Sound Journey To The West

Sound Journey to the West is a cross-regional sound culture fieldwork project initiated and completed in 2018 by sound artist Xingyu Li (Whale Circus / 52Hz Sound Cabinet). Centered around field recording as its primary methodology, the project integrates documentation of traditional ethnic music with environmental sound sampling, in an effort to construct a sonic pathway that traverses both natural geography and cultural heritage.

In 2018, the project team spent two months conducting ethnomusicological fieldwork across the Xinjiang region. During this period, the team systematically documented improvisational performances by traditional music practitioners through audio and video recordings, while also collecting extensive environmental sound materials, including wind, desert spatial acoustics, and ambient soundscapes from diverse terrains.

Following this fieldwork, dozens of local musicians from various ethnic backgrounds were invited to participate in recording sessions in Urumqi. Through open-form improvisational collaboration, the core material for a cross-cultural instrumental album was developed.

In 2020, the resulting album

The Farthest Place from the Sea

was officially completed, based on the field recordings gathered during the project.

As part of the project’s implementation, Xingyu Li relocated his Beijing-based studio and transformed it into a mobile recording space housed within a custom-modified camper van named Mercury. This modification extended beyond equipment transport, embedding recording, composition, and monitoring systems directly into the vehicle’s structure, effectively turning it into a mobile sound laboratory capable of operating continuously throughout the journey.

With Mercury as its central mobile unit, the project later returned to Xinjiang, where musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds gathered in the Taklamakan Desert for a site-specific sonic assembly. The event was broadcast via livestream, sharing the region’s musical traditions, landscapes, and cultural environment with a broader public audience.

The name Mercury references humanity’s first crewed spaceflight program, symbolizing a journey of exploration across cultural frontiers, while also reflecting sound’s potential as a medium for connecting diverse civilizational experiences in a contemporary context.