In ‘Voskarettin’, the greatness of the shepherd’s life conceptually interacts with the non-real, intending to produce a creative juxtaposition between the plain and the complex, the natural and the artificial, the pure and the noisy within a context of autonomy as agency. Primary sounds derive from ’pithkiavlin’, the Cyprus flute traditionally played by (the few left) Cypriot shepherds. Inspired by the poem of Kyriakos Karneras (1900-1986) “I am”: I am illiterate, benighted, unable my own two nails to see. I am an earthworm in the soil, barely fiddling with the ground. I am a rough-cut wood barely burning in the fire, I lead a shepherd’s life, and as a shepherd I shall die. Penniless my father is, lightless I shall live.
Yiannis Christidis is an artist and sound researcher. He has studied Cultural Technology and Communication at the University of the Aegean, holds an MSc in Sound Design from the University of Edinburgh, and a PhD in Social Anthropology of Sound from Cyprus University of Technology. His academic and artistic research focuses on the cultural aspect of sound, and its functionality in everyday life and the relationship between the listeners and their place. He has designed sound and music for audiovisual and radio productions, web applications, and theatrical activities.
