Dialtones (A Telesymphony) (2001-2002: Golan Levin, Gregory Shakar, Scott Gibbons, Yasmin Sohrawardy, Joris Gruber, Erich Semlak, Gunther Schmidl, and Joerg Lehner) is a large-scale concert performance whose sounds are wholly produced through the carefully choreographed ringing of the audience’s own mobile phones. Before the concert, participants register their mobile phone numbers at a series of web terminals; in exchange, new ringtone melodies are automatically transmitted to their phones, and their seating assignment tickets are generated. During the concert, the audience’s phones are dialed up by live performers, using custom software which permits as many as 60 phones to ring simultaneously. Because the exact location and tone of each participant’s mobile phone is known in advance, the Dialtones concert is able to present a diverse range of unprecedented sonic phenomena and musically interesting structures, such as waves of polyphony which cascade across the audience. Dialtones was presented at the Ars Electronica Festival in September 2001, and at the Swiss National Exposition in May and June of 2002.

Interview with the creators of “Dialtones: A Telesymphony”. “Dialtones” (2001-2002: Golan Levin, Scott Gibbons, Gregory Shakar, Yasmin Sohrawardy et al.) is a large-scale concert performance whose sounds are wholly produced through the carefully choreographed ringing of the audience’s own mobile phones. Before the concert, participants register their mobile phone numbers at a series of web terminals; in exchange, new ringtone melodies are automatically transmitted to their phones, and their seating assignment tickets are generated. During the concert, the audience’s phones are dialed up by live performers, using custom software which permits as many as 60 phones to ring simultaneously. Because the exact location and tone of each participant’s mobile phone is known in advance, the Dialtones concert is able to present a diverse range of unprecedented sonic phenomena and musically interesting structures, such as waves of polyphony which cascade across the audience.

Watch the TXT message symphony played from 1000 mobile phones.

folks in the village have mobile phones even when theres no reception listen and enjoy

Download the mp3 here: www.filefactory.com Silence of the city It was Tuesday afternoon, I got home from work quite soon, I turned on the tv and, What did I see? I saw World War Three, Staring back at me, I thought I might wake up to reality, There wasn’t gonna be, Yeah, And all I could see was, This horrific tragedy. In the Silence Of The City, No mobile phones ring, In the Silence Of The City, You cannot hear a thing, In the Silence Of The City, The smiles are washed away, In the Silence Of The City, There’s nothing left to say. And New York, New York, So good they named you twice, The city that never sleeps, Do you believe your eyes? If I dissected war, Big apple is eaten to the core, And two tall towers, Crumble to the floor, And Manhattan isn’t there, It’s there no more! In the Silence Of The City, No mobile phones ring, In the Silence Of The City, You cannot hear a thing, In the Silence Of The City, The smiles are washed away, In the Silence Of The City, There’s nothing left to say. And hardened New York cops, With tears in their eyes, Tired & worn ou And hardened New York cops, With tears in their eyes, Tired & worn out fire-fighters, Hoping to hear cries, And emergency & medics, Overcome by exhaustion, And all rescue workers, Filled with deep emotion. In the Silence Of The City, No mobile phones ring, In the Silence Of The City, You cannot hear a thing, In the Silence Of The City, The smiles are washed away, In the Silence Of The City, There’s nothing left to say …