ARCHIVE

Writes Mwalimu-Banks, "A Letter to the Lemniscate: Radio Frequencies From The Third Ear is a gathering of audio memoirs exploring global anthologies of the divine feminine, and the ways this has shaped my personal mythography, all attuned to the frequency of the lemniscate, which in Bee Shamanism, is the number ‘8’. Related, and perhaps not so coincidental, ‘8’ happens to be my life path number in numerology, and ‘8’ also describes the numerological alignment that informs the energetics taking place in this year, 2024. There are eight movements in total with four additional pieces emerging from two of those eight including:

• The Void
• Origins
• Bees
• Mushrooms
• Caves
• Sacred Feminine: Global Feminisms/Isis Pelagia
• Labyrinth
• Stars: Transitioning to Stars/Stars

The work is an invitation to travel with me, as I trace the contours of this transformative journey, into a poetics of sound via the practice of radio art transmissions."

Credits:

THE VOID: 6:29
INTRO: Original poem by Desiree Mwalimu-Banks.

• Constance Demby (1939-2021) plays her originally designed Sonic Steel Space-Bass. Recording features Demby in conversation with herself via excerpts from two of her at-home performances, in 1985 and 2019. Constance Demby’s Space Bass appears on the title track Space Bass: Baktun, No. 3 (Live December 21, 2012) on Novus Magnificat: Through The Stargate by the artist.
• Radio-Werewolf: Sleepwalker from The Lightening and The Sun, 1989.; Tingsha Bell, and Shamanic Bee Drone Chant, an original recording, featuring Mikel Mwalimu-Banks (2021), for the film Transmissions From The Sacred Feminine: A Labyrinth Journey Into the Center of The Hive by Desiree Mwalimu-Banks, 2022.

ORIGINS: 10:50
INTRO: Excerpt from: Gypsies of Rajasthan Kalbelia Tribe field recording and ritual chants in India, April 2021,by Indjan Traveler, and an excerpt from personal diary.

• Excerpt from: Gypsies of Rajasthan Kalbelia Tribe field recording and ritual chants in India, April 2021,by Indjan Traveler.
• Louis and Bebe Baron: Bells of Atlantis, with narration by Anais Nin, featured in the 1952 short experimental film Bells of Atlantis by Ian Hugo. Published by Brain Discos in 2015.
• Emeka Ogboh: Wole from the album 6°30’33.372”N 3°22’0.66”E, CQ calls by Desiree Mwalimu-Banks, and Ludwig Goransson featuring Busiswa: We Know What You Whisper from the Marvel Studios Black Panther:Wakanda Forever Original Score, released on November 11, 2022.
• WebSDR recordings and FOX720 Entertainment Zambia: Bemba Traditional Dance Culture African: Chilanga Mulilo, 2023.
• Zambian National Broadcast Corporation: Kenneth Kaunda Takes Us On A Short Tour of Lusaka, 1964.
• Zambian Broadcasting Corporation: Shortwave Broadcast on 4911 kHz, believed to be February 16, 1976.
• Southern Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation: Shortwave Broadcast, 1974.
• Radio Zambia Broadcast: Shortwave Broadcast, 17,895 kHz, 16 meter band, February 15, 1973 + VLF tweeks.

BEES: 6:35
INTRO: Excerpt from personal diary, and original recording of bee chant .

• Dawn chorus at Wave Farm Pond, Accra, New York; June 4, 2022, collected during Wave Farm Artist Residency with Grant Cutler, 2022.
• Bee sound recordings and acoustimeter/dosimeter sound readings from Partridge Run and Blue Moon Farms, Hudson Valley, June 2022.
• Ivan The Tolerable: Hymn to Artemis, 2020.
• Dr. Valerie B. Solheim: Healing Bees CD’s: Creation, 2015.
• Desiree Mwalimu-Banks: Shamanic Bee Hum Chant, an original 2021 recording for the film: Transmissions From The Sacred Feminine: A Labyrinth Journey Into the Center of The Hive, 2022.
• Nino Rota: O Venezia, Venaga, Venusia for Il Casanova Di Federico Fellini: Fellini's Casanova Original Soundtrack, 1976, released by CAM Italy in 2012.

MUSHROOMS: 3:44
INTRO: Excerpt from: Congo - Music of Kanyok and Luba (People), published by Youtube by ArsX on May 23, 2017.

• Camilla Nelson: Becoming Series: Becoming Fungus I, Soundart Radio: Tomorrow’s Transmissions, 2020.
• MycoLyco: Five Minutes of Blue Oyster Mushrooms Talking, November,2020.

CAVES: 2:59
INTRO: Lightening and rain sounds public domain; Original recording of Kemetic Chant: Nuk Pu Ntrt Hmt : “I Am A Sacred Woman”.

• Rick Steve: Floating Through the Pyrgos Dirou Caves Is a Trip for the Senses, 2015.
• Andy@Ilovellanguages: Utterances inspired by the sound of the Ancient Egyptian Language Sacred Texts, 2022.
• Gustavo Ferreira: The Electricity Generating Congo Stones (from the Democratic Republic of Congo), 2023.
• Desiree Mwalimu-Banks: Original moog synth sounds, 2024.

SACRED FEMININE: 17:06 +12:27
INTRO: An excerpt from the essay: Reflections on Echo-Sound by Women Artists in Britain and Ireland During the 1980’s, by Jean Fisher, 1990.

I. GLOBAL FEMINISMS: 17:06

• Handel Film Corporation: Why Not Be Beautiful Makeup Tutorial, 1969.
• Mohammad Shahab: Pashtoo Avaz, Ghader No Palang, Music of Afghanistan I: 33 RPM Records in 1956 - Collection No. 6, featured in “Kandahar”, 2001.
• Pina Bausch: Selected audio excerpt featuring Mechthild Grossmann, in the film "Die Klage der Kaiserin" (Lament of the Empress), 1990.
• Wave Farm Radio Weather Warlock + Test Site of Acoustic Commons recordings with shower sounds by Desiree Mwalimu-Banks at the Hilton Garden Inn, Silver Spring, MD, January 4, 2023.
• Daphne Oram: Rotolck, 1959.
• Wave Farm Radio Headquarters: 3-Band portable radio recording, December 8, 2023.
• WebSDR, Shortwave Recordings, December 2023/January 2024.
• Selected audio excerpts rom the film Born In Flames, featuring the characters “Isabel” of “Radio Ragazza” and “Honey” of “Phoenix Radio”, directed by Lizzie Borden, 1983.
• June Jordan: An excerpt from the poem “A Menace To My Enemies, live reading from WBAI, NYC, 1970’s, copyright 2017 by the June M. Jordan Literary Estate.
• Down the Rabbit Hole News: audio excerpts from the “Build Beyond Barriers” Working Group Meeting, Hawaii Capital, featuring Lahaina and Maui resident testimonies including Walene Christian, and unidentified speaker, August 29, 2023.
• MSNBC: “Lahaina is Not For Sale” audio excerpt from Maui Fire Survivor Maui resident Tiare Lawrence in conversation with NBC News Correspondent Katy Turk; her message to real estate developers, aired on August 14, 2023.
• NY Post audio excerpt: “Horrifying Footage Shows Downtown Maui Engulfed in Wildfire Flames”, September 2023.
• Halau o Kekuhi: Holo Mai Pele ritual theater presentation audio excerpt, 2008.

II. ISIS PELAGIA: 12:27
INTRO: “It’s A Time When You Have Nothing To Do”, Traditional Libyan music published on Youtube by Saleh Alagory on October 22, 2012; Traditional Tuareg Chant and Dance in Southwest Libya, published on Youtube by Nizar Aboud on February 19, 2010; Amazigh Rhythms and Dances, published by Fundacion EuroArabe on November 27, 2020; Ey Asheghan: Traditional Persian Tasnif (Ballad) by the Mehr Ensemble, live recording from March 2010, Berlin with vocals by Mehrbanu, and composed by Parichehr Khaje.

• Radio Nordsee International Broadcast Aboard the Mebo 2: Radio Ship On Fire!, 1971.
• Googoosh: Talagh, 1975.
• Shortwave and WebSDR recordings, collected by Desiree Mwalimu-Banks, 2023.
• “Space 1999” Television Series: Audio excerpt from Season 1, Episode 10. 1975.
• “The Secrets of Isis” Television Series CBS: Audio excerpt from Season 1, Episode 1, 1977.
• Otomo Yoshihide (Plays the Music of Takeo Yamashita): Playgirl BGM, 1999.
• Maria Chavez and Valentina Magaletti: Particle, Rewire Commission, 2021.
• Kelsey Lu: Live Performance on the Glass Stage at The Enoura Observatory created by Japanese contemporary artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, Japan, May 26, 2019.
• Audio excerpt of “(Humpback) Whales Singing”, posted by Bruce Wilkinson on the Country Video Youtube Channel on June 19, 2023.

LABYRINTH: 5:04
INTRO: Excerpt from Desiree Mwalimu-Banks MFA-IA Thesis, Goddard College: Transmissions From The Hive: A Labyrinth Journey Into Apiary Ecologies of the Sacred Feminine Through The Water Mandala, 2022.

• Kōea o Tāwhirimātea: The Weather Choir: (A collective of eight climate-challenged locations around Te Moana Nui a Kiwa: Tonga, Niue, Samoa, Rarotonga and Whakatane, Haumoana, Taranaki and Tāmaki Makaurau in Aotearoa, New Zealand), Aeolian and Kitset harp recordings, June 21, 2022-present.
• Grandfather clock sounds, public domain.
• Cosey Fanni Tutti: Reverse Adrenaline from “Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and The Legendary Tapes” Original Film Soundtrack, directed by Caroline Katz, 2021.
• Sounds of Isha: Om Sarva Swarupe Sarveshi Hindu chant to Bhairava Devi, 2016.
• “SPACE 1999”: Audio excerpt from Season 1, Episode 1.
• Oiriginal Wave Farm Headquarters soundwalk field recordings, December, 2023.
• Black Ibis Call from the Melghat Tiger Reserve, Amravati, Maharashtra India. Published by Addi Gude, July 11, 2016.
• Desiree Mwalimu-Banks: Audio excerpt from Chapter, Compendium of The Emerald Tablets: A Beginner’s Guide by Billy Carson, Chapter 4: Emerald Tablet Two, p. 65-66, December 2023.

STARS: 4:49 + 4:43
INTRO: Original untitled poems by Desiree Mwalimu-Banks (2024, 2022) and excerpt from Rosetti Noise from Pavillion of Dreams by Harold Budd and Brian Eno,1978, Virgin Records Limited.

I. TRANSITION TO STARS: 4:49

• Missy Mazzoli: Postlude, Vespers for A New Dark Age VIII, March 2015.
• Daily News Egypt: Sound of the Earth’s Magnetic Field, Audio excerpt courtesy of ESA Swarm Satellite/Planetary Visions, sonified by researchers at The Technical University of Denmark, edited by Steve Spaleta, 2022.

II. STARS: 4:43

• Wave Farm Radio HERE GOES-16 Oracle Walk, June, 2022.
• Alan Landsburg Productions: Hum of the Bull Roar, Audio excerpt from “The Dogon: In Search of the Dark Star”, December 1979.
• NASA’s Voyager I: Golden Record Interstellar Greeting Message in English, featuring the voice of Nick Sagan (age 6), the son of Carl Sagan and Linda Salzman, launched in 1977, to cross by Jupiter and Saturn. The Voyager I crossed into Interstellar space on August 12, 2012.
• SYSTEM Sounds (Matt Russo/Andrew Santaguida) with NASA/Hubble: Sonified Hubble Image of Galaxy Cluster. The entire cluster is known as RXC J0142.9+4438 and this image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on August 13, 2018.
• Saksham Agarwal: Actual Sounds of the FRB 121102 Fast Radio Burst, featuring Audio processing of two combined clips from the Breakthrough Listening Project, University of California, Berkeley, 2018.
• Law, Casey: "The Sound of Fast Radio Burst FRB 121102", Harvard Dataverse, V1, 2016.
• GH: Spectrogramme Audio du Fast Radio Burst FRB 121102, May 2020.
• UVB 76 “The Buzzer” 4625 kHz, February 5th, 2020.
• NASA Parker Solar Probe: Sonified radio Signal from Venus, 2021.