"Voices of the Rainforest: A Day in the Life of Bosavi" is a 70-minute cinema concert–an experiential documentary about the ecological and aesthetic coevolution of Papua New Guinea's Bosavi rainforest region and its inhabitants. Through sound and image, the film immerses viewers in the rainforest, and makes audible myriad connections between the everyday sounds of the rainforest biosphere and the creative practices of singing to, with, and about it by the Bosavi people. Structured around a day in the life of the rainforest and the music it inspires for the Bosavi people, the film brings to life the everyday activities of work, leisure, and ritual–heard in the full ambient setting of the rainforest–throughout the day and night.

"Voices of the Rainforest" was produced by Steven Feld and Dennis Leonard and directed by Steven Feld and Jeremiah Ra Richards in collaboration with the Bona community of Bosavi, Papua New Guinea. Feld conducted anthropological and ethnomusicological fieldwork in Bosavi from 1975 to 2000. The original "Voices of the Rainforest" CD was produced during this time (1991) with production support from Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. Working with acclaimed sound editor Dennis Leonard at Skywalker Sound in 2016-2017, Feld recomposed a 25th anniversary 7.1 Voices soundtrack. A 2018 return to Bosavi with filmmaker Jeremiah Ra Richards and digitization of Feld's extensive archival photographs led to the creation of the immersive film joined to the 7.1 soundtrack (Documentary Educational Resources).

Steven Feld is an anthropologist, filmmaker, musician, and sound artist, and Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Emeritus at the University of New Mexico. Recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1991, he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1994. In 2003, he received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 2024. His research has also been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Endowments for the Humanities and for the Arts, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, and other foundations. For more info, see www.stevenfeld.net

Sponsored by U-M LSA Department of Anthropology and co-sponsored by the Sensory and Technology Lab at U-M Anthro; University of Michigan LSA; University of Michigan Office of Research; the Center for World Performance Studies; U-M Center for Southeast Asian Studies; U-M LSA Department of Film, Television, and Media; U-M SEAS Program in the Environment; U-M SMTD Department of Musicology; and U-M SMTD Department of Performing Arts Technology.

This event is made possible with the generous support of the U.S. Department of Education Title VI Grant awarded to the U-M Center for Southeast Asian Studies.

The Sensory & Technology Lab is a collaborative space for experimental and multimodal ethnography in the department of anthropology at University of Michigan. For more information, please contact Jennifer Hsieh at jchsieh@umich.edu.