Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Peaceful ambient sound from the Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan, post 45 years of war in Afghanistan. Recordings from top of inside Buddha Shah-Mama, where the head used to be.

Recorded in Bamiyan, Afghanistan by Anders Vinjar. 

"In this piece I wanted to make an ambient soundscape layering different textures on top of the recording. To make a composition the listener can just zone in to."

Borneo rainforest reimagined by Jake Edwards.

This beautiful recording of nocturnal crickets in Ghana opened up the night to me - I wanted to create a piece that had something of the warmth of a long summer evening, gazing up at the infinite sky as the crickets sing. The arpeggios grow and develop, with more instruments entering throughout the piece, representing the growth of the cricket chorus as more and more insect voices join the song each night.

The title is from an Emily Dickinson poem, "The cricket sang":

The cricket sang,
And set the sun,
And workmen finished, one by one,
Their seam the day upon. 

The low grass loaded with the dew,
The twilight stood as strangers do
With hat in hand, polite and new,   
To stay as if, or go. 

A vastness, as a neighbour, came,
— A wisdom without face or name, 
A peace, as hemispheres at home,
—    And so the night became. 

Faint cricket chorus at night, Ghana. 

Subtle night activity of crickets in a suburban community in Ghana. Human movements, voices, autos and textures can be observed in distinctive stereo fields.  Recording format: Binaural. Please wear headphones. 

Recorded in Koforidua - Bonya, Ghana by Samuel Kudjodzi.

"The core of this reimagining lies in the steam engine’s rhythmic inconsistency. I wrote this piece after listening to the sounds of an uneven, mechanically gasping engine: an exercise in translating industrial unpredictability into a structured yet fluid composition. 

"The process mirrored the engine's own struggle - a push-pull between rigid mechanics and the faltering quality of a machine that isn't quite running true."

Steam engines at Coleford Festival of Transport reimagined by Philip Gibbs.

Stationary steam Eegines at the Coleford Festival of Transport. The stationary steam engines at the Coleford Festival of Transport always attract attention with their mechanical symphony of rhythmic chugging, the high pitched hiss of steam, and the clanking of rods and flywheels. The sounds of this engine were particularly beguiling. It sometimes faltered, and for a moment it seemed like it would stop and die, only to start up again with renewed vigour.

Recorded by Paul Stephens-Wood.

Artists in conversation with the Pitt Rivers Museum curatorial team at the Century of Sounds launch event in Oxford on 27 February 2026. 

Featuring:

A Century of Sounds is a partnership between Cities and Memory and the Pitt Rivers Museum, inviting listeners to explore compositions created by 100 artists from a century of incredible recordings from the museum’s sound collections.

Explore the full Century of Sounds project at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds

Artists in conversation with the Pitt Rivers Museum curatorial team at the Century of Sounds launch event in Oxford on 27 February 2026. 

Featuring:

A Century of Sounds is a partnership between Cities and Memory and the Pitt Rivers Museum, inviting listeners to explore compositions created by 100 artists from a century of incredible recordings from the museum’s sound collections.

Explore the full Century of Sounds project at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds

A Century of Sounds feature on the Battiti show on Rai Radio 3 in Italy, broadcast on 26 February 2026. 
Featuring:
- Drawn to the circle by Ana Habesh
- Mwana wevhu by Ndinibeatz
- Kinnaur calling by Sonic Soma

Plus discussion of the project and our partnership with the Pitt Rivers Museum. 

When I first heard this recording of men gathered around a guitar, singing fragments of traditional songs and inventing lyrics on the spot, with women and children laughing in the background - it hit me: music isn’t just sound, it’s connection. It's a reminder of the timeless beauty in coming together, sharing stories, passing down traditions, and creating something meaningful in the moment.

Curious about what the singers were saying, I reached out to people from Central Africa, and the response was surprising - those improvised lyrics were built from single words in regional slang. In this kind of music-making, it often starts with one word, then another, and before you know it, a whole verse is born. It’s spontaneous, alive, and beautifully organic.

For my remix, I used the main melody of the original field recording as the foundation, blending in those improvised words as fillers. I also incorporated the traditional rhythm of Soukous - a guitar-driven genre from Congo, often referred to as Congolese rumba, which mixes Afro-Cuban folkloric influences.

Just like our ancestors sang around the fire, united by song, we too continue this tradition today - whether around a campfire or through modern technology, remixing old recordings into something new. Music is more than entertainment; it’s a bond, a message, a celebration of community, and a bridge to the past. From kings sending musicians ahead of their armies to show unity, to modern-day communities of music lovers sharing sounds across the globe - we keep passing the sound from generation to generation. And that’s what keeps us together.

Afternoon beneath a palm shelter reimagined by micca.

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Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds