Cities and Memory - remixing the world

The maghrib call to prayer at 6.45pm from the biggest mosque in Marrakesh, the towering Koutoubia mosque. 

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

|Drummerrss "connects two operating systems: the idea of land, territory and borders, rooted in the ground, and the idea of a spiritual belief system, with a different set of rituals, codes and rules. Both systems are crucial to the formation of individual and collective identities. In Drummerrsss, the connection and friction between them evolve through rhythm and beat: this can be fruitful, but also lead to conflict." 

Large video screens across the space depict one drummer inside a hole in the ground, and another being lowered down from above on a suspended platform. The drum sounds reverberate around the space. 

Recorded at the Jewish Museum in Berlin, Germany in September 2025 by Cities and Memory. 

"My composition for the Cities & Memory Spring Project, For Patience Joins Time to Eternity, draws on a field recording of the Maghrib call to prayer, captured at 6:45 p.m. from the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakesh, Morocco. I was drawn to this recording for the haunting, resonant quality of the voice, as well as its poignant relevance to contemporary events unfolding across the Middle East.

"As tensions in the region intensify, the work incorporates gradually evolving synthesizer drones and layered textures that mirror a sense of mounting unease, while also seeking moments of stillness and reflection. The Maghrib adhan—the Islamic call marking sunset and inviting the faithful to the fourth of the five daily prayers—provides both a structural and symbolic foundation. Traditionally beginning with the phrase “Allahu Akbar” (“God is Greatest”), the call unfolds as a melodic and contemplative invocation.

"In this composition, the adhan becomes both source and metaphor: its echoes are transformed and extended, suggesting multiple layers of meaning across time and space. Ultimately, the piece aspires, like the prayer itself, to offer a sense of calm and a quiet gesture toward peace."

Koutoubia mosque call to prayer reimagined by Jeff Dungfelder.

"I really liked the reverb of the recording. Hearing the echos of the space and the sound of footsteps as people took in the performance was special. I took the recording and put it into Convology XT to use the space as a reverb and played some notes using DecentSampler and Vital vsts.

"From there, I took the sound and stretched it and added more reverb effects to it to boost the sound. Throughout the piece, the field recording plays so that the sound of existing within the space can shine. I loved the idea of utilising space as the medium itself, with the drummers existing above and below one another." 

Drummerrsss installation in Berlin reimagined by ellipses.

Attention please! Attention please! The sound of the emergency alarm being tested in an empty shopping centre - shades of post-apocalyptic movies or Dawn of the Dead, as the emergency announcement echoes out across the cavernous space, which is deserted this early in the morning.

Recorded in Oxford, UK in November 2025 by Cities and Memory. 

"By filtering the waves to focus on the deep, rhythmic pulse of the water, I’ve made out a space for the ethereal pad.Its a place where the digital and the organic blur into one."

Waves in Faros, Greece reimagined by Substak.

"he Westgate shopping centre is deserted and subject to an unknown threat that must be dealt with by: seeing, saying and sorting. There is the ticking or an unreliable clock and the mixed up sounds of a public announcement that will be familiar to users of UK railways."

Westgate Centre alarm, Oxford reimagined by Roland Pyle.

"In this piece I created an ambient soundscape on top of the initial recording this was to add to the relaxation of the waves slowly crashing against the shore."

Koh Rong beach in Cambodia reimagined by Jake Edwards. 

"I composed this piece imagining the observational or listening perspective of the field recordist Anders Vinjar in the Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan, after decades of war in Afghanistan. The recording is from inside the upper part of Shah Mama, near where the head used to be. 

"While composing I tried to imagine the vastness of the region and the passages once used by monks moving through the statues and surrounding caves."

Soundscape from Shah Mama, Bamiyan Valley reimagined by Atul Giri.