SIRENS

Shane Shanahan & Wu Tong

One of the most disturbing things about living in NYC during the Coronavirus pandemic has been the exponential increase in the amount of sirens heard everyday. Of course one can hear many sirens on a regular day in NYC, but in this current reality, we know exactly who these sirens are for, what they mean, and how dismal the survival statistics are. No matter where in the globe you are, this sound has become a universal alarm, triggering a flood of feelings that at once terrify us and remind us to hold our loved ones closer.

Collaborating from completely opposite sides of the globe, Wu Tong and Shane Shanahan are living in two epicenters of the pandemic: Beijing and New York City. Though this distance has caused certain difficulties, it has also contributed to the urgency and relevance of the work. Both composers needed to do little more than lean out of their windows to collect field recordings of ambulance, police, and fire sirens from their respective cities. These sirens were then spliced together to create a chilling narrative of the life and death drama unfolding around them. 

When the souna enters, it draws on the modality of the Dong Bei tradition from the Wuhan region of China. This funeral music creates a haunting dialog with the sirens on top of the ominous drones of electric guitars. Unable to resist the call to action any longer, the drums enter with a driving rhythm, eventually crashing into the open sea. From the waves, the alluring “song of the siren” emerges, enticing all who hear to venture out to the beaches and the restaurants and the bars. Dreaming of a return to life as we once knew it, they are blind to the fact that doing so too soon will lead to certain death for some, not on the rocky shores of a Greek island, but alone, in an already overburdened hospital. The final echo of the ambulance reminds us that none of us are out of the woods yet.  

About Shane Shanahan
About Wu Tong
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