Translation Pia Schwab

Of the four elements, water undoubtedly nourishes our imagination the most. It plays a role in all religions, with countless legends and symbolic ideas revolving around it. Water is essential for life, according to Islam even its source. It purifies, as in Christian baptism, the Jewish mikvah or the Hindu bath in the Ganges. It is also believed to have healing powers: the water from Lourdes, the legendary fountain of youth or the well of Mimir in Germanic myths.

Water protects, extinguishes fire, soothes pain, reminds us of the security of the womb. In French more (sea) and mère (mother) have the same sound, which is probably a coincidence in terms of linguistic history. However, poets and writers never tire of playing with this harmony between the water world and the world of the unborn. For a long time, civilizations developed on the shores of seas, lakes and rivers. And even today, the latter often mark national borders: Water protects against invasions. But it also brings disasters, be it through overabundance - floods, tsunamis, drowning - or through scarcity - drought and infertility.

Water holds and hides another world on our planet: the underwater world, to which we humans have only very limited access. It is said to be home to monsters of all kinds, from giant octopuses to sirens that mesmerize sailors with their singing. The water is associated with a wide-ranging world of sounds and music.

It is almost a little strange that Jacques-Yves Cousteau made his famous underwater documentary film The silent world has called it. Physically, sound travels faster and further under water than in the air. Whale songs can be heard over more than 3000 kilometers. And water has inspired musicians for centuries: La mer by Claude Debussy or Charles Trenet, On the beautiful blue Danube by Johann Strauss, Les jeux d'eau by Maurice Ravel. From the ocean to raindrops, all watery manifestations were set to music.

In this number, the composer Cyrill Schläpfer explains very aptly that you have to listen to water sounds, the sound of waves for example, for a long time in order to appreciate their content. It takes time to move from the world of air to the world of water, to immerse oneself - figuratively speaking - in this other world (from which real divers are only allowed to emerge gradually). So let us listen calmly to the Silent world in this number.

Cordially
Yours

Jean-Damien Humair