Noisy Memory - by Brian Harnetty

About the Book

"Composer and sound artist Brian Harnetty explores the remarkable everyday stories of sound recordings and shows us a new way to listen to the past. From murder ballads and oral histories in Appalachian Ohio, to the Afrofuturistic music of Sun Ra in Chicago, to the thoughts of monk and writer Thomas Merton in Kentucky captured on audiotape, Harnetty reveals rich historical contexts of the recordings, and introduces us to people and places connected to them. The result is a new, interdisciplinary approach to sound archives, listening, creative practice, and community engagement. Drawing upon his two-decade career as an artist and researcher, Harnetty builds upon and expands the tradition of composers and artists writing about their work. A unique combination of ethnography, memoir, philosophical text, and creative process book, Noisy Memory presents both scholarly and creative approaches to ethically working with sound archives"--

Book Synopsis

Composer and sound artist Brian Harnetty explores the remarkable everyday stories of sound recordings and shows us a new way to listen to the past. From murder ballads and oral histories in Appalachian Ohio, to the Afrofuturistic music of Sun Ra in Chicago, to the recorded thoughts of monk and writer Thomas Merton in Kentucky, Harnetty reveals rich historical contexts of the recordings and introduces us to the people and places connected to them. The result is a new, interdisciplinary approach to sound archives, listening, creative practice, and community engagement.

Drawing on his two-decade career as an artist and researcher, Harnetty builds upon and expands the tradition of composers and artists writing about their work. A unique combination of ethnography, memoir, philosophical text, and meditation on the creative process, Noisy Memory presents both scholarly and innovative approaches to ethically working with sound archives.

Review Quotes

"A beautifully rendered mix of memoir, creative practice, deep listening, and social history, Noisy Memory insists that cultural studies can be both scholarly and personal, artful and ethical. Brian Harnetty reminds us that archival study is never neutral but always situated--materially, socially, historically, and politically--in community. This book is a model for community-engaged humanistic scholarship."--Ryan Thomas Skinner, author of Afro-Sweden: Becoming Black in a Color-Blind Country

"A deeply personal rumination on how [Harnetty] listens empathetically and critically to diverse forms of recordings. . . . Comparing musical analysis, a form of sonic ethnography, and composition to literary writing, he maintains that understanding requires concerted recognition of time and place."--Library Journal

About the Author

Brian Harnetty is an interdisciplinary sound artist, composer, and author.