The slamming of the gates of the Paris metro, the rolling of horse-drawn carriages in Dakar, the creaking of glaciers in Patagonia, the chirping of cicadas in Tokyo, the cry of street vendors in Cairo… Here everyone listens to the world. Make everyone listen to everyone… What for?
Series ” One thousand and one gills »
” One thousand and one gills is a series of seven episodes devoted to the multiple and complex meanings of the verb “to listen”. What does it mean to “listen”? Does noise have the power to call us back to life? Why don’t the ears have eyelids? Listening and listening to oneself, is it the same thing? Quotations from poets, philosophers, composers, intertwined with my reflections, but also sounds and words from the sound vocabulary weave a discourse with several voices. If there are a thousand and one hearings, a thousand and one ways of describing them must also be able to be expressed. From the dreams of Gaston Bachelard to those of Roland Barthes or Peter Szendy; poems by Walt Whitman and Suzanne Doppelt, studies by futurist composer Luigi Russolo and contemporary Nicolas Frize… What secrets does listening reveal?
Dear soul, listen to me…
Genesis of the ideaOne thousand and one gills»
“Listener” to world sounds for ten years, I have been composing sound pieces for RFI for the program “Ecouter le monde”, all shared on this page. This daily practice of listening is accompanied by readings that feed my thinking, amplify my ability to listen. By definition invisible and elusive, the sound material is difficult to describe. Often the words are missing or remain unused. With this new series, I want to listen to words chosen from my little library, intertwined with mine, in resonance with the sounds of the world. “One thousand and one gillsis an intimate and semantic exploration of the verb “listen” and the various ways of listening and saying it.
Bibliography of citations
NightEtel Adnan, translated by Françoise Despalles, Editions de l’Attente, 2017
ancestralGoliarda Sapienza, translated by Nathalie Castagné, Éditions Le Tripode, 2021
The right to dream Gaston Bachelard, PUF Editions, 1970
The invisible citiesItalo Calvino, translated by Jean Thibaudeau, Éditions Gallimard, 2013
The art of noises− Futurist Manifesto 1913, Luigi Russolo, Éditions Allia, 2003
Study of the cultural references that surround and define the notion of noise, the actions of hearing and listeningNicolas Frize, Editions Le Plan Urbain – Ministry of Equipment – 1995
lend an ear − Small conference on listeningPeter Szendy, Bayard Editions, 2017
Margin notebooksRoland Dubillard, Editions Gallimard, 1998
The Obvie and the Obtuse. Critical Essays 3Roland Barthes, Editions du Seuil, 1982
Mechanic amusementsSuzanne Doppelt, POL Editions, 2014
Leaves of GrassWalt Whitman, 1855
And more words gleaned and intertwined from Arthur Rimbaud, Colette, Marcel Proust, Francis James, Victor Hugo, Romain Rolland…
Thanks to Giulia Camin, head of the contemporary poetry library at ipm (Marseille International Poetry Center), for his poetic suggestions.
Production team
Design, writing, editing, mixing: Monica Fantini
Voice recording and mixing assistance: Laurence Allanic and Pascal Boungo – Creation Unit
Listen to The World on
Both a radio program broadcast every Sunday in RFI’s news bulletin and a participatory platform, “Listen to the world” lets people hear the cultures of the world through everyday sounds. Hundreds of shows can be listened to as a podcast on this page, while the evolving platform www.ecouterlemonde.net offers sound postcards and recordings. To date, 245 sound recordings are available for free access.