"City of Water" (1994) by Jose Iges and Concha Jerez is a sonic visit to the Alhambra—palace of the Moorish kings in Granada, Spain and one of the most magnificent creations of Islamic architecture (thirteenth and fourteenth centuries). Traveling the monument's halls and courtyards, as well as the adjacent gardens with its fountains and streams, the artist/producers record the sonorities of the water, the voices of tour guides and visitors, and some of the Arabic texts and epigraphic poetry that can be found along the garden paths. Yet this serene and beautiful work is not simply another version of "acoustic tourism." Rather, it attempts a sonic rebuilding of the monument, reminiscent of its patterned mosaics.

"City in a Bottle" (1985) by John Rieger is a radiophonic work that takes its title from the story of Kandor, a city of Superman's home planet, Krypton, which was subjected to a shrinking beam and held captive in a large glass bottle. According to the story, Superman rescued the city and removed it, still in its bottle, to the Fortress of Solitude for safekeeping. Both story and title provide key's to Rieger's use of more or less mundane sound images taken from his daily life in the Bay Area. He has rescued them from contexts in which they no longer excite interest or attention, and removed them to a compositional context where they can be heard afresh and the questions raised: What is this? Who am I in relation to it? "City in a Bottle" is an exploration of ways of talking with sound free of the constraints of journalism, drama, and music. Commissioned by New American Radio.

In its ten years as a weekly national series, 1987-1998, New American Radio (NAR) commissioned and distributed over 300 original works: conceptual new drama, associational documentary, language explorations, sonic meditations, environmental compositions, musical explorations and works that pioneer new dimensions in acoustic space. Wave Farm is thrilled to be partnering with New American Radio to ensure these works remain available to listeners today and into the future.

New American Radio was organized by Helen Thorington, Executive Producer and Regine Beyer, Associate Producer. A special thanks to both Helen Thorington and Jo-Anne Green for their generous support and collaboration of this partnership, and their contribution to the field at large!

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