Requiem of the River

Over the nine decades my Grandmother Kee has been alive, she has gone through uncountable experiences. She has experienced losses – most  notably the tragic deaths of 2 of her children at young ages, and one at an older age from cancer. She lost two children, one at 3 years old from complications after drowning in front of her and another at 6 months old from sickness.

(he) was watching me preparing the boat to sell noodles, he sat in between the walkway and the boat, and he accidentally fell in the water, almost dragging the boat. I was scared that the boat would drown (with food prepared to sell), so I tied up the boat first before helping him. But it was too late. He was in the hospital for a long time. We even went to Siriraj hospital

My grandmother recalled her stories vividly. Despite the pain induced from losing her own kins, she pulled through for those who are alive. She talked in detail as if she was going back in her memories – I swear I could feel her pain and her strength. She hides so much pain just to not worry others.

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These tragic events happened by the Amphawa canal, as their lives were deeply intertwined with this waterbody. I imagined being in her shoes, while almost losing one child from drowning, and then losing 2 children; one from a drowning accident that she seems to feel guilty for, even though it was an accident. I imagined the scene by the waterbody. I processed the sound of pouring water through the  reverb of the synthesizer Comet by  Polyverse Music - , I played with different parameters while recording. I started with more pre-delay, more diffuse, 100% wet and full decay, then I shifted the parameters; while imagining the feeling that this same water they used for survival also took away the life of their loved one. 

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Rain sounds collected from field recording were also used, as well as water dropping sounds in different pitches and panning. Echoing the technique used by Westerkamp in her piece Into the Labyrinth, I morphed one element into the others. I intended to walk the audience through these tragic events; like Westerkamp walks the listeners through her journey in India. To make the listeners follow through this water steam, arriving in this Amphawa setting. I created some spaces of calmer water and showering rain to let the listeners settle in first, before taking them to the wild ride as my grandmother felt helpless, unable to save her own son from drowning and that her son suffered in the hospital and still didn’t recover.