Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Cities and Memory - remixing the world

By Cities and MemorySociety & CultureArtsMusicPlaces & Travel
Download on the App Store

Cities and Memory - remixing the world episodes

  • Erawan shrine ritual dances, Bangkok
    Field recording from Bangkok, Thailand by Shaun Malone.

    "A recording of several ritual dances at Erawan Shrine, at the corner of a very busy and noisy intersection in central Bangkok. The BTS (skytrain) passes by during the second dance. Recorded 5 Jan 2020."
    3 min
  • Elephant drama
    Elephants in Mweya, Uganda, July 2018 recorded by Daan Hendriks.

    "While in technical terms I don't consider this my "best" recording, it is one of my favourites of the last year due to the intense emotions conveyed by this elephant herd.

    "It was recorded during an overnight session in the Mweya peninsula of Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda, July 2018. I had tracked this herd during the day in my car as far as I could until they disappeared into the  bush, after which I set up a microphone rig in the general direction of the river where they were presumably heading. I left this mic behind as it recorded throughout the rest of the day, night and the next morning.

    "There was a real intensity in the air that night, with the frog chorus going at full strength, insects stridulating feverishly, occasional strong wind gusts and regularly barking hippos. I am not sure what caused distress to this elephant herd but they vocalised all night, continuously rumbling and often screaming and trumpeting loudly. The overall result was a night that conveyed a really wild and primeval sound scape, and for that reason I love this recording quite a bit."
    6 min
  • Proboscidean lament
    Elephants in Uganda reimagined by Peter Hodgkinson.

    "Elephants are capable of hearing at low frequencies and are most sensitive at 1 kHz" so the  exploration began figuratively inside the elephant head between the two wondrous ears. 

    "The original recording is wonderful in itself, but given an emphasis on the infrasound element of the elephant and the rhythms of breath through the trunk, the piece unfolded. Unfortunately, so did the Mac computer and the result was edited on a not so familiar software on a new PC. 

    "I hope to complete a surround sound mix in the future to give real acknowledgement to elephant acoustics. The piece is entitled 'Proboscidean lament' in homage to the terrible plight of the elephant today."
    7 min
  • Ice, rain, spirit, wind
    Thingvellir national park reimagined by Allis Hamilton.

    "This track is a conversation between midwinter, in my bushland home of Heron Cottage in Southern Australia, with that of the Iceland Thingvellir National Park. It is a song of the elements of rain and ice, wind and spirit. 

    "The night I first heard the Icelandic track was an evening of an enormous storm, a tornado of sorts, and the recordings I made of that fierce wind and the trees in my garden swaying and swirling in their unified response to the wind created my first thoughts for the music. 

    "Over the winter, through frosts, thunderstorms and rain I recorded the sounds of the natural world outside my squeaky front door. Alongside these I played some piano, ocarina; and added vocal layers laid like whispers on the wind over the footsteps of the other sounds, including the Icelandic recording which bookends the song alongside thunder and the calls of the mystical and mythic black cockatoos, the rain bringers."

    5 min
  • Ambient Derry
    Foyleside shopping centre reimagined by Nigel Lloyd.

    "An ambient soundscape using a recording of Foyleside Shopping Centre."
    5 min
  • Life in a shopping centre
    Foyleside shopping centre, Northern Ireland, recorded by Nigel Lloyd.

    "A short recording of Foyleside Shopping Centre in Derry Northern Ireland, which includes cafe and tannoy sounds."
    5 min
  • Ferhadija summer
    Kafiche cafe in Sarajevo reimagined by Andy Billington.

    "The original field recording of a string instrument being played in the city of Ferhadija is beautiful, uplifting and haunting, filled with drones and complex melody lines. You get a sense of the town, people and architecture with the natural reverb.

    "I wanted to try and capture these architectural parts and capture a sensation you were (like in the film Enter The Void by Gasper Noi) floating around the city. 

    "I layered the sounds, resampling them many times onto tape cutting and repeating the exercise and changing the pitch. Finally, a sort of sonic framework emerged and was anchored by soft synths. 

    "I then re-added the original field recording, cutting out phrases of melody, adding echo and positioning until happy with the track. Ferhadija Summer was completed."
    7 min
  • Mobility, mutability and volatility
    Saint Petersburg art exhibition reimagined by Simon Woods.

    "The piece is built up from the original field recording. Added to this is an ever changing series of sequences, rhythms and sounds – the notes, scales and chords dictated by the original recording. 

    "The music is constantly changing with new sequences coming in and dropping out – at least one new track (often more) was added each day, 31 in all."
    6 min
  • Laboratory of the future
    Recording from the Manege Exhibition Hall in Saint Petersburg, Russia by Valo Tsvetkutia.

    "The Laboratory of the Future is an exhibition that took place in the "Manege", at which I volunteered at. 

    "There was an art installation, a piano cut in two, and there was a magnetic coil that is making the sound you hear in the recording."
    2 min

About Cities and Memory - remixing the world

From the publisher's feed

Cities and Memory remixes the world, one sound at a time - a global collaboration between artists and sound recordists all over the world.