Soundbath Series

Cheryl Rodriguez "The Serendipity of Circumstance" (Coming Soon)

Cheryl Rodriguez "Candescence" (Coming Soon)

This past summer when recording experimental shows in Hong Kong, I happened to meet Paul Yip, an experimental composer and sound bath practitioner. This was the first time I had ever heard the term 'sound bath' and I imagined a some kind of elaborate surround sound setup in an empty space. What I found was something quite different.

As I researched this, I found that it was a pure analog experience with objects such as metal bowls, crystal bowls, gongs, etc that are used to appeal to different chakras of the body. I have never approached sound on such a spiritual level but I loved that fact that it was ultimately an improvised performance that could be used for more than just for pleasure.

I started to think that these recordings could turn into an interesting project. However, one thing that was important for me was that I didn't want to change the reasons why I record and not just jump on the wellness 'bandwagon'. These recordings needed to mean something to me. How are these sound recordings a Bivouac Recording? The reasoning I came up with was: that the inherent nature of a sound bath- a unique improvised performance, by practitioners who may or may not have a musical background, that play mostly atonally, and according to emotion and sound- aligns with the concepts of improvisation and themes of my recording projects.

After giving myself a green light, I started contacting people around Hong Kong and asked them many questions about what they do, how they perform, and why they do it, what they use to perform, etc. and found that everyone had different answers for different reasons. These variations would make a great document.

I also found that some of the popular online sound libraries have yet to post interesting sound baths for licensing and am looking to post them there soon.

Stay tuned for more releases from local Hong Kong sound therapists and wellness practitioners!