Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Cities and Memory - remixing the world

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Cities and Memory - remixing the world episodes

  • 1746: Seethe (Paris)
    Paris protest reimagined by Jonathan Higgins.
    "Chants move through the busy streets of a protest as if liquid. Trickling, bubbling, cascading, seething. Rivers of sound carry, mutate and weave over you and away from you. Some erupt suddenly whilst others wash over and dry up, leaving only a distant murmur in their place. A torrent of emotion carving its way through the city."
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    7 min
  • 1745: Rhythms of protest (Paris)
    Recorded by Des Coulam.
    "The sounds were recorded here in Paris in October 2010 when one million people took to the streets to protest about the then Président, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his proposed reform of the French pension system.
    One might think that demonstrations, or ‘manifestations’ as we call them in France, comprising one million people might be chaotic affairs but, on the contrary, they are usually very well organised.
    For the most part they comprise individual groups each representing an organisation, a profession, or a special interest group. The individual groups can be made up of thousands of people or a mere handful and yet the group dynamics are the same for each. Each group has its leader and its followers. The leaders lead by orchestrating the behaviour of their group and sound plays a very important part in this. The instrument they use most often is the chant in the form of a call and response, the leader calls and the crowd responds. This can be a very powerful instrument and its power derives from the use rhythm and repetition.
    The group leader sets the tone by choosing the words or phrases to be repeated and then manipulating the rhythm of the chant. Sometimes the changes of rhythm are obvious but often they are very subtle. As well as changing the rhythm the leader often changes a word or a phrase in the chant and the crowd responds accordingly.
    What can be disturbing to watch and to listen to is how the leader can whip a crowd into frenzy by using sound. You can hear an example of this in the last two minutes or so of my sound piece beginning with the chant, “Tous Ensemble … Tous Ensemble … “.
    The sound architecture seems to impose order and discipline on the demonstration. The chanting is a vehicle for protest; it allows the people to speak and to be heard. The repetition and rhythms of the chanting maintain the interest and enthusiasm of the crowd. The chanting seems to have a bonding effect creating the atmosphere of working as a team. If the demonstrators feel they are acting together in an orchestrated way and that their voice is being heard then perhaps they are less likely to resort to indiscriminate violence to make their point."
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    11 min
  • 1744: A demonstration by the railway station
    St. Petersburg demonstration reimagined by Sirpa Jokinen.
    "The inspiration to record and make a composition of this demonstration came from personal history. As a child I visited, first time as 6 years old in the 1960's, the Soviet Union with my mother. We travelled to St.Petersburg with a ship. There everything was grand. I remember the Dance by Henri Matisse in the mighty museum of Hermitage. I nearly fainted of tiredness seeing so much art and sat on a chair in front of this painting. The red flags also made an impression and the word communism was engraved in my mind.
    Many years later in 2012 I saw this communist demonstration from the front steps of the main entrance of the Finland Railway Station in St.Petersburg when heading back home.
    It was raining and these 30-40 people stood in middle of traffic with microphone and equipment to play the 'Internationale' from tape. I think the fireworks also came from a recording, I did not see any. The composition was made with recordings with the Call Us Quartet
    (Vesa Lehko saxophone, Grisell McDonell contrabase and vocals, Michael Sagulin viola and Sirpa Jokinen electronics).. The musicians playing in the composition are the Call Us Quartet."
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    11 min
  • 1743: Communist demonstration, St. Petersburg
    Recorded by Sirpa Jokinen.
    "A Communist demonstration in a railway station in St.
    Petersburg in 2012. There are speeches on a megaphone and I just caught about 30 seconds of fireworks and them playing the Communist Internationale when the battery in my minidisc player died..."
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    9 min
  • 1724: Ayotzunionsticia (Mexico City)
    Pena Nieto protest reimagined by Randall Saenz.
    "The piece takes sound moments from a protest against Peña Nieto and what happened in Ayotzinapa. In the final reimagined version I've only used the sounds coming from that recording. The main focus is on the manifestation of a movement in which "ayotzinapa somos todos" and "mantener la unión" is necessary to demand "justicia!". "
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    3 min
  • 1742: We won't give up our future
    Budapest protest reimagined by Cities and Memory.
    I was fascinated by the idea that for whatever reason, protests in Hungary are quieter affairs than in most other places in the world (especially when you consider Hungary's leadership gives its people plenty to complain about!). As such, I wanted to reflect this in the piece by creating a piece of ambient, almost relaxing electronica from the field recording (along the lines of Wolfgang Voight's marvellous GAS project). Everything you hear here is from the field recording with no additional sounds. The melodies are sections of recording fed through vocoders and other effects, while the beats are from the protest's sound system, hidden under a fog of filters to give them that dubby, 'lost' feel.
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    4 min
  • 1741: "Nem adjuk a jövőnk, itt maradunk!"
    Recorded by Ian Cook.
    "These are some sounds from the 'Nem adjuk a jövőnk, itt maradunk!' (We won’t give up our future, we’re staying here!) protest organised by Nem maradunk csendben (We won't stay silent) and Oktatási Szabadságot (Freedom for Education).
    This was a protest at the end of a spring of protests organised in Hungary. The two catalysts were the attack against the Central European University (and independent university that the government introduced a new law to try and shut down) and a law that sought to restrict the freedom of civil society. But the roots are much deeper, and include issues such as the squeezing of the free media, widespread corruption, gerrymadering and so on.
    The protest itself was interesting sonically as they decided to have a sound system at the front of the demo, with DJs playing. 'Nem maradunk csendben (We won't stay silent)' had organised a big successful protest party a few weeks before in which they alternated between music and speeches.
    Hungarian protests are - when compared with other countries - quite quiet. The sound system made it even quieter however, as people didn't chant or sing much at all, even during the gaps."
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    5 min
  • 1740: Never forget what Donald Trump said
    "Trump grabs pussy" protest reimagined by Cities and Memory.
    With repeated media stories of the same clip played over and over again, it's easy to become completely inured to even the most shocking soundbites. Remember how shocked the world was to hear Trump's claims about 'grabbing pussy'? To many people, that's now just another soundbite, robbed by repetition of its abhorrence. This piece asks you to listen, listen again and keep listening - the President of the USA actually said THAT, and we must never forget it, or allow someone in a position of power to behave in this manner again.
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    3 min
  • 1739: "Trump grabs pussy, we grab back"
    Recorded by Michael O'Connor.
    "12.11.16 anti-Trump protest - Chant of "Trump grabs pussy, we grab back" male and female call and response."
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    1 min
  • 1738: Not My President
    Recorded by Carlo Patrao.
    "On November 12th 2016, thousands of people marched through the 5th Avenue in New York City from Union Square to the Trump Tower as a protest to the president elect Donald Trump. Along the way, you can hear the crowd chanting: “We are the popular vote”, “Donald Trump go away, racist, sexist, anti-gay”, “Emigrant rights are human rights”, “Tell what democracy looks like. – This is what democracy looks like”, “Hands too small can’t build the wall”, “Black lives matter” and “We reject the president elect.”"
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    19 min

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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.