Chino Amobi is a musician and visual artist of Nigerian origin living in Richmond, Virginia. He is co-founder of the transnational network NON Worldwide and also known under the artist's name Diamond Black Hearted Boy. In his tracks he is heavily sampling, from airport soundscapes to chicken clucks and – not least – gun shots. «I used sounds in each song which I felt reflected the mood I experienced while visiting each city», he replied via email when asking about the sampling strategies on his EP Airport Music for Black Folks. Accordingly, sampling gun shots becomes a way of catching an atmosphere. In a short quote he now explains why gun shots are in fact uniting people. From the Norient book Seismographic Sounds (see and order here).
I work with samples of gunshots from games and movies. This does not mean that my music preaches violence. Gunshots are part of our lives. Guns are not used only to kill. In fact, in many places people fire them to celebrate – though this is indeed dangerous because bullets can still fall down and kill. People also play games that are packed with gunshots and explosions. Gamers all over the world recognize these well-designed sounds – they have entered the collective consciousness. In this way, gunshots are capable of uniting people rather than separating them.
I use sci-fi gunshots in my music, not recordings from regular gunshots. Science fiction is prophecy, I believe, for future models of class, gender and warfare. Sci-fi gunshots therefore challenge me on higher levels: people identify with them, and yet I cannot know what they really mean to them. It’s probably about context, knowledge, experience and personality, far beyond my control as a producer of music. This is what motivates me. In working with these well-known sounds I open spaces for diverse, dialectic and controversial interpretations; I raise questions and inspire discussions both small and large.
When I produce, many forces fight each other. It’s a battle. I try to find my personal voice, knowing that my music can never be isolated from the world. Every movement is full of echoes of distant lands and forgotten wars.
