Weird sounds from his Twitter followers helped Greenlandic electronic musician create new music

Aqqalu Berthelsen was supposed to be in the middle of a major world tour, taking him from Finland to New Zealand and New York. 

Instead, with gigs cancelled, the electronic music producer originally from Nuuk, Greenland, is stuck at his home, trying to keep himself busy — either making and selling beats, making memes, or hanging with his partner and new puppy, Mattak. 

In an effort to keep himself busy, he turned to Twitter and asked his followers to submit any and all weird sounds they could make — with the plan to make a song entirely out of the solicited submissions. 

The next day, Berthelsen set out to make an electronic track using the 27 sounds he was sent by his followers, most of whom are Indigenous from all over, he said. He made the beat while streaming live on Twitch, which Berthelsen said was a nice way to connect with fans.  

"It was amazing. It was a good experience for me and my followers," he said. "I like connecting dots in our communities, and it was a good way to connect the dots and have a sense of community even though we're so far away."

Building beats

Berthelsen was pretty confident he could turn any sounds he received into a catchy electronic track. He's been making music with computers since 1999, and has released multiple records under his artist name, Uyarakq.

"I can make any sound, sound like any sound," he said. 

One sound, from his friend Vinnie Karetak, was one of Berthelsen's favourites and became the basis for the bass riff. 

In this sound, as with the others, Berthelsen isolated a section of it. He then put it through a couple of effects to make it sound more like an instrument. Since Karetak's sound had tone, Berthelsen was able to place it into a keyboard and play the sound as bass notes.

Berthelsen used the popping sounds he received as kicks and snares for his drums, some laughing for a bit of vocal mix and even some sounds of animals for the bridge. Some sounds he pitched way down, others he'd put effects over, but some, like the sounds of crows that were submitted, were perfect as they were.

The result may have been a catchy dance track, but Berthelsen was mostly looking for a way to connect with his followers, some of whom he might have seen on that world tour. 

"It was fun," he said. "People felt that they were coming all together to make this song together. And it was a good feeling."