Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Wandering from the main gate through to the terrace overlooking the sea, through the Café des Oudayas and into the Andalusian garden.

Recorded by Rachel Beckles Willson with students of the Ecole Nationale d'Architecture, Rabat.

The most famous tourist attraction in Marrakesh, perhaps, is Yves Saint-Laurent's Jardin Majorelle, a one-hectare botanical garden and artist's landscape garden in Marrakesh, Morocco. It was created by the French Orientalist artist Jacques Majorelle over almost forty years, starting in 1923, and features a Cubist villa designed by French architect Paul Sinoir in the 1930s. Here we tune into birdsong, the sound of flowing water features, tourists passing by and the unusual sound of light rain in the city! 

Recorded in Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2026 by Cities and Memory. 

Walking out of the mountain village of Imlil in the Atlas Mountains, we come across a powerful waterfall next to a cave - except the cave has an improvised Moroccan cafe built into it - resulting in this soundscape of powerful torrents of water next to tourists taking selfies and ordering coffee. 

Recorded in Imlil, Morocco, January 2026 by Cities and Memory. 

"This piece consist of recording of water. Seemingly peaceful, it contains echos of a dark event. 

"I tried to treat it that way, shifting quickly away from the ripples of the water, without entering a too obvious aggression or rage, more like turbulence.

"I tried however to maintain also the soothing emotions of water and move towards an integrated stillness." 

Utoya soundscape reimagined by Sebastian Dingens.

"For this piece I used techniques such as chopping up the original field recording and applying more effect such as reverb, reversing, filtering, and modulating etc. I also decided to add in some of my own synthesis using a Moog Sub Phatty and Grandmother to add more layers and depth to my soundscape piece."

Nordic Pixel Forest, Oslo reimagined by Jake Edwards.

"The first thing I noticed about the recording was the rhythm of the traffic light noise so I tempo matched that to 150bpm and began experimenting with different arpeggios to find a melody and a direction, I had the name Oslo Oscillation pretty early on so looked to incorporate some oscillating themes into the piece, the traffic light noise itself is oscillating in pitch, I put low pass filter on it at about 2500hz to take out all the high end, I didnt want to bury the noise but also didn't want it poking through too much. 

"The intro is a key point, I isolated the siren from the recording and then ran it through a guitar amp, it's a little bold sounding and is designed to attract attention and then the piece can begin.

"Tried to incorporate some interesting rhythms towards the end leading to a crescendo where it sort of falls apart on purpose."

Pedestrian crossing in Oslo reimagined by Gary Pitt.

"Inspired by the descriptive title of the recording which ends with the word “calm”, I evoke that feeling with a gentle piano line like waves or a gently rocking boat, supported by strings and brass sounds. 

"The pulsing engine sound of a passing boat in the recording led me to imagine embarking on a boat tour of the bay with some traveling music, beats and that engine rhythm propelling us along. In the final section a deep bass line expresses the peaceful calm of deep water and the contentment of a day well spent." 

Hovedoya beach, Oslo reimagined by Martin Gregory.

"Mvura (Shona for "water") was inspired by a field recording captured in the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh, Morocco. A space filled with birdsong, flowing water, passing voices, and a calm energy of nature.

"The composition began with sampling the sound of flowing water from the recording and building an Afro House journey around it. I wanted to fuse the organic atmosphere of the garden with the warmth, rhythm, and uplifting energy of Afro House. Percussion became a central element, reflecting both African and Arab musical textures and the shared sense of movement and celebration found across these cultures.

"The track progresses slowly and intentionally, allowing elements to unfold naturally ( like water itself). MVURA is meant to feel immersive: a balance between nature and dance, calm and motion, creating a joyful space where listeners can drift and move at the same time."

Jardin Majorelle, Marrakesh reimagined by NdiniBeatz.

"The field recording spoke to me of slow, gentle and happy co-existence, across cultures, across generations and between people and nature. Musically the track is built around a short rhythmic motif extracted from the original source; this set the pace, the root tone and the overall feel of the piece."

Rabat soundwalk reimagined by Thom Cuschieri.

"I asked for a random field recording and was very happy to get this assigned. I visited the market ~40 years ago, and this field recording brings back the sensory overload of the place. While there I bought a pair of iron castanets which are hanging on my wall. You can hear the traders playing these on the field recording, they deliver a harsh ‘clacking’ noise on the ears and also a harsh pinch on your palms if played poorly like me. In this remix I wanted to recreate the psychedelic experience I had wandering around the market.

"All sounds are taken from the field recording, no additional instruments or voices are used. I created a number of tape loops of sections of the recording and adjusted the tape speed and applied resonators, filters, EQ, envelopes and overdrive. The mix of tape loops and effects was performed live and fed through a distorted dub delay to finish it off, no post editing was used so the mix is a bit rough and ready in places, but I hope you get as much enjoyment as I did making it."

Marrakesh Jemaa el-Fnaa soundscape reimagined by smithdarg.