At the end of Jun of 2019, a group of sound artists went on a two week-trip to Letea, a village at the Danube delta in Romania. The purpose was to field record and experiment with soundscapes. After a flight, a long bus and boat trip, we headed towards Letea on a sandy and bumpy road. There was nothing much but vast wetlands, frogs, lots of mosquitos and of course sounds. Lots of sounds.
Exactly what we needed for our purpose there. The days were very hot and humid, but also quiet, and not much interesting sound wise. Opposite to this, the complete darkness full of stars was perfect for recordings the soundscapes. The forest, the wild horses, frogs, mosquitos, the boat trips, the Lipovean babushkas and the rich quietness of the Danube Delta were the true leitmotif of our stay there.
At one point at the end of our stay we also did 24 hours open mic on LOCUS SONUS, preceded by a live radio show, presenting stories and glamorous raw recordings in a broadcast from our beautiful traditional wood house. We opened the microphones installed on the straw roof, on the South border of the village, by a small and charming channel of the Danube, full of wildlife positively expressive at that time of the night and day, for the listeners to dive into. This is a small part of what we were listening to those days at Letea.
A night in Letea is recorded and produced by Toni Dimitrov during Sonic Future Residencies in Danube Delta, 2019, organised by www.semisilent.ro.
