Composition of electroacoustic music for recorded media

The work PS[44] MA is a short composition of electroacoustic music commissioned by the Museum of Solomos and Eminent Zakynthians of Zakynthos in July 2021.

The work is an improvisation, a kind of free associations, which develops within a dynamic field extended around notions of Zakynthos. Thus, the first association also gives the title to this work and is related to the two most prominent Zakynthians -- Dionysios Solomos and Andreas Kalvos -- and how Manolis Anagnostakis connects them in his collection PS of single line poems. Other associations that contribute to the structure and development of this work are created by some additional information material such as the phrase: "Andreas Kalvos [...] contemporary of Solomos, was born in 1792 in Zakynthos [...]" as well as two articles by Mr. Yannis Demetis: The "senia" of the bell tower of the Holy Church of Agios Dionysios and The Zakynthian Festivals and the "Fires".

The sound theme of the work is based on two sound-signals (characteristic sounds closely associated with a place and/or time) of Zakynthos, namely the bells of the Church of Agios Dionysios and the "fires", i.e. the fireworks. Audio material from on-site recordings taken from the internet as well as from a reconstruction of the bells in the studio, with the addition of other relevant recordings, constitute the audio core of this work. This material is complemented by processed audio samples from recordings of two children's voices "reciting"  the first three verses of the Fourth Ode  by A. Kalvos as well as the 44th one-liner from the collection PS by Manolis Anagnostakis; the first of these audio-materials appears at two key points of the work -- distorted, as if it came from an otherworldly broadcast having undergone countless distortions, conveying a message, which, however, continues to be as relevant as ever -- while the second is heard here and there mostly like a sound effect.

Many thanks to:
The Director of the Museum of Solomos and Eminent Zakynthians, Mrs. Katerina Demeti, for including electroacoustic music works in its digital exhibits as well as for providing very useful information material.
The professor of the Ionian University, Mr. Stavros Vlizos, for the collaboration with the Electroacoustic Music Research and Applications Laboratory of the Department of Music Studies (EPHMEE).
The professor of music technology at the Trikala Music School, Mr. Ioannis Spyrakis, for letting me use some of his recordings of bells.
Dr. Mikis Zisiou, for the audio samples of his children, Socrates and Ismene.
Enjoy 
Corfu, July 27, 2021
Andreas Mniestris