Research: The Journey of the Melody
Project Overview:
Transdisciplinary Research-Creation & Spatial Media InstallationThe Journey of the Melody is a research-creation project investigating the sensory landscape, acoustic memory, and emotional trauma surrounding the turn-of-the-century Swiss migration to the Canadian Prairies. Grounded in maternal family history (the Emil Kobi family of Moosaffoltern and Central Alberta), the project moves beyond conventional pioneer mythology to explore the domestic isolation, cultural displacement, and enduring resilience of migrant families separated across continents.Centered on a constructed, dramatized 1906 letter between siblings—one navigating the urban density of New York, the other breaking sod on the quiet Alberta prairie—the narrative translates historical correspondence into an immersive multi-channel video installation and spatialized 8.1 audio environment.
STAGE 1: ARCHIVAL RESEARCH & SCREENPLAY DEVELOPMENT
STAGE 1: ARCHIVAL RESEARCH & SCREENPLAY DEVELOPMENT
Project Window:
May 1 – October 31, 2027
Host Residency Window:
May 1–May 31, 2027 (Bern, Switzerland)
Funding Support: Canada Council for the Arts
(Explore and Create: Research and Creation)
Stage 1 supports European archival research, 1910 dialect dialogue reconstruction, feature screenplay writing, and spatial audio-visual pre-visualization. Institutional Host & Research Collaborators:
- Ethnographic Mediaspace Bern (EMB), Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Bern: Institutional Host: Mentored by Prof. Dr. Michaela Schäuble and Dr. Laura Coppens during a 4-week media lab residency (Unitobler Room B229 Schnittplatz) calibrating 3-channel video projections and 8.1 directional audio arrays.
- Bernisches Historisches Museum: Archival Partner: In-person examination of the physical 1803 Kobi heraldic glass panels with Curator Dr. Marc Höchner to translate ancestral visual motifs into gallery installation elements.
- Institut für Germanistik, University of Bern: Linguistic Advisors: Sociolinguistic consultation and 1910 Bernese German (Bärndütsch) dialect coaching with Simon Kistler and Prof. Dr. Adrian Leemann to write period-accurate screenplay dialogue.
- Institute of Musicology, University of Bern: Acoustic Heritage Advisor: Ethnomusicological research with Dr. Lea Hagmann on the Guggisberglied folk ballad, American reed pump organ acoustic heritage, and prairie acoustic ecology.
MULTI-STAGE PROJECT ROADMAP
- Stage 1 (2027): European Archival Research, Dialect Scriptwriting & EMB Lab Prototyping (Current Grant)
- Stage 2 (2028): Scripted Production in Alberta on Treaty 7 Territory & Stoney Nakoda AV Club Collaboration
- Stage 3 (2029): Dual-Nation Gallery Exhibition Tour in Canada and Switzerland (EMB Bern)
Sonic Research & The Migrating Melody
Hermann's Gift & The Guggisberglied
At the emotional and sensory center of the project is a remarkable transatlantic correspondence between two brothers: Hermann Kobi in New York City and Emil Kobi in Alberta.
Navigating the roar of Manhattan in 1906, Hermann was haunted by a half-remembered childhood melody. Brushing the keys of an instrument in a Brooklyn music shop window, the memory returned in a rush: the ancient Bernese ballad "S'isch äben e Mönsch uf Ärde" (The Guggisberglied / Simelibärg, c. 1741), sung by their mother during chores in Switzerland. Hermann purchased the instrument and shipped it by rail across the continent to Emil's homestead—where it filled the modest sod house and was sung by Emil’s young daughter Mary in English and Swiss-German.
In collaboration with ethnomusicologist Dr. Lea Hagmann (Institute of Musicology, University of Bern), the sonic research explores:
- The Anatomy of Heimweh: Documenting why this rare minor-key ballad became the historical embodiment of Swiss homesickness (Heimweh) and resistance to sanitized, postcard-patriotic folklore.
- A Transnational Melody in Transit: Tracing the song's cross-border European roots—including its historical French counterpart, Il est quelqu'un sur terre (arranged by Benjamin Britten)—demonstrating that the melody was already a cultural migrant before reaching the Prairies.
- Acoustic Translocation: Contrasting the enclosed, resonant wooden architecture of the Bernese countryside with the vast, wind-swept silence of the Alberta frontier.
Benjamin Britten arrangement (click image to play music sample)
