Cities and Memory - remixing the world

An aircraft lands at George Bush Airport, Houston, Texas - we hear the usual on-board announcements, but punctuated by news of a medical issue on board that will require attention from emergency staff as the plan taxis into its stand at the airport. Recorded by Marcel Gnauk.

Recorded by Connie Lim Keh Nie.

"Listening to various pitches from hammer and tongs emanating from the tinsmith shops along China Street, clicking and clacking with rhythm, the tins were solely handcrafted.  

"There are no mechanized machines used; only the bare hands of the tinsmith. He uses his thumbs to bend the metal little by little while placed on the bean and began to hammer the edge gently. 

"Amidst the hubbub of a busy commercial area, the tinsmith customizing the order with meticulous efficiency, plying well-honed craftsmanship to meet the demands for customized household tinware like pots and pans as well as kitchen utensils. 

"The tinsmith is left in the vicinity of China Street with the clanging sound of meter were drowned by the sounds of the bustling city of Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia."

Part of the Future Cities project - find out more at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/future-cities

Malaysian tinsmith reimagined by Cities and Memory.

"This reimagined piece started out by mapping a drum pattern, against which samples and individual hits from the tinsmith's tools were placed alongside individual beats to give a skeleton rhythm - this drum track was then removed, leaving the tinsmith to generate the beats for the track with just a minor percussive accompaniment. 

"The bulk of the track is made up of five interlacing patterns from a Buchla Easel, the arpeggios of which represent the constant movement of the tinsmiths as they work - the different layers are to represent the interlacing of different type of percussive strike from the tinsmiths' tool overlapping.

"The overall effect is a both a tribute to the industry of the workers, but also a warning sign that traditional handicrafts such as this are under threat from automation as we move further into the 21st century."

Part of the Future Cities project - find out more at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/future-cities

"Recorded on my Samsung Galaxy A60. Since the beginning of the pandemic I have noticed the soundscape change all around me. In downtown Ottawa the streets were less busy and the balconies of various apartments became social hot spots. 

"Nowadays the pedestrian traffic has increased and it has become more difficult to communicate with others as face masks remain mandatory. In this recording we hear some social interactions, a bit of car troubles, a sweet motorcycle, and the constant hum of generators and A/C units. On an unusually hot day for the end of September there were few clouds in the sky. A great day. Recorded by Parker Nicholls.

Part of the #StayHomeSounds project.

Rome's Giardino degli Aranci reimagined by Tilla Martin.

"The original field recording was going through the notes of Elvis' Can't Help Falling In Love, covered by jet fighters sounds. 

Wise men say only fools rush in
Shall I stay
Like a river flows surely to the sea
Darling so it goes
Some things are meant to be

"I imagined a dialogue between two generations, discussing how they imagined, as kids, what the future city sounds would be."

Part of the Future Cities project - find out more at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/future-cities

The recording, made on 1 June 2017, opens with jet fighters from the famous acrobatic group the Frecce Tricolori flying over the skies of Rome, preparing their manoeuvres for the 2 June Festa della Repubblica celebrations (you can see what the resulting parade was like here).

We hear a busker performing “Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” by Elvis Presley for voice and acoustic guitar, while we hear tourists conversing in different languages and walking around.

From three minutes, the song ends, and we walk across the gravelled paths of the garden (with a little unfortunate handling noise!), pausing to listen to birdsong.

At 4.08 another jet fighter passes overhead, again practising manoeuvres over the city. We hear an electric gate closing, then the sound of a car alarm briefly lights up the soundscape.

We end at a fountain in the garden, and the recording closes with the sound of running water into the fountain pond, interspersed with the voices of pedestrians. Finally, as the hour sounds, there is a faint snippet of bells ringing through the air at the close of the recording.

Recorded by Cities and Memory.

Ocean City boardwalk reimagined by Joe Winkler.

"The field recording made me think about an increasingly noisy world and I tried to create a soundscape about how one might have to escape such noise in the near future."

Part of the Future Cities project - find out more at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/future-cities

Our walk takes us along the boardwalk in downtown Ocean City, MD. We start hearing the calming sound of a busking violin player on the boardwalk playing for fun and money. 

The ambience is light and contrasts the overwhelming remainder of the recording, when we enter the arcade Fun City. Here we hear the sound effects of many video games and ticket-winning challenges overlapping, despite being less than 30 feet from the peaceful boardwalk that we had just left. 

This sound appropriately describes a city whose rapid change over the past 30 years has left peaceful local citizens up to the rambunctious summer noise of unsanctioned car meetups, high school student senior celebrations, and drunken revelry. 

Recorded by Brent Tomchik.

Part of the Future Cities project - find out more at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/future-cities

Electromagnetic recording of Shanghai Maglev train from Longyang Rd. Station to Pudong Airport station. 

Recorded by Simon James.

Part of the Future Cities project - find out more at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/future-cities

Rione Monti: one of the oldest district in Rome. In ancient Rome it was named "suburra", sub-urban, and was already in those days populated only by the poorest ones.
The people of the Rione Monti in middle age and renaissance developed a strong identity a talked a slightly different roman dialect, and sometimes had fights with romans of other "important" districts (e.g. Trastevere).
Until 50 years ago the district was still home of many artisans and little shops, and many prostitutes too. Now it has changed a lot: the shops are almost entirely restaurants, sushi bars, or serve ethnic or smart street foods.
Rione Monti have had a "trendy" gentrification and hundreds of tourists visit it every day (you can hear them several times in the audio takes).

First audiotake
1:01 an artisan is hitting something with an hammer
1:31 Second audiotake starts, two women talking about job shifts
1:55 Two different women talking about job, one has some holyday issue because of a colleague
3:08 Third audiotake starts, grinder noises from the workshop of a craftsman
4:42 after more than a minute of relative silence in one of the narrow ways that tourists never find, you can hear the sound of seagulls

Recorded by Emiliano Venanzini.

Part of the Future Cities project - find out more at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/future-cities