence the expensive price for a tape. If you want a copy, just send us an email with your address to hi@apian.ch Payment-wise, we only accept PayPal, or you can order via Laurent Güdel’s Bandcamp – which is easier. Otherwise, if you are in London or Bienne (CH) we can arrange a hand-to-hand exchange.