Onassis Radiophonics - Episode 4

Episode 4

Can news become the prime matter of a radio play? This question is answered by the play "NEWS", which comprises the “re-editing” of the most important news of the weekly agenda. As we are found immersed into a mishmash of news (as well as fake news) on a daily basis, how much do we really absorb? How easy is it to direct our attention? Words are packed and smashed, and they leave with a bang. This trajectory of information is captured by the mechanism of the play "NEWS".

Dramaturg: Nikolas Hanakoulas
Text processing, sound design: Gavriil Kamaris
Puredata coding: Fotios Kontomichos
Production Management: Delta Pi
Produced by Onassis Stegi

The fourth radio show is about the week no 23 of 2020, that starts on June 1st, and ends on Sunday, June 7, 2020.

Presented by: Thanos Tokakis

Contains excerpts from Oswald Spengler’s book “Der Untergang des Abendlandes” (“The Decline of the West”), translated into Greek by Lefteris Anagnostou (Typothito publications, 2003).

Radio play for three voices and electronics

With ‘Pygmalion’ from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” as starting point, Nikos Palamaris and Andreas Levisianos provide us with a version of the myth focusing on the relationship between the creator and their work. Pygmalion appears as an artist who is deeply touched by his work’s beauty and wishes upon bringing it to life, so that he won’t feel lonely anymore. Yet, his creation, Galatea, following her own will, decides to let loose from him. Pygmalion’s erotic anticipations and expectations are not being met. He bears witness to an emancipation similar to that of a work which, upon leaving its creator’s hands, takes its own course.

Credits

Composition, Sound Design, Coding, Direction: Nikos Palamaris & Andreas Levisianos
Texts: Ovid, ‘Pygmalion’ from “Metamorphoses” (Book Χ, 245-297), translated into Greek by Theodoros Yannatos, Athens: Difros, 1966
Dimitris Dimitriadis, ‘Art’ from “Lethe-Oblivion and four more monologs,” Athens: Agra publications, 2000

Galatea: Maria Olga Athinaiou
Pygmalion: Miltiadis Fiorentzis
Narrator: Mary Mina

Text Editor, Production Coordinator: Katerina Tsesmetzi
Recordings: Studio 19st.

Created by Nikos Palamaris & Andreas Levisianos

Duration: 26 mins

The work’s form is based on the evolution of two parallel sonic events: on the one hand, Pygmalion’s voice (Miltiadis Fiorentzis) expresses his thoughts and attitude towards art and the artistic world; and on the other, Galatea’s voice (Maria Olga Athinaiou) is constructed through a composition of vowels, phonemes, syllables, words and, ultimately, complete phrases. These two events are interrupted by the narrator’s voice (Mary Mina) who relates the myth from the original text of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” (Greek translation). Pygmalion’s text is based on Dimitris Dimitriadis’ monolog “Art” – part of his work “Lethe-Oblivion” – which is algorithmically processed (2nd order Markov chain). The algorithm divides the text in triads of words, creating a table of probabilities based on their occurrence. This results in a seemingly incoherent and incomprehensible speech, yet so repetitive that gives the impression of a ‘peculiar language’, continuous and relevant. We get inside Pygmalion’s mind, and we listen to the essence of his thoughts, before they are pronounced.

Galatea’s voice is created through electronic composition techniques (FFT Analysis - Resynthesis, Formant Synthesis, Granulation, Time Stretching, Spectral Filtering). Starting with white noise as raw material, and concluding with a human voice, the process resembles the creation of a statue – the way raw ivory turns into a human being. The noise is filtered according to the different vocal tract resonances (formants). This results in a creation of synthesized textures that gradually turn into human phonemes, which in turn form syllables, words and phrases, moving from something synthesized, digital, generic to something that is human, analog, and personalized. When Galatea finally ‘comes to life’ and gets her own voice, she copies Pygmalion’s speech. Gradually, she acquires her own personal style, ending as a distinct being. This follows the course of every work after its creation, moving beyond its creator.

Nikos Palamaris – Andreas Levisianos