« Single Event » Explorations in Sound Cosmology: Sonic Prints from Students at Tohono O’odham Community College

sound art, storytelling, Tohono O’odham, Sonoran desert, sound design, sound collage

In January 2025, experimental filmmaker and educator Eryka Dellenbach, offered a unique sound-based approach to video storytelling in the course Video 1 at Tohono O’odham Community College (TOCC). Located within the Tohono O’odham Nation in the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona, TOCC became the setting for an immersive semester-long exploration of sound, storytelling, and place.

Rather than beginning with image, the class began with sound—asking students to build auditory worlds as the foundation for their final video projects. Students were invited to work with voice, ambient field recordings, original music, sound effects, and atmosphere, reflecting on how meaning is shaped by tone, rhythm, timing and relational context. They explored interviews, first person testimony, fiction and poetry, using these stories as the backbone for layered multimedia work. Throughout the course, the focus remained on storytelling—what it can sound like, where it comes from, and how its resonation can vary from person to person.

As part of the class, sound artist, educator and Colaboradio host Mad Kate (www.mad-kate.com) was invited to lead a two-part guest workshop on contextual sound mapping—a methodology developed with their duo HYENAZ. Rooted in deep listening practices and inspired by the work of Pauline Oliveros, among others, their approach invited students to attune to the physical, political, and historical dimensions of sound. The workshops emphasized consent and non-extractive listening, encouraging students to reflect on their own positionality and relationship to the voices they record and share.

The resulting works—entirely self-produced, recorded, and edited by the students—are intimate, experimental, and grounded in place.

Featured artists: DJ J:uñ, Kaiah Begay, Max, and Valerie Haven.

Featured music:

- Original Tracks by Gertie & the TO Boyz "Gertie and the T.O.Boyz" specialize in old time Waila sounds. Original band members include: Gertie on vocals and accordion, Marlon "Hotch" Felix playing Lead Guitar, Daniel Corella on bass, Tobias Thomas on drums and Solantus Thomas on Bajo Sexto. Later, a saxophone and violin were added to the band as well. "Gertie and the T.O. Boyz" play throughout the Tohono O'odham Reservation as well as throughout Arizona and New Mexico playing private events such as celebrations and family gatherings, and larger dances for the broader community. Gertie and her band have also traveled to Minnesota and played larger venues in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and even a river boat cruise on the St. Croix river. Her music is joyful, playing Waila tunes that were written by her and her family.

- Selections from a collaborative performance between Maiiuwak and Eryka Dellenbach MaiiuwaK is the collaborative effort of Ricky Tutaan and Jerrick Tsosie, which combines viola, guitar, and a myriad of other instruments as the basis for their experimental drone sound. Through the use of improvisation and intuition, MaiiuwaK paints a unique tapestry of primordial landscapes that meditate between unsettling and serene.

- "The Song of the Coyote" by Lorenzo Pablo Lorenzo Pablo runs Canyon Records. Canyon Records of Phoenix, Arizona, producer and distributor of Native American music, is one of the oldest independent record labels in the music industry as well as one of the oldest cultural institutions in the state of Arizona. (canyonrecords.com) This recording captures the traditional social and ceremonial music of the Tohono O'odham people (formerly called "Papago"). The sound of human voice is accompanied by gourd rattle and basket drum in these unique and disappearing songs from the peoples of the southern Arizona desert.