John Luther Adams: A Sonic Geography of Alaska

Posted on by Steve Elkins
Len Kammerling / John Luther Adams still

In 2009, I spent two months in Alaska interviewing and working with this year’s Pulitzer Prize winner for music, John Luther Adams, for my 2010 documentary “The Reach Of Resonance.”  John has been exploring the sonic geography of Alaska through birdsong, Alaska Native language and drumming, and the geophysical phenomena of the land and sky.  At the time, he was composing “Inuksuit,” a piece for nine to ninety-nine percussionists that has the audience literally hike through the piece, as musicians…

An Aural Map Of Australia

Posted on by Steve Elkins

Aural Maps is an ongoing repository for the countless stories and conversations I’ve had with inspiring people around the globe who are excavating a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us through sound.

When I first began making a documentary about Nels Cline in 2002, I had no way of knowing I was beginning a project that would involve spending seven years in more than ten countries pursuing a chainsaw orchestra, a singing dog, a man who screams into…