The Northwest Passage is a legendary trans-Arctic sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Sought for centuries as a shortcut between Asia and the West for international trade, it was blocked by ice year ‘round until climate change made it relatively more navigable.
It’s a vast, cold, desolate, often dangerous environment. Crossing it takes powerful ice breakers with two-inch-thick steel hulls, and with hundreds of miles between native villages, there’s little in the way of infrastructure or emergency services. Despite the difficulties, the extraordinary beauty and power of the environment and the audacity of the challenge has inspired a genre of so-called “isolationist” ambient music.
On this transmission of Hearts of Space…a trans-Arctic winter journey, on a program called “NORTHWEST PASSAGE.” Music is by ERIK WØLLO, BIOSPHERE, CHRISTIAN WITTMAN, DREAMSTATE vs. HEIKI, NETHERWORLD, SEETYCA, ISOSTATIC, JEFF PEARCE, and PANGAEA PROJECT.