How do the sounds of everyday life resonate in the words of poets? How do poets listen to the world? Watchers of the unnoticed, learned listeners, they very often suggest unexpected and profound ways of listening to them. “Listen more often to Things than to Beings…”, writes the Senegalese poet Birago Diop in Breaths. Bursts of voices from a loved and remembered poem.
This episode was recorded during an improvisation and interpretation workshop led by Monica Fantini as part of an artist residency at the Alliance française de Ziguinchor, in Senegal, in March 2023. Thanks to the participants in residence: the poet Chehem Watta, the playwright and actress Danielle Lyse Itoumba Mbeng and the writer and director Luc Alanda.
LISTEN TO THE WORLD, IN BRIEF
Both a radio program broadcast every Sunday in the RFI news bulletin and a participatory platform, Listening to the world lets you hear the cultures, languages and imaginations of the world through sounds from Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Hundreds of programs can be listened to as a podcast on this site, while the participatory and evolving platform offers sound postcards and recordings. To date, 245 sound recordings are available for free access.
Author and coordinator of Ecouter the worldMonica Fantini listens, records and composes sound pieces from everyday sounds : slamming of the gates of the Paris metro, harangues of vendors at the Bobo-Dioulasso market in Burkina Faso, creaking of glaciers in Patagonia, rolling of horse-drawn carriages in Dakar or the bells of Saint Mark’s Square at midnight in Venice, voices of poets… bursts of life with which she weaves stories to tell the world, create links and share knowledge.
From their collection to the creation of sound works and their dissemination, Monica Fantini seeks the collaboration of artists, researchers, composers, journalists and writers, in order to federate a large community. and to share experiences and knowledge in different approaches to sound. With the ambition to develop the practice, the meaning and the pleasure of listening, she also leads sound workshops for all audiences: teachers, children, students, migrants, prisoners, poets, musicians… Finally, the sound creations of Listening to the World are regularly the subject of public presentations within the framework of festivals, exhibitions, symposiums and dedicated cultural events. , imagined by the authors of the platform. Every year, the National Library of France gives Monica Fantini carte blanche around Listening to the World.