Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Shambala Festival has joined forces with Uzbekistan’s Stihia Festival, and In Place of War’s flagship climate programme EarthSonic to launch ‘Two Seas’ – an ambitious international collaboration using electronic music to tell the story of two of the world’s most dramatic environmental transformations.
Supported by the British Council, the project brings together artists from the UK, Uzbekistan and Finland to create original music using field recordings captured from two climate-threatened landscapes – the dried seabed of Uzbekistan’s Aral Sea and the melting ice of Finland’s Bothnian Bay. The resulting work will premiere as a specially commissioned live audiovisual performance at Shambala Festival, before being released globally alongside a documentary film.
At the heart of the project is Quinn Whalley of acclaimed UK electronic duo Paranoid London, who travelled to both Finland and Uzbekistan to record the changing soundscapes of these fragile environments while collaborating with local artists and communities.
In Muynak, Uzbekistan – once a thriving fishing port and now home to the famous “cemetery of ships” left behind by the retreating Aral Sea – Paranoid London worked alongside Uzbek artists to capture the sounds of wind sweeping across the exposed seabed, abandoned vessels and the landscape left behind by one of the world’s greatest environmental disasters.
The second chapter took place on the frozen coastline of Oulu, Finland, during Frozen People Festival, where the duo collaborated with Finnish and Indigenous Sámi artists to record the sounds of Bothnian Bay as rising temperatures continue to reshape one of Europe’s northernmost seas. Together, the recordings create a striking dialogue between two very different climate stories – one sea disappearing into the desert, the other gradually losing its frozen identity.
The project will culminate in a headline audiovisual performance at Shambala’s Data Mine venue, combining the new compositions with immersive visuals created by Matt Black (Coldcut/Ninja Tune) and Ben Sheppee (The Observatory).
Alongside the artistic collaboration, Two Seas is also a practical international exchange between three independent festivals and cultural organisations exploring how creative events can respond to the climate crisis. The partnership focuses on sharing expertise in sustainable festival production, community engagement and artist development, while developing resilient business models for independent cultural organisations operating in environmentally challenging regions.
Sidharth Sharma, Creative Director of Shambala Festival, said: “Shambala, EarthSonic and Stihia operate on the front lines of cultural response to a changing world. By bringing these worlds into dialogue, we aren’t just making music – we’re documenting a changing planet while sharing ideas that can help independent festivals adapt and thrive in the face of climate change.”
Odil Mukhamedov, Executive producer of Stihia, said: “For Stihia, the Aral Sea — Muynak in particular — has always been more than a place; it is the reason our festival exists. Sharing this landscape with artists from East to West, and transforming its sounds into music, is a powerful reminder that nature connects us all, regardless of borders. We believe cultural collaboration can inspire conversations, empathy and actions that transcend borders.”
Tom Sweet, Senior Music Relationship Manager at the British Council, said: “It’s been a privilege to help bring together respected Uzbek and UK cultural organisations and support artists from both countries to collaborate, respond to and highlight the environmental impact of man-made actions on the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. We hope that the partnerships formed during this project continue and inspire further work raising environmental awareness through music and the wider arts.”
Following its premiere, the music created through Two Seas will be released via EarthSonic’s record label, accompanied by a documentary chronicling the collaboration and bringing the story of the Aral Sea and Bothnian Bay to audiences around the world.
More information: https://www.earthsonic.org/two-seas
Join Shambala: https://www.shambalafestival.org/buy-tickets/
