Siren holding space 2020
A siren is a mythological coastal bird/woman who, like the mermaid, is known to seafaring folk for her beguiling beauty and mesmerising call. Her song is an exquisite beacon and a spellbinding lure. Siren is conceived as Welcome – a collective sonic embrace celebrating our return to, and delivery from, common waters. Siren honours the urgent will to survival through tenacious journeys into unknown futures while invoking ambivalent emotions associated with grand passages and existential transitions.
Siren harmonics arise from sonic diversity among geo-specific vocalizations in polyphonic play. While this ancient vocal tradition has moved about Africa, the Middle East and diaspora over millennia of nomadic passages, certain sonic innovations to ululation are uniquely possible within polycultural contexts such as Toronto.
