Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Cities and Memory - remixing the world

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Cities and Memory - remixing the world episodes

  • 3072: Redfield Clap For The NHS
    Bristol lockdown sound recorded by Yampee.
    "I'm hit by a mix of emotions. I cycle around Bristol and see everything I'd wished for this lovely city - far fewer cars, clean air, more wildlife, the appreciation of parks and open spaces, the collapse of consumerism, community spirit and people valuing and connecting with their food. Yet I feel deeply saddened - such tragic and avoidable loss, inept and dithering leaders and the most vulnerable now having to deal with even more challenges to their daily lives.
    "Once a week our street, like many others in the UK, celebrate the NHS by making as much noise as possible by clapping, whooping, banging pans, setting off fireworks and beeping their car horns. The neighbourly-ness this has created in such a short space of time is clearly evident (listen carefully to the end of the recording). 
    "I work in mental health in the NHS and although not on the front line, am very close to what the organisation is going through currently. I appreciate all the hard work staff in Covid-19 wards are doing day in day out, being tested to the absolute limit. I think they need more than a clap and a firework though. 
    "Practical solutions - significant pay increases for NHS staff (like Sweden), access to essential equipment (last week I saw a nurse wear a black bin bag to give an injection) and testing for all frontline staff. 
    "Many questions will be asked in the fallout from this crisis, I really hope we learn from this and build a better, more sustainable system that values essential workers and works within the limitations of our planet. 'Doughnut Economics' seems like a logical place to start."
    Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/covid19-sounds
    4 min
  • 3071: Karakorpi soundscape
    Finland lockdown recording by Ilkka Paloniemi.
    "During corona lockdown we went to a local forest we have never visited before. The forest is only few hundred meters from our home and at the same time it is very local and remote."
    Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/covid19-sounds
    2 min
  • 3069: Walking the pedestrian overpass
    Wichita lockdown sound by Hugo Zelada-Romero
    "I live in Wichita, KS. Recently KS was in the news, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly sued to stop Republican lawmakers from overturning her executive order limiting church gatherings and a general stay at home order. She won as it was determined that the lawmakers did not have authority to overturn her order. 
    "This field recording was made while walking over the pedestrian bridge at Hillside and Kellogg. The duration of the sound is the time it took to walk up the spiral walkway, across the bridge and then down the other side. It is the sound of traffic during rush hour, and it seems to not have changed much although there are many people working from home. 
    "The people who are still on this highway during rush hours are mostly working class folk whose manufacturing jobs are still in place, additionally I imagine that those are on the highway are essential workers. This is in contrast to other images of bigger cities such as L.A. where there are stricter shelter in place orders. 
    "People in KS do not seem to take social distance seriously, as some businesses are still open and there is a surge of people visiting parks during good weather."
    Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/covid19-sounds
    4 min
  • 3068: Lockdown in Legnano
    Legnano lockdown sound by Alberto Lupi.
    "Sound comes from my balcony 6.45 AM on Easter. Italy is locked down,  only supermarkets and pharmacies are open. We have been locked down since February  23rd and from 28th with full restricted government policy."
    Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/covid19-sounds
    2 min
  • 3067: Our bedroom, our office, our Soundtrack
    Ferrara lockdown sound recorded by Giacomo Locci.
    "Because we have to stay at home, my wife and me to make remote working transform our bedroom in a small office to leave the rest of the flat too your children to play. In the morning I stay with our two children and my wife works, in the afternoon she stays with them and I work. This is the birds we listen from our "office"/our bedroom, where we never stay so many hours like now throughout the day."
    Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/covid19-sounds
    10 min
  • 3066: I wanted to walk through the beat
    North Korean subway train reimagined by Cities and Memory.
    "My first thought - wow, a sound from North Korea, one of the countries we were most keen to get listed on the Cities and Memory sound map.
    "My second thought - this might only be a thirty-second clip, but it's absolutely rich with intrigue and fascination for me, with what seems to be governmental propaganda music being piped out through the speakers on a subway train. Is this the case every day on every train? Where else might we hear propaganda music and songs during everyday life in Pyongyang?
    "In manipulating sections of the same, some promising source material came to light - the initial opening sound makes for a great, bombastic swell, the closing of the doors is an obvious percussion loop. But when I listened to part of the propaganda song while playing a G chord underneath it on various synths, the words seemed to me to form the English phrase "I wanted to walk through the beat", with a rhythm reminiscent of an early 90s house track. This became the central sample around which this recomposition from North Korea was based."
    3 min
  • 3064: Bagley Wood under lockdown
    Oxford lockdown sound recorded by Cities and Memory.
    "Bagley Wood is situated right next to the major, dual carriageway ring road next to Oxford - and I mean RIGHT next to it. It's also Easter Sunday just before lunchtime, so you'd normally expect lots of traffic of people travelling to and from the city to be with family.
    "Today, though, it's practically silent - you can hear individual vehicles on the ring road, not just the usual persistent drone of traffic, but more importantly you can hear the birdsong among the pines super clearly, with the songs of different birds standing out beautifully. A moment of peace in troubling times."
    Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/covid19-sounds
    9 min
  • 3063: Before, during and after 8pm cheers for those working during the Covid-19 crisis
    Paris lockdown sound recorded by Michael Derrossett.
    "City sounds (lighter than normal for this location) for roughly two minutes then five minutes of applause and cheers for those working during the covid-19 crisis, followed by about three minutes of city sounds - and birds - afterwards."
    Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/covid19-sounds
    9 min
  • 3062: Guilden Morden dawn chorus during the Covid-19 lockdown
    English lockdown sound recorded by Rob Godman.
    "This dawn chorus was recorded between 05.30 to 06.30hrs on 8th and 10th April 2020. As a result of the Covid-19 lockdown, I was able to listen to, and record, a chorus like never before in the village where I live.  
    "The location is Guilden Morden, Herts SG8 0JD - a sleepy village, around 15 miles from Cambridge. But what is remarkable about the sound is that we are around 20 miles from Stansted Airport and 20 miles from Luton (and 40 miles north of central London)."
    Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/covid19-sounds
    11 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.