This
is a message to Bendik Hagerup. If you see him, will you please forward
it to him.
Bendik!
Perhaps you remember that we once, several years ago, talked about the
talking crosswalks in Sweden and Norway. They have a distinctly different
sound, the ones in Norway have a soft and polite beep, while those in Sweden
have a much harder sound, like someone ferociously beating metal tubes
together. You told me that you liked the Swedish ones better, whereas I
preferred the Norwegian sound. Anyway, let's not argue about that. Instead,
I would like to propose a few alternative possibilities for the talking
crosswalks. The sound example illustrates how the Norwegian signal could
mutate. My vision is, that these amazing instruments should evolve into
semi-conscious communicating beings, that listen to each other, and mark
their territories by singing, much like birds. Of course, their language
would evolve and pick up elements from various environmental sounds - cars,
pedestrians and composers like you and me. If you find this idea appealing,
which I have reasons to believe you do, I hope you will assist me by sharing
it to anyone, who could arrange for the required circumstances for this
necessary and sufficient music.
Supposedly broadcasted on orf
in 2003.
The Linguistic Turn of the Talking Crosswalks is available here
as an mp3-file (full length, 2'33).
(c) Risto Holopainen 2003.