Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Cities and Memory - remixing the world

By Cities and MemorySociety & CultureArtsMusicPlaces & Travel
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Cities and Memory - remixing the world episodes

  • 1898: Improv in the house of Geiko
    Geiko performance in Kyoto reimagined by Cities and Memory. 
    The sound of the Geiko singing is very beautiful, but also quite atonal to my untrained western ears, and certainly very unusual - a quality I wanted to bring out in the reimagined sound. I entered the Geikos' singing into an audio-to-MIDI converter, using the MIDI data from their voices to control various instruments. In this way, I created my own experimental improvisational group, who I imagined our Geiko audience had come to see. There's a drummer, two synth players, a violinist and a pianist - and it's this latter player, world-famous, whom everyone has come to see. Every time his hands descend onto the piano keyboard to chop out some improvised chords as the drummer fits in around him, the crowd applauds to show their appreciation. The group builds to a climax, eventually all playing at once to bring the piece to a close amid rapturous applause.
    5 min
  • 1898: Geiko singing performance, Kyoto, Japan
    Recorded by Giulia Biasibetti. 
    "It's not easy to experience truly traditional geisha entertainment in Japan these days, so it was very lucky to be treated to this incredible performance by a well known geisha house in Kyoto. The Geiko (as geishas are called in Kyoto) performed this traditional song accompanied by kokiriko (wooden sticks)."
    6 min
  • 1894: The gods of Yakushima
    Yakushima forest, Japan, reimagined by Echaskech. 
    "For the reimagined piece I created shards of electronic modulations to mimic the bird calls but also to convey a sense of the impressive intensity of natural growth and activity in the forest. Lore has it that the Japanese believed the gods lived in this forest - something easy to imagine when you are there. I added brooding pads and an otherworldly melody in attempt to convey this. I also wanted to convey a feeling of modern electronics juxtaposed with the ancient reality of the forest - similar to the sound of the car against the natural forest sounds and a reminder that whilst modernity has encroached upon and destroyed such habitats, the two can also live in side by side."
    5 min
  • 1894: The forests of Yakushima, Japan
    Field recording from the extraordinary ancient forests of Yakushima, Japan - a World Heritage site - recorded by Andy Gillham. "The field recording features bird calls and nature recorded on a walk deep in the lush subtropical ancient forests of Yakushima. These are overlaid with the sound of our car tyres beating a path down a track out of the forest."
    5 min
  • 1893: A little bit of Jessica (and Jack)
    Reimagined by Cities and Memory. First, we created a thick, distant mixture from the outside-club sounds of "Mambo No. 5". Upon creating this sense of musical distance, the scene we were reminded of was the dreamy, surreal sequence in "The Shining" in which Jack Torrance finds himself in The Overlook's ballroom. We overlaid dialogue from that scene in the film to create what is probably the first (and last) confluence of "The Shining", "Mambo No. 5" and drones.
    3 min
  • 1891: The terminal wait, Kenya
    Reimagined by Cities and Memory. An ambient piece based around the experience of waiting in airport terminals - sounds blend into an overall wash, which is punctuated every so often as a particular sound stands out and penetrates through to grab your attention. Layers of electronics have been constructed from the feedback of security guard walkie-talkies, while the snippets of security radio pop up and grab our attention through the ambient haze.
    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.