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The Feast of All Saints

by Natalia Mamcarczyk

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about

A soundscape composition that aimed to capture the dissonance of my feelings towards Polish national and religious holiday - All Saints Day.

The composition starts the day before the "big day" arriving at the historical Rakowicki Cemetery, located in the centre of Cracow's old town. Walking past deafeningly loud roadworks I enter the burial grounds through the gates surrounded by one off shopping stands, overflowing with people. The atmosphere of trade and money driven focus is underlined by the repeated money counting "dwadzieścia, czterdzieści, sześćdziesiąt, osiemdziesiąt..."("twenty, forty, sixty, eighty..."). Following that I get squashed by the crowd of tourists and minds focused only on one thing: to clean, to decorate, to make the graves look like they've been regularly looked after to avoid the neighbour's, or family's judgement.

The soundscape follows with my reflective walk around, collecting sounds of resonating roadworks, traffic, pushing waves of people. I finish the composition walking between the alleys at night. The contrasting silence is at times broken by a heavy breathing of a man, polishing a tomb in a rush before the day ends.


Rakowicki Cemetery has always been an important place for me. The sentiment I have learnt from my dad who used to serve and work there in his youth; also looking after grave of first his dad, then mother, and in the end his brother. Now after he the family tomb, I feel the responsibility to look after the place myself. All Saints Day has always been a difficult one for me however. The dissonance between the reminiscing and contemplation of the memory for me is too far clashed with the importance of stating wealth. The graves for those few days become the object of validation. And just like at the night before All Saints, when the trade stops and everything goes silent, most of the year, those places of memory are being forgotten.

Recorded on Zoom H6. My first ever soundscape recording and composition, so bare with me, a lot have I learnt since.

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released November 1, 2018

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Natalia Mamcarczyk image

Natalia Mamcarczyk Bristol, UK

Sound recordist, composer, artist, with main focus on soundscape, binaural recordings, use of pickup coils.

'In the use of sound I believe in strong purpose of improving our human condition through interaction with art, questioning the boundaries of compassion and inviting society to (sometimes) uncomfortable listening.'

contact natalia.mamcarczyk@gmail.com ... more

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