Once every four years the Black Pumpkins burst forth from the banks of the river. they are harvested in the spring time. These pumpkins grow underground. They fully mature of the fourth year. They burst up from the ground and the sweet, almost meat like pumpkin flesh is eaten and future generations spread in the dropping of what eats them. The pumpkins induce a state of madness. Night vision is increased but filtered with hallucinations and thirst. The wild lands people spend days eating the pumpkins, shitting in the river and pounding strange instruments. Playing synths made out of plant and insect parts.
Banging and thunderings and strange eerie sounds coming from all up and down the river. No one dares go near the wildlands during the week of this festival. People try not to go outside much and they keep their homes locked with furniture against the doors and windows.
All impurities a brought to the center of the pumpkin. They are covered with a thick hard drying syrup that becomes a black rock with red flecks. These are taken out of the pumpkins and carved into arrowheads as sharp as obsidian.
About the recording.
I crept dressed in black and green along the edges of these mad festival spots capturing the sounds of the fest as they rang threw the trees.A truly dangerous audio document to make. I caught several distant eye witness through binocular sightings of many of the instruments played.
Instruments used during the week long fest:
Metal Percussion. All sorts of instruments made of metal that can also be used as weapons. Shakers, strikers. Small sharp edged cymbal discs that pang and ping when struck with mallets.
- The flail chime. As heard beside the metal symbol on minute 18's start. This is a short stick with a few sharp curved heavy blades attached with a metal or leather rope. They can be shaken to make a dull percussive sound, or swung into a torso to make deep goring cuts.
Wooden Percussion. A lot of drums, clickers and clackers made from the ever present supply of wood. Some of these instruments are over a hundred years old and still played. To the Wildlanders anything older then one hundred years is Ancient.
- The Congo. Typical hand drum instrument. These are heard throughout the recording. But the instruments are manufactured in Maize by captive children awaiting their parents over due tax payments.
- The Wooden Dick. Just what the name implies. Also used as a sex tool and played by the ladies of the tribe. They are struck with small wooden mallet. Hollow wooden dicks with holes that can be plugged to change the pitch of the mallet strikes.
Animal based Instruments
- the MaMooska quilt. This is a massive quilt of sewed together MaMooska skins. A whole village plays it as a bass throb instrument by pulling the skin extremely tight and shaking it a certain way to get a low thunder like resonance out of it.
- The Waterbug wing didgeridoo. As heard starting at 4:07 into the mix. A long tube of glued together Waterbug wings. These bugs get fist sized and they have wings that stay stretchy after death if kept damp. A engine blows wind threw the tube and it produces a throbbing lilt until the tube dries out too much and the glues come apart. This does not take very long to happen and the player often only does short runs then he pours water into the tube or rests it in the river to dampen.
- Human intestines. A long tube of them fused together with plant acids. One end is connected with three trumpet like blow pieces that the players breathe into in unison for a low pitched almost frog like sound. The meaty ingredients for this instrument cannot be older then three days to be used. Often they are made on the spot from some captive or other. This instrument can be heard the loudest on the first half of the sixth minute.
- The electric bone. A long femur that is played like a flute but with electric pick ups that play the sound over a amp. It can be heard starting a little before minute two up to 17 seconds after. I walked on out of bone sound range.