Cities And Memory

Green parrots at Khajuraho. Stereo 44kHz 24bit. UNESCO listing: Khajuraho Group of Monuments Recorded by Erick Ruiz Arellano. ——————— 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

Tourists in the Taj Mahal interior. Stereo 48kHz 24bit. UNESCO listing: Taj Mahal Recorded by Erick Ruiz Arellano. ——————— 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 born in Bolzano, Alto Adige, by the Dolomites, and lived there for the first 11 years of my life. The first breath I took was from the air corralled by the lines these mountains made in the sky; here was my first light, colours, sounds, language.  "Hearing the seggiovia reminds me of picnics in valleys with pines and snowy tops. And hearing people joyfully gasping on the moving chairs.  "Hearing the recording, I weave that inescapable and inextricable emotional labour that is remembering, mending memories, mending oneself through memory - sound being like an ancient trace in one’s psyche." Ski lift in Pescul reimagined by Clelia Ciardulli. ——————— 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

"If you have never been in/around/under a large flock of singing, squawking, vocalising and flying birds you have missed an incredible immersive experience. It leaves your breathless, amazed, scared and humbled. You can lose all touch with your world as the sounds of bird calls and beating wings drowns out everything else.  "As I read about the Khajuiraho temple complex, I began to think of the ancient history of this complex and it's life and how it was reabsorbed by the jungle and the human lives and memories that were here as well as the ancestral memories of the green parrots. The human sounds in and around this complex have changed with the flow of time but the sounds of the large flocks or parrots has remained unchanged and hopefully will remain unchanged as time passes.  "I wasn't sure how to use this recording at first and then I was able to experience a "large flock of birds" moment around my house and it brought back the immersive experience and linked it to the parrots I had been listening to. Fr

"I have long been inspired by Iranian culture and particularly its music and poetry.  Much to my surprise, my response to the field recording of the city of Isfahan eventually took the form of a kind of oblique word-picture, prompted by the images and themes which the original field recording sounds brought to mind, which I then set to the sound of a Daf percussion arrangement. One of the main jumping off points was also the idea of the festival of the spring equinox, ‘nowruz’ - which literally means’ ‘new day’ in Persian, and which is a central celebration in Iranian culture.  "The Daf is a traditional Iranian percussion instrument associated with nowruz celebrations amongst many other things, whose unique sound I adore and which I felt tied in with the themes of sonic heritage in this context. My dear friend Mobin Hosseini from Sanandaj, Iran, kindly provided the accompanying Daf track. The field recording appears in its entirety, since this seemed the most fitting soundtrack to the rich imagery it inspire

"The field recording begins with a chant that sounds like the ones the Taj Mahal’s mausoleum guards sing to demonstrate the Taj Mahal’s acoustics. Its dome has been said to create up to 28 second of reverb. I’d heard this before because of Paul Horn’s well known album Inside, which featured a singer — a friend of one of the mausoleum guards — singing in a similar style, along with Horn’s flute sometimes accompanying him or in call and response.  "For my version, I couldn’t work with natural reverb in that way, so instead I let the untreated field recording play off different types of treated and artificial sounds. I looped the chant and played along on guitar until I found some phrases that could form the core of the piece. Then I filled it out with synths and with pads made from resampled voice and guitar." Taj Mahal reimagined by John Savarese. ——————— 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: h

This is our friend Vasilis, the last shepherd in Mikro Papingo, and Iannis, his Albanan helper shearing goats. Mikro Papingo is one of the numerous stone villages found in the Zagorochoria in the mountains of north west Greece.  After wintering his flock of 350 goats in the Vikos Gorge, living in a cave for weeks on end Vasilis brings the goats and their young back to the village in the spring. The adult goats' hair need trimming and Vasilis still does this with hand shears rather than an electric razor. This clip is where a younger goat which has not been sheared before is brought in and is very nervous. You can hear it trying to escape past the corrugated iron gate at one point and the very calm and measured reaction from Vasilis and Iannis who sooth it into the mesmeric clipping sounds.  In the past the goat hair was highly prized for making the incredibly warm and waterproof coats (samaroskouti) worn by the shepherds. When I asked Vasilis where his clippings would go he said "only the birds want it now

On some unused areas of tarmac close to Les Invalides and the grand boulevards that surround it, by the banks of the Seine, there are frequent games of street hockey. On an earlier visit to Paris I'd assumed this was a one-off, but every time we visited again and went back to Les Invalides, the street hockey guys were there, playing what is surely one of the world's most picturesque games of street sport.  In this recording you can hear rollerskates, sticks, ball thwacks and shouting among the players, all with the backdrop of busy roads in this touristy - but majestic - area of the city. A great example of public space being used for the public good. UNESCO listing: Paris, Banks of the Seine 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

"I firstly loved the sound of the piece and the atmosphere of the Cathedral - the original sound is included fully, but buried in amongst the sounds of the remix. The way into the remix was the text about the seven second reverb and some research about the building's history. I knew that whatever I did, long reverbs and delays combined with multiples of seven in some sequences would feature. Bach's Mass in D was performed in the Cathedral and so I used some MIDI files for the musical elements alongside a 14 step sequence. The sounds used were intended to reference retro computer games in a nod to the amazing stained glass window by Gerhard Richter and the acid rain erosion of the building.  "I thought about what was happening on the outside of the building and tried to think of it as a person - I found it incredible that it has been built over hundreds of years and survived tank fights and bombing during WW2. It was hit 14 times but remained standing and that is why the mass is interrupted at regular interva

"On first listening to the sound recording, the sound of the hockey puck being hit placed me inside a life size pinball machine. I felt drawn to creating the piece from the perspective of the players being inside a giant pinball machine. From there I began to build a set of pinball inspired sounds to entwine with the recording.  "The soundscape was created using hardware modular synths to layer up the bouncing of the pinball buffers in response to the players hitting the puck. A further layer of distant arcade sounds and floating background music heard from outside the machine was added using software modular synths. Throughout I endeavoured to ensure the original recording and the story it told could still clearly be heard despite placing it in my own sonic world." Paris street hockey reimagined by Andrew D. Sage. ——————— 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/h

"This track is inspired by both the sheep shearing clipper sounds and the season in which shearing usually occurs. During my first listen of the field recording, I imagined the ecosystem of handcrafting and repairing and was inspired to combine this recording with field recordings of my own craft, including whittling and sanding, use of a sewing machine to repair pants, journaling, and crocheting. "Bell sounds (created with FM synthesis and with field recordings, inspired by faint bell sounds on the original recording) and created “bird” sound serve as the underlying threads that weaves the pieces together. This track was created using VCV Rack 2." Greek goat shearing reimagined by Stephanie Vasko. ——————— 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

A binaural recording made at 10pm in Raekoja Square at the heart of Tallinn's Old Town - we hear passers-by on all sides, restaurants and bars closing early at the end of a quiet night, and the church bells tolling 10pm. UNESCO listing: Historic Centre (Old Town) of Tallinn 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

Inside the popular medieval Olde Hansa restaurant, which specialises in serving original medieval recipes, a group of three musicians performs with replica medieval string and percussion instruments. Together with the wall paintings and candlelight, the ambience is as close to an authentic medieval banquet as you can get, while at the same time forming a very modern tourist attraction in the heritage site of the Old Town. UNESCO listing: Historic Centre (Old Town) of Tallinn 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

This soundscape explores the quiet stillness of Westminster Cathedral - the sound of slight whispers and occasional footsteps echo amongst the airy spaciousness of the church. UNESCO listing: Westminster Abbey Recorded by Paul Virostek. ——————— 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 otherworldly voices and the haunting church bells drew me in…. I wished to be there, standing in the square on a cold Baltic night like a scene in a movie. Relying only on my imagination, as I have never visited the Baltic region, I was fascinated by these slightly atonal Estonian bells. How many times have they rung out across this square? How many folks have lived amongst them over the centuries? They clearly called out to me as they have done to many folks throughout the centuries.  "They became the initial inspiration for the piece. I matched the tone of the bells with a response on an old and very out-of-tune Persian Santoor. The recording seemed out of time and place and multitheistic, so i then added an organ drone to it. It felt like the history of the city came to life.  "As I also have ancestors who came from the region I am naturally quite curious about its culture and history. I hope that the sound of these bells and the resulting composition accessed some of the energy of the region and th

"The music heard mingling with voices suggests music for dancing, but there is nothing here to see. If this recording is found in an archive many years in the future, we’ll have to rely on context and assumptions that could have changed in the intervening period.  "The reworking of this music creates “impossible” instrumental sounds, while imagining a different kind of dance. In the pauses built into the tune, I find a connection with some more modern structures of dance music in which sounds are taken away and brought back." Olde Hansa, Tallinn reimagined by Isabel de Berrie. ——————— 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 information age has produced huge leaps in the gathering and documentation of data. Someone who has never been to Westminster Abbey no longer relies on descriptions filtered through a commentator, whose powers of observation, agenda or eloquence are beyond their control. They can see maps, photographs, plans, reviews, recordings; access a level of detail unprecedented in human history. Precise representation is incredibly valuable because from this we can draw inference, deepening our understanding. "'Echoic Object 40' is a work of sonic archaeology. It subjects our artefact to various processes and deciphers details of resonance, tone, and time so that we might better understand its attributes. Spectral granulation allows the nave to sing to us; footsteps create rhythms as they move through the arcades; an impulse response becomes a reverb.  "From the one recording we assemble a stratigraphy, context, and interpretation. Westminster Abbey is an Anglican church, so there should be bells. It is a centre

This audio recording, captured in front of the church in Christiansfeld, Southern Denmark on the morning of Christmas Eve 2024, documents congregants arriving for the 7:30 AM church service. The ambient sounds of gathering worshippers culminate in the tolling of church bells, before concluding with the closing of the heavy church doors UNESCO listing: Moravian Church Settlements Recorded by Robert Cole Rizzi. ——————— 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. Ocean furrows II. The liquid skin of story  III. Island protecting waves "What are the living sonic expressions inherited from our ancestors? This question came to me when I read the definition of ‘intangible cultural heritage’ on the UNESCO website. The field recording I chose from the Fisherman’s Wharf in Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Islands, is, in the words of Josué Jaramillo, ‘a unique polyphony, where work, culture and wildlife converge in an imperfect but very human harmony’. Listening to the recording, I was mesmerised by the sound of the ‘knives sliding on whetstones’, as well as the daily conversations and the flowing of sounds into each other. Watching videos of the wharf online, I was transfixed by the seabirds, iguanas and sea lions that waited patiently for -or simply took- their fair share of the fish meat.  "Researching Ecuadorian folk music, I came across ‘Taita Quishpe’, a song about the love felt by an indigenous agriculturalist towards their ‘chakrita’, the small plot of land which pro

Imagine a sound canvas where tradition, life and nature are intertwined in a vibrant auditory tapestry. The Fisherman's Wharf in Santa Cruz, Galapagos, is an everyday symphony. The air is filled with the metallic echo of knives sliding on whetstones, a prelude to the dance that follows. The precise sound of the knife cutting the fish meat is mixed with the soft splash of the water that cleans the pieces, creating a rhythmic percussion. The voices, warm and resonant, weave conversations that talk about work, family, and island life. They are spontaneous songs, laughter that escapes, the constant murmur of the community. And in this concert, nature also has its part: the guttural call of the sea lions, eager for their share of the loot, is contrasted with the strident squawking of the pelicans, fighting for a bite. It is a unique polyphony, where work, culture and wildlife converge in an imperfect but deeply human harmony.  This soundscape is a time capsule, an invaluable record of daily life in the Galapagos