Cities And Memory

"This is a lovely field recording of the everyday bustle and chatter. I used a recording of shortwave radio (Web SDR) and a clip from Hat Note (the sonification of real time changes to Wikipedia) to try and convey the global backdrop to the everyday business of the buyers and sellers at Privoz Market in Odessa." Privoz market, Odessa reimagined by Roland Pyle.

"Ramblings and sound variations with and in the source landscape... dreamy moments... lunar thoughts..." "Kjærlighetsstien" at Utøya reimagined by Philippe Neau.

A feature on CBC, Canadian national radio, broadcast on 21 April 2025 about the Sonic Heritage project. Features an interview with Cities and Memory founder Stuart Fowkes, and several field recordings from the project.  

Interview with Cities and Memory founder Stuart Fowkes on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme on 18 April 2025, introducing the Sonic Heritage project. Features sound clips from the Tower of London, the Sistine Chapel and Valparaiso, Chile. 

Interview with Cities and Memory founder Stuart Fowkes on BBC World Service's Newshour programme on 18 April 2025, introducing the Sonic Heritage project. Features sound clips from the Sistine Chapel, Coimbra in Portugal and Okarito in New Zealand. 

"It was fascinating in the course of working on this piece to learn more about the significance of the Te Wahipounamu region to the Māori people, and to read of the world-building legends about how this part of the world came into being.  "I wanted to hold this sense of the sacred close to me as I explored the sound - and what it represented - more deeply. This piece contemplates the very different meanings of the same heritage space to different people. What might be one person's stunning view or rewarding hike could be another person's sacred space, and in exploring the world we are also intruding into other people's worlds and values, and must be respectful of that. This is a composition of contemplation, repetition and respect. The title comes from the Māori translation of Te Wahipounamu - 'the place of greenstone'." Okarito soundscape reimagined by Cities and Memory. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and ex

This is a recording of a dawn chorus after two days of hard rain at Ōkārito. Pīpipi Brown Creepers, Mātata Fernbird, Tauhou Silvereyes, and other manu birds are busy feeding and grooming in the warm sunlight. Mixing with this birdsong is the constant rumble of waves that can be heard wherever you are in town. The trail where this was recorded was dripping with rainwater and steaming as the temperature quickly rose. Residents and visitors to Ōkārito frequent this trail as it leads up to a gorgeous view of the native bush, lagoon, and beach. UNESCO listing: Te Wahipounamu Recorded by Janina Castro. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage

"The overlapping sounds – the drone's gentle pulse, the lingering reverb, the admiring whispers, and the sacred music – create a dreamlike and immersive experience. It's as if the drone has become a silent witness, its sonic capture blending the everyday wonder of visitors with the profound spiritual atmosphere of a Christmas Mass. The drawn-out notes act as a unifying force, binding these disparate sounds into a cohesive and emotionally resonant whole, a sonic meditation on the Basilica's enduring beauty and its role as a place of both artistic appreciation and profound faith. The recording becomes a hauntingly beautiful reimagining, a drone's-eye (or ear) view into the soul of Sant'Antonio." Interior of Sant'Antonio, Padova reimagined by Karhide. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage

At the heart of the recording is the simple, almost nostalgic sound of a small stereo playing the Kokiriko bushi melody with its slightly lo-fi quality. For this remix, the original recording has been cleaned, removing unwanted noise while preserving the inherent intimacy of the space. Layers additional music have been introduced, transforming the raw performance into a chilled-out sonic journey.  Kokiriko bushi reimagined by Karhide. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage

In the Basilica di Sant'Antonio in Padova, in which we can hear tourists admiring the amazing church and its incredible frescos, statues and artworks, as well as a Christmas service taking place in the centre of the church. We join the queue to view the relics of St. Anthony, which include the saint's tongue, jawbone and vocal chords.  UNESCO listing: Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles Recorded by Cities and Memory.  ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage

The sound recorded is of an exibition of the Kokiriko bushi traditional dance. A man, in traditional clothes, plays a song on a little stereo and dances in front of a small audience. The setting is a traditional house made of dark timber, embers shine in the ash pit in the middle of the room. As he dances he plays the binzasara, a traditional instrument that can double as a decoration to ward off evil at home. UNESCO listing: Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama Recorded by Riccardo Fumagalli. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage

Recording from the Novosibirsk metro, Russia.  Recorded by Pavel Lopatin

Many of Albania’s voices are political, and this recording demonstrates that this remains true today. Captured in Skanderbeg Square, in the heart of Tirana, this recording showcases the soundscape of a protest organized by the opposition party, the Democratic Party of Albania.  In the recording, the voice of the individual speaking into the microphone during the protest in front of Tirana City Hall reverberates off the nearby museum, opera house, and Hotel Tirana surrounding the square. The preparations for the fair and the speeches happening in the square are also included in this recording, contributing to the intricate soundscape of the area. Recorded by Uğur Aslan.

Recorded sounds are synthesised with electronic sounds, creating new timbres and syntheses. Novosibirsk metro, Russia reimagined by Pavel Lopatin. 

"Protests embody unrest, tension, and hope. They are activities that display these contrasts while effectively utilizing sound. In this interpretation, I sampled a protest recording from Tirana and approached it in four distinct ways. The first is in its original form. The second features a louder megaphone effect. The third presents a distorted, unclear, and incomprehensible sound enhanced with a phased bite effect. The fourth highlights noise alongside speech. These four interpretations simultaneously convey feelings of tension, uncertainty, and hope, complemented by pads and chord accompaniments." Tirana protest reimagined by Uğur Aslan.

Peter and Paul Fortress Carillon (i believe it was a rehearsal). I randomly walked into the sound of the bells and made a recording directly under the cathedral on the empty night square.  UNESCO listing: Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments Recorded by Masha Sha. IMAGE: Alex 'Florstein' Fedorov, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage

Temple Sticks at Ayutthaya. Stereo 44kHz 16bit. UNESCO listing: Historic City of Ayutthaya Recorded by Erick Ruiz Arellano. IMAGE: H191, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage

"I was attracted to working with a recording from Thailand for personal reasons. I travelled there some years ago, and lived in a border town, where I volunteered helping a local NGO working with refugees from Burma I had never visited Ayutthaya and the temples, so this work is a chance to visit it in some way. I had visited some other Buddhist temples, and the places and the moods of those experiences are present to me. "In this field recording, I was initially attracted to the stick/brushing sounds, and I thought of working on a percussive composition using strokes. As it turned out I had less time than I would have needed to compose music, and I ended up working only with field recordings. I was also inspired by the voices in the recording. I cannot understand their meaning. I am guessing the setting is a ritual of some sort. But it might be a profane activity. I did a small amount of research, but not enough to enlighten me on this. I considered finding a translator to help. Finally, I chose to follow my

"What struck me about this recording was the joyful melancholy of the brass band, a bittersweet, steady march. The constant pulse of life. A warm embrace, a salve for wayward souls. The chug of an old train on a long journey. The rhythms that govern our lives, that bring a sense of constancy, but are also relentless and uncompromising. These universally human rhythms but also all biological rhythm and pre biological rhythm. When life feels difficult I often think about the pulses that stretch back to deep time. The emergence of the major transitions in evolution, the very first clockwork of metabolism in some deep sea vent (can you tell I've been reading about the origins of life lately?), or of genetic replication, multicellular organisms, language, and ultimately culture.  "I loved the quality of the brass instruments and sampled these heavily. Many of them I sampled with a long release and set to looping to create non synced delay effects to give it a shifting and organic feel but with a strong backbone p

"This piece was inspired by a story my father told me about when he was a student in Istanbul. One night as my father was walking through the grounds of the mosque, from out of the darkness he heard the delicate strains of a musician, the reverberations of their instrument bouncing off the pillars of the courtyard, a sound echoing and decaying like watercolour paints. For my father, it was one of the most profound experiences of his life, a purity of sound so beautiful, it brought him to tears. "Author Dr. Defne Çizakça gave me her oud when she moved back to Türkiye, and it had been languishing in a corner of my music room for a little too long. After hearing the field recording from Ayasofya, I set myself to the task of channeling the reverie of the nighttime musician my father had told me about and the oud seemed the perfect instrument to use for this track. A homage to the overlaying of place and memory, and the peacefulness and awe which the Ayasofya bestows upon us." Oud, violin and composition by Ceyl