Since their invention in 1906, flying machines have become indispensable to the military apparatus. They were integrated into the military machinery as tools of observation, intelligence, transportation and attack. This talk will focus on the use of flying machines in psychological warfare and propaganda, in the specific case of Kurdistan in the 1930’s. An archival image depicting the innards of a propaganda plane will be used to illustrate the scale and nature of sonic warfare. At the same time, an audio recording of a song from the 1930s will provide an alternative reading of the events of the time. We will look into a particular political and technical scene through these visual and sonic artefacts.
The work is part of an ongoing artistic research project, investigating the ecological impact of colonial military practices and how nature re-appears in various modes of resistance.
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by Savas Boiras about sonic warfare coming back to the beginning maybe and also to the issue of this constant whiz and soundscape that Jones also produced. Let me read you Savas's bio. Savas Boiras is a visual artist and filmmaker based in Stockholm. He was part of Mesopotamia Cinema Collective between 89 and 2006 in Istanbul. Studied photography and fine arts in Istanbul and Stockholm. Was awarded a Victor Fellowship by Hasselblad Foundation with his master graduation work Invisible Landscape and took part in the Nordic Photography Exhibition in 2003. He's producing documentaries on film, documentary and fiction films and pursuing a PhD in artistic research at the Department of Film and Media at Stockholm University of the Arts. Welcome everybody again and I'm very happy part of this event and listen to you and share with you. I want to talk about this Verbal Bombs and Sonic Resilience. It's a small project that I started recently actually. What I will do is I will talk about the project, which is called the Verbal Bombs and Sonic Resilience. What I will do is I will talk about the Verbal Bombs and Sonic Resilience. It's a small project that I started recently actually.
What I will do is I will first introduce the materials a little bit and then share with you a short video work in a rough cut form that is eight minutes and then continue my talk to expand on the contents of the film. The title is Verbal Bombs and Sonic Resilience and The Story of Betrayal From Two Perspectives. So this research, this project is about is basically part of a larger research project that I've been working on at Stockholm University of the Arts and the project is called Eye of the Mountain and it's a visual investigation of the relationship among humans, machines and the animal in a colonial context and the research aims to unfold the reflection of nature on military practices as well as on various modes of resistance. So today's talk will be about two specific documents that I encountered during this research journey and both of these documents are depicting political events of 1930s in Kurdistan in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan in the 20s and 30s in specific and I got interested in them because they involve the birth and era of the Kurdistan and the arrival of the flying machines to the region and also they involve sonic forms of resistance in the specific form of Dengbej singing tradition and oral singing practice.
So the first document is from the Illustrated London News, it's a newspaper and the document the page is called The Dengbej. This newspaper is coming from the issue 8 of April 1933 and it's an illustrated report titled Air Warfare by Loudspeaker, Cowing Rebels by Verbal Bombs and the article details the novel tactics used by British empire in operations against the Sheikh Mahmud Berzangi rebellion that transpired during 20s and 30s in Kurdistan. And the second document is from the British Empire, it's a document that is published in the British Empire in the 1930s and the early 1930s. The second document that we will look and I will work with is from below, like the what the perspective from below and that is the that's an archival sound recording from 30s by Kavis Agha, a Kurdish singer poet, Dengbej and Dengbej is an oral singing tradition and has a strong historic significance in the region and the song that I'm working with is a particular song that narrates the events of the same period mentioned in the article and praises the Sheikh Mahmud's rebellion against the British. So these two documents looking at the same events one from above the imperial perspective and one from below the vernacular perspective provided a fruitful friction upon which certain feelings and frustrations of our present day political and artistic conflicts could be visible.
Almost like a shot counter shot in a cinematic term, but this time it is happening as an imaginary sonic event. Being a filmmaker, what I did was I pulled these two historic documents in distinct perfect with distinct perspectives as a PNG file and a wave file onto the timeline of a video editing software. And I let them clash and betray each other on the nonlinear space of the timeline. Now I will share with you this rough cut material and then it is eight minutes long and after the video I will expand more on the documents where they come from and how I engaged with them. Stand back here se Zey Grandpa Zey he is 你 You are also a sponsor you will get your rights hands removed as soon as they appear on. PSы You are also a sponsor you will get your rights hands removed as soon as they appear on. Come here now and you can leave. You are also a sponsor you will get your rights hands removed as soon as they appear on. Come here now and you can leave. Come here now and you can leave. You are also a sponsor you will get your rights hands removed as soon as they appear on.
You are also a sponsor you will get your rights hands removed as soon as they appear on. Try here you have more than a eye any things you don't understand what I just said first, that's why… Come here you have more than a eye any things you don't understand what I just said first, that's why… Stay focused, Ahmed. We're almost over the villages now. Almost? Feels like this bird flies in circles. This is an important mission. You've rehearsed the message. Just say it clearly and stick to the script. Say the words. Yes. But why not send someone on a donkey? Why me in this noisy metal bird? Because from up here, Ahmed, they can't shoot at you. Um… I'm not so sure. But okay. I will try. I never see the majority of the kids. They get the hours of the winter in the summer. And the same is true. It's sleeping right now. Well, of time! Then I guess, what a good hour you have here. cables,ctrinsicsли… Hey you, is that your friendwhisperer? Amir, give him a call, he wants to talk with you. What's wrong with the camera, Seth? Just shut the fuck up, thank you all!
You know, we don't want to be long open, so you can talktermanyized, bidhya recipe! Listen to that echo. My voice sounds big. Yes, very impressive. Now hand it back. Wait, I want to sing something. Just one song. Ahmed, this is not the time. Ciri works iniraat, by Luqaul akh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Thanks for watching So let's continue with the presentation So I wanted to unfold a little bit further the layers of these documents for me The first document is the news article and obviously depicting a view from above and it's dated 8th of April 1933 but the news is talking about a meeting that has happened at House of Commons talking about the air estimates and army budgets of the previous year So the actual event that is depicted in the image is actually from the year before 1936 and it's a very interesting article It was published in 1932 25th of April according to the Royal Air Force records So it is one year after it became the subject of this article and the villages that they are mentioning in the article Mawata, Argus and Banan they are in Iraq but on the border to Turkey and the ridge that is visible in the depiction of the mountains over there is Turkey and Iraq and the map is topographically accurate illustration of the area and I actually found these villages and it looks exactly like this and after looking into the contents of this article I wanted to read further about the actual meetings that took place in the House of Commons regarding these operations of air let's say and it's really fascinating to read them and try to understand what was actually being talked about
and it reveals further fascination detailing the perceived effects of psychological warfare of the time and there is one example that I can say it's this Scottish member of House of the Commons Neil Maclean says as a response to Philip Sassoon's report the use of air force in other parts of the world is justified by a description of the effects which these machines of the air had upon the uncultivated minds of the tribes who were attacked and obviously many of our presenters today gave examples for use of autonomous weaponized drones and one can see that feelings described here for tribes with uncultivated minds are resurrected in mass in the wake of this upgraded generation of machines of the air and in the last few years the use of air force has been a real success and I think it's a very important example of the use of air force in the history of the air force and I think it's a very important example of the use of air force in the history of the air force and I think it's a very important example of the use of air force in the history of the air force and I think it's a very important example of the use of air force in the history of the air force and I think it's a very important example of the use of air force in the history of the air force and I think it's a very important example of the use of air force in the history of the air force and I think it's a very important example of the use of air force in the history of the air force and I think it's a very important example of the use of air force
in the history of the air force and I think it's a very important example of the use of air force in the history of the air force and I think Rumors say that he had a stutter in speech, but also very good at singing. And he also personally met Sheikh Mahmoud Berzenci, the leader of the rebellion. And also Simko Shikaki is another Kurdish leader of the time who was fighting against the Iranians of that time. So he made songs about them, also personally met them. And the song we hear is Del Oylo. And according to rumors, again, this was recorded together with other songs in Baghdad Radio in 1930. However, Baghdad Radio did not start broadcast until 1936. And this year in 1936, actually, Kavis Aga died. So we don't know exactly when or how this was recorded. But the song actually starts back. By setting the scene, by depicting the soundscape of a battlefield, Mount Surdesh. And this depiction starts with onomatopoeic words for the machine sounds of the era, which is quite interesting to observe, such as he uses the word grr of airplane, shirk of the machine guns, the mitralios, and rang.
And then the sound of the bomb and then vursh of the automobile. So these are interesting solutions that he found within the sonic space of Kurdish language to depict the sonic signatures of this newly introduced machines into the sonic space. And apart from that, the song also provides detailed information around the event as a historical document. So we can see that the names of the people and places are counted, and how British flew in soldiers from India. And closing line of each section also repeatedly says, all the Kurds, the traitors, implying the betrayal of certain tribes. But I want us to think about the meaning of betrayal in our present day, like in this specific context of our conference even. So where… The machine basically determines our sight and sign. What does betrayal mean in this today's context? And I want to end with some questions for us to think about. What do we see and hear today? So if we go to these villages now, Argus, Mavata and Banan, and point our gazes to the sky, we would see the flying machines by Turkey, US, and Iran. We would see the flying machines by Turkey, US, and Iran.
We would see the flying machines by Turkey, US, and Iran. We would see the flying machines by Turkey, US, and Iran. And probably more. So that is the contemporary condition for the skies. And the second question is, does the song speak louder than the machine? And of course, this is a hypothetical question, and it is about the function and limits of our artistic gestures in times of war and crisis. And I'm really struggling with this question, and it's a bit of a challenge. And I'm really struggling with this question, and it's a bit of a challenge. and it's a bit of a challenging question, with my absolutely burning thing that is with me all the time. with my absolutely burning thing that is with me all the time. And lastly, the most maybe interesting question to ponder on for me is, Can the machine betray itself? Or can we force the machine to betray itself? And maybe I can rephrase this question in a way. Could it be the same microphone used Could it be the same microphone used in both Vickers Victoria Mk IV and also used by Kavis Agha to record the songs of the rebellion?
And maybe I can rephrase this question in a way… of the rebellion. So this is an interesting position to suggest.
