LISTENING

Listening is always a socio-political act, as it involves not only the physical stimulation of our hearing organs but also a selective and active process of filtering information in our inundated sonic environment. Through this process, we build coherence, form, and meaning from the received sonic information. 'Listening' engages our ability to follow the flow of information and, in contrast to passive 'hearing', to discern crucial information from noise.

The courage to explore and create unheard musical syntax goes beyond personal aesthetic satisfaction for an artist; it invites society to listen and appreciate the unheard voices and thoughts. Failing to do so, along with a willingness to 'deny' the breadth of sonic ideas, can mark the rejection of socially unconventional sonic creations as a hearable cultural abyss within a society. The current Western tendencies of predominantly uniform, predefined and heavily politicized 'contemporary music!' serve as plain proof of this.