Raaswater by Clinton Watkins

“In 1871, Thomas Baines, on his way back from visiting Lobengula and the Tati Goldfields, crossed the Limpopo on Mmabolela, and camped near the “Raaswater” where the Limpopo tumbles over granite rocks polished smooth by the passage of water over thousands of years.”

https://www.mmabolela.co.za/history

Raaswater is a seamless album of compositions using sound recordings made whilst participating on the 2018 Sonic Mmabolela residency for sound artists and composers in the Limpopo province of South Africa. With a small group of likeminded people led by Francisco López & Barbara Ellison, I spent countless hours exploring the dynamic environments of the Mmabolela reserve by walking, resting, listening, interacting, experiencing and recording a plethora of environments, objects, phemonema, structures, fauna and phyla unique to the area. Raaswater is a personal aural reflection depicting a rare, isolated and complex sonic environment rich with life, death and enlightenment.

(Clinton Watkins, 27 November 2019)

Tracklist

1.	Gate	3:31

2.	Cemetery	4:06

3.	Skull Crush	3:18

4.	Orchestra	4:24

5.	Fence	4:55

6.	Insects & Rocks	3:03

7.	EMF	1:05

8.	Knife	2:34

9.	Land Cruiser	1:29

10.	Buried	4:22

11.	Bone Kick	5:03

Credits

released April 23, 2021

LOCATION : Mmabolela reserve, Limpopo, South Africa.

Written and produced by Clinton Watkins 2020 @ small window studios,Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand.

~

Special thanks to :

Francisco López, Barbara Ellison, Neil Lowe, Mark and Lesley Berry, Roché van Tiddens, Andy Martin, Jun Mizumachi, Luke Pearson, Kim Foscato, Steve Norton, Jim Speers, Tim Checkley, Starkwhite Gallery, Auckland University of Technology (NZ), my wife and children AD, Moss & Winter, and the environment of Mmabolela.

License