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Desautels faculty of music awards ‘that sound in the tunnels’ an honorary degree in composition
from 29 March 2023
Bingo Browaty, staff
A fter several decades of toiling on the underground scene, “that sound in the tunnels” is finally being recognized for its prolific and influential work in the field of ambient and avant-garde compositions.
Desautels faculty of music dean Gene Deanerson said in a statement this morning that the honorary degree comes after years of the faculty’s admiration of the sound’s compositions.
“The famously enigmatic artist was difficult to contact,” he said. “But after a few séances we were able to arrange a way to award the sound with a doctorate of composition.”
The faculty has not revealed exactly how it will award the amorphous entity with a degree, but the ceremony has been scheduled for April 4, in the tunnels between Elizabeth Dafoe Library and the Duff Roblin building the site of many of “that sound’s” most famous performances.
Local experimental music critics like Shaw Singleton and Roberta Poustles have praised the sound’s rich textures, innovative use of performance space and ambiguous sense of time.
“There’s so much depth of character in the sound, you never know where it will go next,” Poustles told the Ivory Buffalo. “The use of pipes and the buzz of fluorescent lights as sound sources is ingenious; these environmental noises truly envelop you in the composition.”
In recognition of this momentous occasion, 101.5 UMFM and Classic107 will be holding 24-hour retrospective programming of “that sound in the tunnels’s” work on April 3.
Station manager at UMFM Jamie MacLachlan said, “it’s amazing that ‘the sound’ is finally getting its due.”

“You can hear echoes of its influence all over the world of ambient music.” ivorybuffalo@themanitoban.com