Cities and Memory - remixing the world

New Year's Eve celebrations in full swing in Piazza San Carlo, Turin, Italy. Recorded by Cities and Memory.

The sounds inside St. Peter's Basilica, Rome - recorded by Cities and Memory.

Trevi Fountain reimagined by Ian Dean.

"I was determined not to lose the vibe of being there surrounded by the fountain sounds, an attempt at a quick version of Morricone!"

Mercato di Porta Portese reimagined by Juan José Ripalda.

"I heard this recording of a market and immediately wanted to use the wide variety of sounds to talk about commerce, trade and how I feel when I’m in a big market or mall surrounded by repetitive sounds and voices.

I wanted this piece to be very rhythmic and colorful and to have separate sections or episodes, so I thought of doing something in the spirit of “It’s gonna rain” by Steve Reich. I made this piece using only editing and very little processing."

Santa Maria delle Grazie in Rome reimagined by Ian Haygreen. 

"I kept it simple this time. A little reverb was used and I added an organ which was phased."

The sounds at the world-famous Trevi Fountain in Rome, recorded by Cities and Memory.

A service inside Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy - recorded by Toni Dimitrov.

A walkthrough of the market at Porta Portese in Rome, recorded by Cities and Memory.

Recorded by Michael McDermott.

"As a practicing American Buddhist in the Theravada tradition it was a sacred experience for me to see a Buddhist country first hand. As common as churches are in Europe, Thailand and Myanmar have Buddhist temples every few blocks. Also seeing monks and sometimes nuns in orange or maroon robes walking around the cities, interaction with people and living their lives was very special and serene. Many of the temples were very small, sometimes just the size of a corner church in Europe or America. However, Yangon is home to some of the world’s largest pagoda temples. One place we visited twice was the Schwedegon Pagoda. It’s a massive golden structure that you can see from all over the city. It’s a beautiful complex of smaller shrines, altars and places where Buddhism pilgrims light candles, ring bells and pay homage. After we took our shoes off and climbed up the stairs and escalators to the top, I took out my binaural headphones and recorded some of the sounds at the top of the pagoda."

Recorded by Michael McDermott.

"Yangon has many beautiful public green spaces. We found time to visit many lovely parks, square and areas along the river. Because Yangon is a very crowded city with cars, like many South East Asian cities, despite moments of visual beauty, we could never escape the constant din of cars and car horns."