Important Message from the Public Street Performance (2005) Communicating musically with a civil emergency system.

Video Stream/download the video WMV low quality 7,2Mb WMV high quality 107Mb Audio Excerpt of the dialogue (MP3) Photos

Background Four times a year in Sweden, a nation-wide civil emergency system called Viktigt meddelande till allmänheten (Important Message to the Public) is tested. The alarm system consists of air horns situated on top of buildings. The test takes place at 3 PM the first Monday of the last month in each quarter of the year and has two parts: Important Message (short siren, short silence, for two minutes) and No Danger (long siren). All horns play at the same frequency, corresponding roughly to a G tone. Performance September 5 2005, a small orchestra gathered at the main avenue in Göteborg to engage in a musical dialogue with the siren. The orchestra performed an intro (starting at 2.55 PM) and then responded to each horn signal with a new pair of tones, letting the sirens get the last word with No Danger. People The orchestra consisted of Alexander Berman and Dan (melodicas), Ida Hallgren and Micke (saxophones), Pierre Gander (percussion), Hampus Pettersson (key harp), Lalya Gaye (kazoo), Kavita Thomas and Anna (flute) and Eva Hambe (vocals). Documentation Emma (photos), Christian Pallin (video) and Alexander Berman (text). Acknowledgements Thanks to Räddningstjänsten in Göteborg and Olle Huge.