ANGAKUT

Freelance Composer, Sound Designer and Field Recordist

Angakut is an obscure word derived from Inuit Shamanism meaning "Spiritual healers"

and creatively the musical name for Jonathan Emeruwa.

I am a music composer and therapist interested in electroacoustics, musique concrète​, soundscapes and ambiences inspired by the natural environment, imagination, trance, half remembered dreams and collective memories.

My compositional approach is to utilise sound and music, testing out ideas to convey the plethora of emotional expression free from structural constraints and restrictions. I work with found sounds, field recordings, software, old synths, circuit bending, abandoned wax cylinders and forgotten shamanic instruments to bridge the sonic landscape of the ancient and contemporary where differing emotive sounds coexist, colliding and merging concurrently.

I remember the bliss I felt hearing recorded music from West Africa and East Asia (which is where I'd originated from), and held meaning to me culturally and spiritually. The harmony and hypnotic rhythms/breakbeats of a later musical genre of influence which evolved out of poverty.

As a child I recollect the old broken Binatone stereo owned by my parents used to transmit an early morning cacophony of Medium Wave radio noise, static, and modulations, alongside news and music broadcasts. Spinning the broken vinyl platter by hand and positioning the cartridge stylus in place to play a record, fascinated by the sounds it made turned at an irregular speed, and getting myself into trouble by accidently etching a groove on the disc.

The imperfect distorted drones recorded of background interference embedded on the cassette's recording track whilst using the magnetic heads, due to what was considered grounding loop hum. The satisfaction at being given a portable cassette recorder for the first time to capture chosen moments and feelings, from joy to distresses. The splicing and gluing together of miniature cassette tape to reorder music, and sheer excitement in my teen years of receiving a discarded dubbing unit to repair, transfixed by the whirring of the reels.

These are some of the retrospections that helped guide me toward my interest in recorded music and I have been discreetly recording, producing and composing in my spare time ever since for over 24 years. I also founded an indie hip-hop UK website in the late 1990s, and sound preservation site, 'The Ambientscape Project' in 2022, and currently work as a mental health counsellor.

I don't hold any prestigious music qualifications, musical titles or claims to fame other than cello lessons as a child and my intent has always been to make my music accessible to everyone, the content is free for you to stream, download and share.

I'm hoping this site will also inspire you to create, you don't need the latest tech, or to spend a lot of money on your passion, just use what you already have and be creative. For those foraying into the world of Computer Audio Production there are some superb software instrument websites among these are Amazonic, Pianobook and Spitfire Labs.

So who are the real innovators of music?

You are!!

Peace and Blessings

Angakut

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