14 Comments

Cicada song always makes me think of the southern States, where I have heard them most. We named a song after them, once, when the stacked 's' sounds of a repeated sampled phrase took on that choral feel you speak of.

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That’s wonderful. Their sound really can have an ‘s’ sound!

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We share a fascination with the singing of cicadas, I see. I'm sure we're not alone. The ones I've been listening to most of my life have been the Texas variety, although I've heard them in other places as well. I regularly reference them in my poems, including several included in my Substack. As usual, you've widened my window on the world with your post--or should I say my listening chamber?

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That’s wonderful to hear Donald, you’re in a good land for listening. I’ll seek out those poems - please also feel free to link to them here. In a casual conversation someone told me Lorca wrote poetically about cicadas, though I have yet to investigate this.

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Here are some of the posts, Dom:

https://donaldcarlson.substack.com/p/why-not-start-with-a-summer-poem?

https://donaldcarlson.substack.com/p/molt?r=s9o5z

https://donaldcarlson.substack.com/p/seven-moon-haiku?r=s9o5z

I'm also not familiar with the Lorca poems involving cicadas. I'm going to search and see if I can find them.

Thanks,

Don

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Thanks, Don! I look forward to reading over the next couple of days.

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You're welcome. And I've just had time to really listen to Cicada 1 and Cicada 2. I'm struck by the resemblance to some recordings by NASA that I've heard of sounds from deep space.

Also, I found a couple of the Lorca poems with references to cicadas. One is entitled "Cigarra!" The word may be related to "cigar" as a result of the similarities in shape.

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Growing up in Texas, listening to the cicadas while bordering on heat stroke is what I attribute most to my pathway towards my eternal fascination with the drone.

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Minus the heat stroke, it sounds great!

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Oh this is good Dom. Another random Substack discovery. Will listen with headphones and check out Bandcamp. This was also cool as this summer I wrote a poem about cicadas and their intense quite disturbing sound and the phasing they have and also I imagined an Aegean bay like a massive mixing studio with sounds amplified and panned, and then the poem ends with the idea of the cicada's screech being sampled and becoming part of the background of life... So it kinda connects and is maybe up your street! Here is is in one of me notes... https://substack.com/@sebmerrick/note/c-64824250?r=nufs4

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Thanks Seb! Very nice poem. It's interesting that their phasing attracts your interest. You've described them very well. I also think they sometimes sound like little motorbikes starting up and slowing down! Appreciate you taking the time to comment.

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Fascinating. That’s just about the most satisfyingly intense and unnerving sound I’ve heard all year. Bring on the cicada album…

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Thank you! I take this as high praise, coming from you Poppy.

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I think you’ll enjoy this :)

When Bob Dylan Heard the Cicadas

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/when-bob-dylan-heard-the-cicadas

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