99% Invisible-79- Symphony of Sirens, Revisited plus Soviet Design by Roman Mars published on 2013-05-08T21:05:46Z For the ancient Greeks, sirens were mythical creatures who sang out to passing sailors from rocks in the sea. Their music was so beautiful, it was said, that the sailors were powerless against it--they would turn their ships towards these sea nymphs and crash in the impassable reefs around them. In Homer's Odyssey, there's a story where Odysseus and his men are traveling near an area that Sirens are known to inhabit. Odysseus knows that if he hears the siren's song, his ship is going to sink. But he still wants to hear what they sound like. So he comes up with a plan: Odysseus has his men tie him to the mast of his ship so that he can't give commands. And then Odysseus has his men fill their own ears with beeswax so they can't hear anything. They set sail in striking distance of the sirens' call. The plan works: Odysseus gets to hear the music, his men don't, and they sail on to safety--with Odysseus pleading with his crew to crash the boat the whole way. And for the next 2000 or so years, that's what a siren was: a creature that makes a beautiful sound. But that all changed in 1819, when a French engineer named Charles Cagniard de la Tour decided to call the artificial noisemaker he was working on--the siren. And this new, mechanical siren became one of THE signature sounds of the turn of the Century. Sirens warned people about immanent bombing raids during World War I. Sirens announced incoming fire engines, and ambulances, and police. Thanks in part to the siren, the world of the the early 20th Century had become a lot louder than any time in human history. And we can probably assume that these sirens that people heard in cities all over the world--sounded NOTHING like the siren songs of Greek myth. At least to most. One man, a composer, named Arseny Avraamov heard music in the cacophony of the modern world. And he tried to create a composition--a symphony-- from the clatter of the newly formed Soviet Union. Moscow-based producer Charles Maynes investigated the legend of Avraamov and his forgotten masterpiece. This is The Symphony of Sirens, Revisited. This story was part of the Global Story Project, presented by PRX with support from the Open Society Foundations. Plus, we hear a rebroadcast of "The Unsung Icons of Soviet Design." Genre Public Radio Comment by MangyTrap omg my ears 2015-10-04T06:19:11Z Comment by HV :p 2014-03-27T12:57:45Z Comment by I.C. Wiener 3 Great episode. Nostalgia overwhelming :,) 2014-01-16T07:48:10Z Comment by elPadresuerte battles indeed 2013-12-27T17:14:36Z Comment by elPadresuerte battles 2013-12-27T17:00:16Z Comment by RSDeux I meant here. What is playing 2013-05-26T22:45:43Z Comment by RSDeux What song is in the background? 2013-05-26T22:44:59Z Comment by Redbyrdent Check out this video on YouTube: http://youtu.be/p85OKCcX2nA 2013-05-13T16:47:31Z Comment by Randy A MacDonald weren't the bombing raid sirens from WW2? Perhaps air power existed in the 19-teens... 2013-05-10T14:18:13Z Comment by Julia Barton Great reconstruction of the music out, guys! 2013-05-09T15:47:31Z Comment by Assuming Time is Linear Brilliant. Two episodes for the price of one! Thank you 2013-05-09T08:55:24Z Comment by Modern_Day_Neanderthal This is amazing, i love how you actually have a subject instead of being a scatterball type thing. 2013-05-09T08:23:05Z Comment by Infredible test 2013-05-09T00:48:58Z