Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Cities and Memory - remixing the world

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Cities and Memory - remixing the world episodes

  • 3241: Century soundwalk
    Epping Forest lockdown sound recorded by Andy Popperwell.
    "Since the Covid-19 crisis began, I've been keeping a diary.  I was inspired by my grandfather, whose diaries from the First World War are my most treasured possession.  I thought that walking through the grounds of Copped Hall, a restoration project where I volunteer, might make an interesting soundscape, with short excerpts from the two diaries."
    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
    9 min
  • 3242: College graduation
    Los Angeles lockdown sound recorded by Ray Connelly. 
    "This recording is at the time my friends and I were supposed to graduate college. Recorded outside on the patio, you can hear us Facetiming our family to celebrate on the inside coinciding with bird sounds and cars outside. A quiet graduation, but happy nonetheless."
    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
    20 min
  • 3240: BeesWax
    Epping Forest lockdown sound recorded by Jeff Dungfelder.
    "When asked to reimagine and remix the sounds of the Covid-19 lockdown, I chose a field recording of bees from the Epping Forest in the United Kingdom. Usually the sounds of the bees are drowned out by nearby motorway traffic, but not any longer. What fascinated me about this project is how everyday sounds can take on new meaning, and how they bring out a new set of perspectives and reflections.
    "For my composition BeesWax, I decided to dive deeper into the actual bee sounds and find out what textures and rhythms might exist within them. To do this, I slowed down the original field recording and converted the sounds into Midi notes, which enabled me to assign various synthesized sounds to these patterns. 
    "Once the composition had taken shape, I started a remote collaboration with Mike Brown (Brooklyn, NY) on contrabass and Joshua Trinidad (Denver, CO) on trumpet. Their incredible contributions brought this piece alive with new perspectives and emotion. Through this collaboration, the underlying magic of the bee sounds has now taken on a life of its own. Isolation does have its rewards."
    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
    9 min
  • 3239: Slip Away
    Genoa lockdown sound reimagined by Tom Thompson.
    "I definitely could relate to the desire and need of slipping away to the waters edge and listening to the calming sounds of the lapping water during these confining times.
    "Yet, for me there is also the constant nagging worry of the Corona virus stalking each and every one of us. I tried to express the complexity of feelings in experiencing momentary calmness in the midst of lives turned upside down by the pandemic."
    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
    4 min
  • 3238: Cherry Blossoms
    Tokyo lockdown sound reimagined by Martin Juenke.
    "The back bone of this track is the traditional Japanese melody SAKURA or CHERRY BLOSSOM, which is played in several arrangements on different instruments against the background of the given field recording. This shall be a metaphor for the hope that the Japanese culture will survive and go on in all its diversity whatever the threads are."
    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
    5 min
  • 3237: Vienna Opera House memory
    Vienna lockdown sound reimagined by Tim Kahn.
    "I first used maps and street views to look and see what this place was like before the lockdown. It looked busy and noisy. I was given this recording randomly, I like the constraint of working with something that I did not choose as well as it felt appropriate for this as none of us have chosen to be so constrained in this way. 
    "With one exception all the sounds in my work come directly from the original recording. The one that did not originate from the recording is the "melodic" part which was added last as my touch of a mix of sadness, calmness, beauty, and hope. 
    "A few sounds are entirely from the original recording, such as the ticking at the end and some traffic. Most of the other parts were derived from the original recording using Izotope RX to select various frequencies. My overall aim was to create a bit of tension and uncertainty, some destruction, but also find some awe and wonder and beauty in the stillness. I hope that comes across."
    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
    7 min
  • 3236: A Pause to Applaud
    Malaga lockdown sound reimagined by Dave Webb.
    "There was so much source material in this recording. The claps, the birds, the live music in the distance, chiselling out some loops from it wasn't difficult at all.
    "I tried to isolate individual claps for extra percussive sounds and the live music provided some great basslines. 
    "Altogether it ended up as an unexpected kind of hybrid dark disco track =-)"
    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
    16 min
  • 3235: Silencing Trafalgar Square
    London lockdown sound reimagined by Jason Mundok.
    "According to the original sound description and upon listening to the recording, “Silence in Trafalgar Square”, it was clear that this space had far less people than usual. Never having visited Trafalgar Square myself, I talked with a friend who spent time there over the years and he also described it as a place typically bustling with people. 
    "I wanted my composition to address two things: emotions that express being unsure of the future, not necessarily through sadness, but instead through curiosity, and a gradual move toward the coming silence and the bizarre feelings of the unprecedented idea for entire societies to “stay home”.
    "The piece moves from a disorganised mix of tones and sounds into a more rhythmic pattern, using samples from the original recording. The entire piece becomes more washed out and blurry as it moves through time until finally, like all public gathering spaces, it is silenced. 
    "This motion represents how the initial mix of messages and misunderstandings about the novel coronavirus eventually formed commonly accepted knowledge and understanding. We began to hear the same messages and rules to guide our behaviour repeated over and over: social distancing, wash your hands, stay home, wear masks. As our new reality took hold, life became more surreal and dreamlike until everything finally went quiet. The piece is silenced, echoed at the very end by the ghost of what was and should be occupying Trafalgar Square... people."
    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
    5 min
  • 3234: Tamales
    Mexico City lockdown sound reimagined by John Tenney.
    "Isolation and longing have been big parts of the pandemic for many people. Here, a woman in her Mexico City apartment hears a tamale vendor out on the street, then a second one. She begins to hallucinate as her stomach rumbles. 
    "Finally, she can't stand it any more, and goes into her kitchen to heat something up in the microwave oven. A poor substitute... And even then the hallucinations continue."
    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
    4 min
  • 3233: Dawn chorus in Florence
    Florence lockdown sound reimagined by Jase Warner.
    "‘Dawn chorus in Florence’ is a composition that uses elements of a field recording by Valerio Orlandini. The recording was taken at dawn in Florence near the borders of the historical city centre during the lockdown, where, in Valerio’s words, “traffic and lots of people” would normally be the dominant soundscape.
    "After listening to Valerio’s recording, I wanted to play guitar to accompany and complement the birdsong, but do so in an informal and almost improvised manner. I started work on the composition by creating a beat, using snippets of the field recording and then recorded the guitar part, followed by piano. Finally I layered various sections of the field recording throughout the composition using effects to create several brief sonic moments."
    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
    4 min

About Cities and Memory - remixing the world

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