Emeka Ogboh’s Lagos Soundscapes
Lagos Soundscapes is an experimental audio-visual journey around the streets of Lagos, Nigeria. In an augmented sound art mode, Artist Emeka Ogboh captures what he calls “the intense soundscapes” of a city he works and lives in. Visually, everything is multiplied; the lens is authorized to magnify and amplify a bustling street displaying a myriad of Lagosians in constant, and sometimes, rapid pace. Likewise, the hyper-intensified soundtrack packed with street hawkers, bus conductors yelling to solicit riders, noisy buses [locally known as ‘danfo’ and ‘molue’] and eager car horns make up the manic and what Ogboh calls “unique sounds” of Lagos.
“There is no way you can ignore the pervasive influence of Lagos. From the moment you wake up until you go to bed, you are affected by the city. As an artist, it’s normal that one’s place of domicile becomes the starting point of one’s work”, Ogboh says. “Lagos is a very dynamic city and nothing is predictable. Things keep evolving at a fast and constant pace, which make for an interesting narrative. It is a city of many faces and parallels. It is the unpredictability of Lagos which informs my work.”
An online live sound stream of this experimental multimedia artwork, in collaboration with the Goether Institut Lagos, was launched in 2013. Since, Ogboh has installed live sound interpretations, transporting Lagos to various cities. By means of loud speakers he presents a glimpse of the dynamic urban sounds of Lagos; and perhaps, the intention is to capture and stimulate the public’s imagination.
But what is more interesting is, although the sound art is a unique portrayal of Lagos’ soundscape, in a wider sense, its sound is prevalent, even if not so predictably, in other African cities. Hence, it can be said that what Ogboh has produced with Lagos’ Soundscapes, and what he describes as its “history and aural infrastructure” can be a reflection of the aural infrastructure of various African cities; sounds that emerge from city spaces “shaped by the economic, social, and cultural interrelationships”.
Watch and Listen to Lagos Soundscapes