Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Cities and Memory - remixing the world

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Cities and Memory - remixing the world episodes

  • 1625: Barcelona no està en venda
    Recorded by Pedro Montesinos Blasco.
    Demonstration against touristification of the neighbourhood. “Barcelona no està en venda” (“Barcelona is not on sale”). People come down from right side and pass to the left side. Someone points out one building acquired by a big company for speculation while the neighbours and local shopkeepers are driven out from theirs homes and shops because of the rising of rental prices. More people pass down backed by a group of percussionists. Some petards explodes in the distance and mix with slogans, whistles, coming and passed percussions, and, obviously, many tourists.
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    14 min
  • 1624: Which steps best exemplify the march?
    Denver Trump protest reimagined by GX Jupitter-Larsen.
    "Which lines best exemplify the poem? Which steps best exemplify the march? Which roars best exemplify our victories…?"
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    6 min
  • 1623: Trump's inauguration
    Recorded by Matthew Simonson.
    17th and Champa is my approximation of where we were about 6min in where the protest sounds bigger than it was because we were wedged in between two tall buildings and that created some reverb that I thought was cool. This is the most interesting part of the recording but I included more of it, just in case.
    This was an event protesting Trump's inauguration, when the wound was still fresh and people were still out protesting.
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    14 min
  • 1622: Take one large Casserole
    Reimagined by Nick St. George.
    This piece is based on a field recording of a "casserole protest" ( or cacerolazo ) in Montréal, Canada. It starts with a crescendo and ends with a diminuendo (both of a sort), symbolising the growing groundswell of a popular movement, its climax in protest and then its eventual fading away (or not). A recipe for revolution?
    It marked a departure for me techincally in that it was partly created in Audacity and only finished off in Garageband. Having heard some of the contributions to Cities & Memory's "Sacred Spaces" project that used similar techiniques, I was keen to feature manipulation of the tempi of the raw material at the heart of the piece. This is much easier to achieve in Audacity. Most of the audio you will hear is the field recording in its original form or various "re-imaginings".
    Voice-over: Cheryl St George.
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    6 min
  • 1621: Sound of the Casseroles
    Recorded by Michael Nardone
    Casserole Contra Baton May 30, 2012
    "Back on the streets of Montreal after a few weeks away, the most immediate and recognizable change in the student movement is the manif casseroles taking place each night in neighborhoods all over the city. Echoing the cacerolazo—used in Chile in 1971 during Salvador Allende’s rule in Chile, and then against Pinochet little more than a decade later—thousands of people armed with pots and pans emerge from their homes at 8 PM each evening to bang and clang and make as much noise as possible. These gatherings are illegal under Law 78, the provincial government’s emergency measure to quell the student uprising by limiting the protesters’ right to assemble. But they often morph into hours-long demonstrations and ad hoc neighborhood assemblies where citizens voice their concerns and listen in return.
    "Throughout the student strike, now more than one hundred days strong, an ongoing battle for control over sonic space has persisted. It is because the provincial government refused to listen to what the student leaders had to say about the tuition hikes that those same leaders called on students to make themselves heard on the streets. Once the amplitude of the protests reached a decibel deemed dangerous by the government, legions of riot cops were sent in to force those assembled to be silent. The frequent police brutality, and the provincial politicians’ continued disregard for it, only inspired greater numbers to gather in defiance. Thwarted by the escalating demonstrations, the Québec legislature then adopted Law 78, the antidemocratic law that represses the freedom of assembly, the freedom of expression, and the right to protest.
    "During the nightly student marches, riot cops beat their shields with their batons, in unison, before violently charging the assembled protesters. This is a well known intimidation tactic police use to magnify their presence. Montreal’s casserole protest is so effective because it seizes that aural space from the police in an act of civic reclamation. The state-sponsored weaponry of baton and shield are defused by otherwise innocuous domestic cookware. In the hands of the city’s residents—students, children, parents, and seniors alike—these simple utensils seem indomitable."
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    4 min
  • 1620: Vox Casseroli
    Reimagined by Aaron Rosenblum.
    I was a former resident and regular visitor of Montreal when the casserole marches began. As a US citizen, I was unused to seeing such mass protests over such "small" issues (a comparatively modest increase in student fees and tuition). I came to appreciate the notion that a failure to protest even small increases was tantamount to implicit permission granted to the government to continue raising the price of an education.
    Short, non-verbal sounds from throughout the recording were isolated, modified to highlight musical or aesthetic characteristics, and looped. This process mirrors the interpretation of such mass events by the media, in which individual protesters, organizers, or opponents are singled out to represent the whole in print or on the air. Quotations and sound bites from these single voices are then often repeated, creating a chorus that appears to represent the real variety of opinions and motivations, but inherently fails to do so.
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    Photo credit: Francis Bourgouin.
    4 min
  • 1619: La loi spéciale, on s'en câlisse
    Recorded by Michael Nardone.
    Casserole March. Villeray, Montreal. 30 May 2012.
    I've excerpted this particular section from a 3-hour long cut as it comes at a rather special moment in the march. Nearly two hours into the demonstration, the Villeray casserole group, of 1000+ people, was beginning to slow down a bit and many people were beginning to depart. Turning the corner on rue d'Iberville onto Rosemont, the demonstration ran into a separate casserole demonstration of a similar size, if not larger. Comprised of the casserole marchers from the Plateau, Mile End, and Outremont, this other demonstration brought a great new energy. After this point the joined demonstrations would continue for nearly another 2 hours.
    The recording begins as those marching in the Villeray demo spot another large demonstration coming approaching them. A general sense of elation becomes audible at this confluence. There are then a few moments of out-of-rhythm dissonance while the casseroles merge together. Then a steady rhythm begins to be worked out amongst the newly formed group of marchers. The volume increases and as everything falls into a general syncopation, the marchers begins to shout: "La loi spéciale, on s'en câlisse!"
    Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest
    Photo credit: Francis Bourgouin.
    4 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.