There’s hardly a better way to learn about yourself than having an outsider’s viewpoint on things you may consider usual or even common. Here’s a good example of that.
I’ve got a letter from Des Coulam today. Let me remind you that Des is running a beautiful blog called Soundlandscapes. He is an Englishman living in Paris and he shares great knowledge and passion for Paris life, and also as an experienced recordist – street sounds in particular. If you have an interest in any of these do visit his blog and you won’t be dissapointed.
Des recorded a marriage ceremony lately, but it wasn’t an ordinary one… Or was it? A wedding conducted in the pretty usual way (for many), an Orthodox church ceremony – held by the Orthodox priest and a choir with all the rituals normally present. It was a Franco-Russian wedding though, the bride came from Russia and the groom was French.
This is the point when the whole story begins to sound different. The Orthodox ceremony thousands miles away from Russia, at the 15th century church of Saint-Medard in Paris, conducted in Russian and French, partially recorded, and then sent to Russia – what a journey! It doesn’t sound new or different now but it certainly draws attention to the hidden beauty of this sound and this ceremony, once again.
It is my pleasure to invite you to Des Coulam’ Soundscapes for more sounds from that wedding (which is a glorious organ recording actually) and from Paris as well. Thank you Des and tchin tchin for Anastasia and Mikael!
Recorded by Des Coulam, soundlandscapes.wordpress.com
Vladimir,
Greetings from Paris!
It was a great pleasure to send you the sounds from the Franco-Russian wedding. As soon as the Russian Orthodox priest started to sing I just knew that I had to send the recording to you. Congratulations on the blog piece that you have made of it. Excellent.
I really do enjoy your blog. It’s very professional, very well thought out and, as one would expect from a professional journalist, crisp and very readable. Well done and keep up the good work. You really do bring your wonderful country to life and you evoke very fond memories for me.
Thank you for the kind words Des. It is great to see this blog acting as a bridge between people and places at last. Please feel free to ask for any sound from Russia you would like to hear on oontz.ru, it could be easily recorded upon request.