Weidenbaum: Mutation is even more intriguing when one learns about the source of the sounds. The liner notes read, in brief: “Original Source Material Recorded At ‘Uguisi-Bari-No-Roka’ Of Chio-In Temple In Kyoto.” How did you come upon this particular temple in Kyoto?
Karkowski: Yes, we recorded “uguisu bari no roka” (“nightingale sounding floor”) in Chion-in temple in Kyoto in January 1998. This floor was build in this temple by some artisan (nobody figured out yet how it’s really done) and it functions in the way so that when you walk on it — it starts sounding like nightingale singing. It was an alarm system for monks who lived in this temple — when some robber wanted to come there in the night, they would hear nightingales and know that somebody is inside. Akifumi Nakajima (Aube) lives in Kyoto and I was visiting him and we went for a walk and he took me to this temple and we liked sound of this floor so much so we’ve said, let’s record it. So we did and afterwards (six months later) we were both in Europe and we had three days studio residency at Steim and we just did a CD out of this field material.
