Cities and Memory - remixing the world

At the far end of the High Line in New York behind Penn Station, we can hear the faintest hints of nature if we listen closely to the cricket sounds, but they are overwhelmed by the sound of traffic, motorboats on the river and even passing helicopters. Recorded by Cities and Memory.

Venetian mass bells reimagined by Luke Walker. 

"The recent floods in Venice were the main influence for this watery soundscape. The field recordings of the Venetian new year's eve evening mass bells act as an underlying rhythm throughout the piece. 

"While being recorded at a celebration, I ended up imagining them also being rung in an emergency. I have used some of my own field recordings of water alongside the footsteps and bells. 

"Over the top, Mirabelle Dominé-Walley reads short passages from Italo Calvino's Le Città Invisibili: Calvino's Isaura and Armilla reimagine Venice's watery surroundings in fantastical ways."

It's the evening of New Year's Eve in Venice, and it's time for some of the final masses of 2019 - the bells ring out from two ancient churches at the same time, and we stand on a bridge between them to capture these gorgeous evening bell sounds. Recorded by Cities and Memory.

Swansea beach rugby reimagined by Henry Reese.

"Both Australia and Wales are host to a brawny football culture. All too often, this is a world of toxic masculinity, violence and exclusion. But within this culture there is also space for community, growth and diversity. 

"I wanted to bring the macho sounds of the beach rugby of Swansea into conversation with a more inclusive soundscape — that of the annual Pride Week match in the women's league of Australian rules football (AFLW). This match took place at Whitten Oval in Footscray, Melbourne on 22 February 2020. 

"Like the athletic bodies of the footy players, the sounds of the beaches of Swansea are warped and twisted and mixed into the earthy world of the AFLW. 

"I recorded a special moment. We hear the warm sounds of a diverse community using sport as a vehicle for family and community, as well as my friends gently teasing me about my eccentric field recording kit, joining an irreverent conversation on both sides of the microphone. 

"I was part of the crowd like everybody else. It was a peaceful Saturday afternoon, and I wanted to do this sunny moment justice. This piece is intended as a gentle tonic to hypermasculine footy culture."

Santiago funicular reimagined by Kristoffer Raasted. 

"I've edited the recording on a DJ mixer, reflecting upon the technological aspect of railways. The train metaphor in music is very present in the rhytmical aspect, and in that sense somehow connected to the narratives around the turntable wheels etc."

Aboard the clanking funicular track to the top of the mighty Cerro Santo Cristobal in Santiago. Recorded by Cities and Memory.

Action from a match at the Swansea beach rugby tournament - the national sport of Wales. Recorded by Cities and Memory.

Recording from the shore of Lake Garda reimagined by Mark Baker. 

"I just imagined sitting by the lake in warm sun playing my guitar listening to the boats. 

"I just wanted a simple acoustic drone to start. You can play almost anything over the start of the field recording and it sounds good. 

"The recording of the waves makes me want to travel, go to another place, get away."

A peaceful recording from Lake Garda in Italy. It was a hot, balmy day, on which the clouds passed overhead and every so often a light, warm rain fell. In this field recording you can hear the gentle lapping of waves, the languid buzzing of August cicadas, and the sound of children playing in the middle distance a little further along the shoreline. An atmosphere of slow peace. Recorded by Cities and Memory.

Kew Gardens is the most famous botanical garden in Britain, dating from 1840 and housing "the largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world".

During the Covid-19 lockdown, it was completely closed to visitors, but this recording is from behind those closed doors in April 2020, where you can hear the birds and bees of Kew completely undisturbed and unspoilt by the drone of London's city traffic or planes passing overhead, which are usually audible in the background at all times. Recorded by Alberto Trinco.

Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/covid19-sounds