In the previous blogpost we introduced the idea of Mycelium to the Sound and Soil performance project which will be happening early June 2023. For the last three weeks, we have been playing music to the (slow) growing Mycelium at a mushroom farm in the Overberg area. We have paid regular visits to the Mycelium, and have documented its growth over this time.
It is quite something to walk into a completely dark mushroom tunnel which is easily 30-40 meters in length, and not be able to see a thing! Taking a few minutes to acclimatise to the utter darkness and the pungent mushroom smell, one's attention is quickly taken over by the hauntingly beautiful vibrational sounds emanating from a speaker situated next to a reed mat.
Multi-instrumentalist producer and performance artist Nkosenathi Koela uses sounds and movement to heal. Also known as Mntana.WeXhele, Nkosenathi's vibrational sounds are vibrating to the Mycelium in the mushroom tunnel. He has chosen to play music from INKUNGU which is a work that 'seeks to explore the crossroads as the 'the thin line between the seen and unseen''. INKUNGU, unseen to us, is perhaps contributing to creating the thin line of Mycelial interconnectedness as it listens to Mntana.WeXhle.
Quite a lot has been written about the relationship between music and Mycelium, but not when it comes to African healing vibrational sounds, really.
Next week we'll be posting some live video!
