Sound Journal

Remix - The Black Cat’s Footsteps

Anouar Brahem is an oud player and composer and a widely acclaimed innovator. Brahem performs primarily for a jazz audience and fuses Arab classical music with jazz. Brahem’s creates his compositions for large public spaces such as airports and train stations. The song Les Pas Due Chat Noir translated The Black Cat's Footsteps was chosen for the remix project as the composition has breath like silences. Brahem states that ''this is a music of whispers, you shouldn't listen to it too loud.''

The intention of remixing Les Pas Due Chat Noir was to fill the breath like silences of Brahem’s composition with the sounds of the public spaces the music was intended for. The composition follows the sound of footsteps through the city leading the viewer to suspect they are the sound of the Black Cat perhaps a code name. The sounds of the remix were recorded in the city, waterfront, coffee shops, shopping centres, IXL Atrium and the art school. These sounds were composed into a narrative form to convey a personal journey and contrast the silence of Brahem’s music.

The song has been shortened to two minutes in length from the original eight-minute score of Brahem’s composition. Whilst the composition has been shortened the remix still successfully achieves the initial intention. The contrast of the compositional structure of Les Pas Due Chat Noir (The Black Cat’s Footsteps) has created an interesting listening experience for the viewer that can easily be interpreted on many levels.