Sat, Oct 6 / 2 pm
Composed & Directed by Sarah Hennies
2017, USA, 50 min
Followed by a Q&A with the artist.
Contralto exists in between the spaces of experimental music and documentary, featuring a cast of transgender women speaking, singing, and performing vocal exercises accompanied by a score using conventional and “non-musical” approaches to sound-making. When a transgender man begins taking testosterone his vocal cords thicken and
his voice drops into the so-called “masculine range.” However, trans women’s voices are unaffected by increased levels of estrogen in the body. Being a woman with a “male voice” creates prolonged and intensified dysphoria – a situation where their identities are betrayed by their bodies and brings with it the higher risk of harassment and violence experienced by trans women. “Contralto” – defined in musical terms as “the lowest female singing voice” – uses the sound of trans women’s voices to explore transfeminine identity from the inside and explores the intimate, peculiar, and powerful relationship between gender and sound.
20th Anniversary of send + receive
This year marks the 20th anniversary of send + receive: a festival of sound, Winnipeg’s annual festival dedicated to sound art and experimental music and one of the longest running festivals of its kind in Canada. As part of this special occasion send + receive has curated a series of films relating to sound and the unique artists who have paved new territories and methodologies in their fields. For complete details about send + receive and this year’s events see sendandreceive.org.
Presented by send + receive, a festival of sound v20 in partnership with Groundswell.
