AV Festival - zoviet*france go underwater in Sunderland

People will actually be able to swim during the performance

Have you ever listened to music underwater? That's the experience being offered as the AV Festival makes its way to Sunderland.

Electronic musicians Cluster and Newcastle band zoviet*france will be performing at the Sunderland Aquatic Centre on 10 March 2010.

People will be able to listen to their performances from either inside the pool itself or on seating around it.

Different mixes will be played underwater and poolside.

Faster in water

Ben Ponton from zoviet*france said: "We think it's a really interesting concept.

"The way we're approaching it is that sounds that you'll hear underwater when we're performing will actually be completely different from the sounds that'll be heard above the water."

This should be the case as sound travels four-and-a-half times faster in water than in air.

Ben added: "We're trying to create a combination of sounds that work together but are distinct and separate in the two environments.

Ben says the band won't know what the performance will be like till the day

"We've all done that thing, when you're a kid or maybe even now - when you're lying in the bath, you submerge yourself in water and you experience how different things sound."

Hearing the music underwater has definitely captured people's imaginations - swimming tickets for the performance have outsold poolside tickets by two to one.

Guesswork

Ben explained that the band won't have access to the aquatic centre pool until the day of the show so they won't be able to get much practice in for this unusual performance.

He said: "A lot of it is guesswork as to how it's actually going to work."

This project has been several months in the making and has been very complex logistically. It also involves the use of expensive underwater sound systems.

But with only having access to the pool on the day no-one can be entirely sure how the event till turn out. Ben, however, is very positive.

He said: "We're as intrigued and excited about it as everyone else and we're very optimistic about how it's going to work."

Tickets cost £5 and can be bought from the AV Festival website.