Cities and Memory - remixing the sounds of the world

"This track started with an idea to use the title converted to Morse code and then to MIDI, using an online tool I wrote (https://constantpool.co.uk/morse-code-to-midi/). The raw field recording, captured inside the Pohjala brewery, was then chopped up and layered with effects to build a "wall of sound," which was all structured to create a shoegaze/alt-rock style track." Pohjala brewery, Tallinn reimagined by Karhide. 

On a visit to the Pohjala artisan brewery in Tallinn, Estonia, we were invited behind the scenes into the brewery itself to record the sounds of beer being made. This soundscape records the beer-making process, with loud industrial noises, drones and hisses coming from large brewing tanks and machinery. Recorded in September 2024 by Cities and Memory. 

"My field recording was a cable car journey to the top of an old town. In amongst the hubbub of voices there was snatches of music played on a telephone. I decided to use the duration of the cable car journey as a start and end point, placing the listener in the environment, and planting the melodies and rhythms as if caught almost out of ear shot on phones around the space.  "The human ums, aahs, stamps and claps are the sounds of real depth, the passengers perhaps? As the journey ends we escape into the open air and our song is allowed to escape in full fidelity."  San Marino cable car reimagined by Douglas Barelegs.

The cable car is the only sensible way to travel up to the precipitous heights of the old town in San Marino, which today is hosting a ComicCon-style festival for lovers of all things sci-fi and fantasy. Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

"The piece opens with Anders Vinjar's recording of the stark ambiance outside Auschwitz's crematoriums. A voice notes a chilling continuity: "the acoustics are the same today as it was in 1942".  Holocaust survivors then share their stories, interwoven with supporting music. Abrupt cuts jolt listeners back to the haunting recording at Auschwitz. As the piece progresses, survivors' warnings blend with news clips and commentary, reflecting humanity's failure of "never again".  Vocals and music become increasingly echoed and distorted, mirroring the terrible echoes of history that continue to repeat today.  The piece closes with a plea from a survivor: ending hate and intolerance starts with each of us. Auschwitz recording by Anders Vinjar reimagined by Music for Sea Monsters.

"The sound is the ambience close to the crematorium ovens in Auschwitz 1, used to exterminate 340 humans per hour. The acoustics is the same today as it was in 1942, when the mass-murder was going full speed. "This soundscape-composition is part of the HEYR project, presenting 3-dimensional soundscapes from special locations, connected to special events. Find out more by visiting https://www.heyr.no" © Anders Vinjar, 2025

This recording captures birdsong and locals passing through a quiet public garden in central Mantua. The recording was made on the 29th May 2012, about five minutes after a strong earthquake had struck the Emilia Romagna region, causing significant damage to the UNESCO World Heritage property of the Cathedral, Torre Civica and Piazza Grande.  Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

"In May 2012, two major earthquakes struck Northern Italy, causing 27 deaths and widespread damage. The events are known in Italy as the 2012 Emilia earthquakes, because they mainly affected the Emilia region. "The field recording captured birdsong and locals passing through a quiet public garden in central Mantua, five minutes after the Emilia earthquakes. I wanted to depict the contrast between the calmness of the Mantua gardens and the earthquakes that happened within close temporal and distance proximity of each other." Gardens in Mantova reimagined by Ben Hoang.

"The transitioning nature of the field recording made for some melodic transitioning in the background. The trumpet call ends abruptly but returns again and again." Krakow trumpet call reimagined by Moray Newlands. IMAGE: Oliszydlowski, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Probably Poland's most iconic sound, the hejnał mariacki (literally "Saint Mary's dawn") is a trumpet call that sounds every hour on the hour from the highest tower of St Mary's Church in Kraków's rynek glówny (main square).  The bugler plays the same call four times, once in each of the cardinal directions. This tradition dates back to medieval times, when the call was used to signal the opening and closing of the city gates at dawn and dusk. It was also played to alarm citizens of fires or enemy invasion.  The theme's abrupt end commemorates the Mongol-Tatar siege of 1241, when the trumpeter warning the city of the imminent threat was shot in the throat by an arrow mid-way through the call.  Or so the legend goes... I made this recording a couple of months after moving to Kraków as part of a project through which I attempted to reconnect with my Polish-Jewish heritage and, in a more general sense, to explore the experience of migration through sound. Recorded by Alex Roth. IMAGE: Oliszydlowski, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

In March 2025 we made a series of recordings in and around the Barbican Centre, with the idea of those sounds being folded back into the Observatory Station sound installation, so that the sounds of the Barbican itself become part of the stories being told by sound from around the world.  This recording is a walkthrough of some of the exterior concrete tunnels and walkways that make up this brutalist masterpiece - footsteps, various mysterious drones, and the sounds of assorted passers-by.  Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

"I chose to work with a recording made at the Barbican centre in London.  This complex has fascinated me for many years, and I have always been curious to seek out new nooks and crannies there. I took my curiosity about the place into how I approached the work.  "The rhythmic footsteps are the core motif of the piece, even though they are not the most dominant sonic aspect, they are the anchor point from which to depart and return to.  "The footsteps are sometimes regular and at other times at odd with themselves when I have looped and doubled up aspects of the field recording. Both this tension in the footstep rhythm and my choice and creation of sounds and shape were guided with the controversy around the Barbican itself. Some people have a lot of love for the place, and others call it the ugliest building in London, and this is interesting to me, from an anthroplogical point of view.  "What makes us fond of, or repelled by a place, a building, an area? What resonates or repels us? I have tried to find some sonic treasures and occasionally taken something to the edge of discomfort, as a reference to this sense of conflicting tastes, subjectivity and beauty in the eye of the beholder."  Corridors at the Barbican Centre, London reimagined by Suzi Lamb.

"In my area of North America, train journeys are relatively rare. Taking a train feels like a special occasion because I only have the opportunity when I'm far from home. I've always enjoyed the exploratory feel of train rides: a train journey feels almost like stolen time, where normal responsibilities are paused and you are given freedom to simply be, if you choose.  "I was inspired by the F#-A train horn to create a harmonic home base of the broad key of B (be). Flute and alto flute depicts both the rhythmic train engine (with a nod to Steve Reich's ‘Different Trains') and the melodic way fragments of thoughts and ideas drift in and out when in a meditative state." Trains in Palo Alto reimagined by Margaret Fischer.

This recording features train horns as the trains pass by a level crossing just outside Palo Alto train station. The tonality of the train horns and the level crossing warning alarms are clearly identifiable as North American trains, and the sonic identity of the trains themselves as they pass are typical of Californian trains.  Palo Alto is a small town and these sounds can be heard from most parts of town as trains approach a series of level crossings before arriving into Palo Alto station.  Recorded by Colin Hunter. 

"Listening to the original field recording, I was engrossed in the dichotomy of the space - the waterfall and open area versus the man-made sounds of jet and helicopter fly overs. In this scenario, the man-made sounds overtaking the environmental quiet have an intentionality to preserve the space of the forest and the livelihood of people within it. The tension, persistence, and resilience of these elements is what I choose to lean into.  "Somewhere between a lament and a lullaby “ember” suggests a moment of tension, reflection, sorrow and perseverance as the environment, people and wildlife learn to cope with the wildfire's destruction and rebirth. "In composing the piece, I choose to isolate and extrapolate upon the textures of the airplane flyovers, helicopters, and waterfalls. The time stretched drone of fly over tails accentuates the continual and unsettling nature of their presence. The looped helicopter undulations create an underlying pulse. The descending whistle of jets developed with granular synthesis into a tonal, breathy texture. The waterfalls providing a consistent presence unencumbered by the fire's presence. Guitar and ebow respond to the amplified tension, sorrow, and resilience the soundscape." Wildfire soundscape in Benfeita, Portugal reimagined by Steve Ashby.

Captured during the devastating wildfires of September 2024 in Benfeita, Portugal, this recording reflects the dramatic challenge faced annually. The sky vanished behind ash-laden fog as fires erupted from all sides.  Near the waterfalls, the relentless hum of helicopters and planes filled the air, battling the flames alongside over 5,000 firefighters. This soundscape embodies a community's crisis, resilience, and the ongoing battle against nature's fury. Recorded by Rafael Diogo.

"“Kintsugi” is field-recording-based piece honouring both the original sample (from the Hill of the Buddha in Japan) as well as a form of Japanese art. Instead of using lacquer and precious metals to mend broken pieces of pottery, I use sound to bind other field recording samples together while still making that sound part of the design.  "I use the full sample to start and end the piece, with a drone-like part of the original sample as my lacquer throughout, binding field recordings of items I've used in sonic rituals for Summer Solstice 2024, Winter Solstice 2024, Summer Solstice 2025, and the March 2025 total lunar eclipse together as a whole.  "Field recordings of chimes, bowls, and items (jingle bells, seed beads, paintbrush) on a glockenspiel collected by artist in Lansing, MI. Track created in VCVRack2 with reverb, delay, and chorus effects added to field recordings and original sample." Hill of the Buddha, Sapporo reimagined by Stephanie E. Vasko.

An architectural space of deep spiritual meaning in Sapporo, Japan. Recorded by David Mintom.

"A response to a chorus of tree frogs." Frog chorus in Yokohama, Japan reimagined by Alex Vald.

This is the call of the Schlegel's green frog, a frog endemic to Japan. When one of them starts croaking, a call and response begins. The contrast between stillness and movement is beautiful. Recorded in Yokohama, Japan by Tadamitsu Mizuno.

A hydrophone recording from the Adriatic Coast of Italy captures the fascinating and vibrant sounds of marine life. You can hear the clicks, pops, and crackles of mollusks, including shrimps, crabs, mussels, lobsters, and barnacles. As we venture further from human activity, the true richness of these underwater soundscapes comes to life. Recorded by Rafael Diogo.

"In retrospect, this was a tricky choice of audio file, as the original recording is hard to better in terms of sheer absorbing alien sound quality. I had no idea lobsters were that loud & communicative. They sound quite lively and otherworldly, so I felt the music woven around their sounds should be too. It seems to have evolved into something like a cheerful lobster rave. "In terms of methodology, I made several initial sketches, but the final piece is based on a short loop put together on a high speed French train, on the m8 tracker, incorporating a portion of the recording. Some additional analogue synth sounds (Dreadbox Nymphes & Roland SE-02) and more structure/effects were added in logic thereafter." Hydrophone recording, Tremiti Islands reimagined by Andrew Tulloch.

Mtskheta is one of the oldest cities of Georgia and its former capital. The beautiful city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, features a winding market just outside the 11th century Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. This sound walk captures local stall holders laughing and chatting as we meander through the historic streets. Recorded by Colin Hunter. 

An a cappella performance by the staff in the resort restaurant at the end of the evening meal. The waiters and chefs and kitchen staff gather in rows in front of the diners and sing local songs in Zulu, harmonising, dancing, clapping, ululating and whistling.  KwaZulu means place of the Zulu. Harmonies of male and female voices singing traditional Zulu songs is tied to the land and its history. At the same time, the tourist industry supports locals in this area, and performing for holidaymakers, showing off traditional culture, is also very typical of the resorts in wildlife and nature parks.  This is the last trip I took a trip with my mother. She had never visited this game reserve. There was a drought at the time, which explained the many animals that we saw so near to the park, desperately seeking water. Elephant, buffalo, zebra, lion and more.  The recording was made in January 2017.  Recorded by Marg Laing. 

In March 2025 we made a series of recordings in and around the Barbican Centre, with the idea of those sounds being folded back into the Observatory Station sound installation, so that the sounds of the Barbican itself become part of the stories being told by sound from around the world.  A sound walk starting at Gilbert Bridge, which leads into the Barbican above various water features and fountains. The hiss of flowing water is amplified by the brick and concrete surrounding us, and we continue into the Barbican Centre, listening to alien-sounding door beeps, the busy-ness of the lifts and people entering and leaving.  Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

"I had a passing notion of a 'concerto for chainsaw and strings' after hearing this recording - this is a fumbling exploratory sound sketch in that direction." Tree disposal in Greenwich Park reimagined by Fiona Conn.

"The voices of the people in the market were so richly expressive and full of life, so I wanted to keep the emphasis on them and utilize their unique intonations and dialogues as the basis for a fun sample-heavy beat. Looping different snippets of voices and overlapping them brought about some interesting textures and tones.  "All the while, it's driven by a steady beat (courtesy of a Moby drum sample via his mobygratis platform) which echoes the liveliness of the market and its patrons. At the end, I had some fun with the voices of children and old men who contrasted nicely with one another." Market in Mtskheta reimagined by Melted Form.

"I found out that Imfolozi means “zigzag” in isiZulu, so this was my inspiration to try and make a piece that never sits still, twists and turns. I wanted to reflect the sheer exuberance of the singing in the original piece where the clapping rhythm shifts and returns." Imfolozi Park, South Africa reimagined by Dermot Fitzsimons.

The extremely loud business of tree and log disposal in Greenwich Park. Trees are trimmed, and the branches and logs are thrown into the back of the wood chipping truck, creating a violently loud industrial sound as they are turned into sawdust in an instant.  Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

"A drone of "stimvocals" and fountains below mechanical concrete."  Gilbert Bridge soundwalk at the Barbican Centre, London reimagined by Dee Fry.

Traditional silk weaving on a countermarch floor loom, as it has been done for thousands of years. Thanks to Skye Silks for letting us record them at work and taking the time to talk us through their practice.  Recorded in April 2025 on the Isle of Skye, Scotland by Cities and Memory. 

"This piece reimagines a field recording of everyday people calling out, treating their voices not just as source material, but as the foundation. Approached with deep intention, it aimed to honour the original rhythms and harmonies of the callers without overpowering them.  "The composition moves between ambient stillness and percussive energy, layering textures like tracked flute and analogue synth around the calls to reflect a natural, evolving dialogue. At its core, the work is about preservation through transformation, responding to what already resonates with care, space, and trust." Instrumental credits: André Solomon - Flute Hellcat Sneer - Moog Sub37, BOSS RC-505 Loop Station, and Nord Drum3p Percussion Synthesizer Arranged, mixed, and mastered by Hellcat Sneer | Hellcat Sneer and André Solomon Alor Setar bus station reimagined by Hellcat Sneer and André Solomon. IMAGE: Marufish from Alor Setar, Malaysia, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

What began as a simple request for a song became an unforgettable moment. Deep in Botswana's Okavango Delta, at Gomoti Plains Camp, I asked the staff if they could sing for a recording. Instead of just one song, they formed a choir and gifted me a spontaneous concert of sheer energy in their native language. Recorded by Christina Antoniadou. 

As I began losing my hearing, the urgency of archiving memory through everyday sounds became more pressing. This work invites viewers to gain a deeper understanding of hearing loss and relate to my personal experience of losing the ability to appreciate the mundane.  The audio was captured through my hearing aids in my hometown of Tucson, Arizona, USA in 2023. The audio highlights the fragility of sound at night in the desert, my father playing piano, conversations with my sister on the back of her truck looking up at the stars and my childhood friend singing about Tucson.  Tucson is a place that invites you to reset, reconnect and listen to the environment around you.  Recorded by Shaye Thiel. 

"I wanted to take the dreamy, on the road vibe of the sample and put it in a totally different aural world." Hearing aid recording in Tucson, USA reimagined by Coxidelic [Tracy Cox].

"The sound of wood whistles and singing stretched to form a sonic memory of a moment embracing regional songs. Regional music that has been passed down and remembered, likely evolving subtly over time.  "The time spent on the Greek terrace, sipping tsipouro and sharing music, is not immune to the same change. It will soon be an impression, the songs a distant echo, the melodies muddled. This augmentation of the original recording represents fading moments left to reminiscence." Music in Mikro Papingo reimagined by Andrew Ramsey.

This is Angelos, one of the permanent residents of the village of Mikro Papingo, which is one of the 46 stone villages in this mountainous region of northwest Greece called the Zagorochoria.  Angelos is one of our neighbours; he is retired now but continues to contribute to the musical heritage of this region. He makes his own wooden whistles which he plays, keeping alive regional tunes and songs. He is also one of the cantors for the village Greek Orthodox church.  From time to time, when we are playing music in our garden Angelos will pop over to listen and sometimes join in.  On this recording we have joined him on his aloni (terrace) one early-summer morning to look at his whistles and to record him playing and singing some of these regional songs and tunes.  Sipping locally distilled tsipouro we explore some of these sounds together with a sense of companionship and relaxation.  The music of Zagori and wider Epirus is not well known in the wider musical world, but it remains one of the most important and best preserved cultural traditions of Greece.  I would highly recommend further exploration of the region's polyphonic songs, laments , shepherd's songs, and drinking songs where klarino (clarinet), violi (violin), laouto (lute) , defi (tambor) and voice weave a mesmeric aural web that is unforgettable.  Recorded by Peter Annear.

"I created several samples from the original field recording and used 2 that dictated the direction of the rest of the composition. Silk weaving is traditionally quite repetitive work so I wanted to convey this in my piece, aiming to subtly change the tone of the track throughout. I rushed to finish this track as I kept putting it off, like addressing my many unread emails and messages.  "In typical fashion, the piece was started hours before the submission deadline. I need to address my time management, but at the same time, I really like being under pressure and had so much fun." Weaving on the Isle of Skye reimagined by Sean Reilly.

"The Okavango Delta is a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to several indigenous communities, including the Batswana and San people, who have lived in the area for centuries. This piece is comprised of audio fragments of a Botswana chant field recording combined with percussion." Okavango Delta songs reimagined by Scott Lawrence Whitman.

Huge 12 noon Sunday bells peal out over a sustained period from the Marktkirche Lutheran church in Hannover, preceded by a walk along a street with several cafes lined with Hannover 96 fans about to head to the match.  Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

"I love bells, and this is a beautiful recording. I feel like Bells have a really unearthly sound. I just let the Bells lead me along as bells do. I also felt a context of bells warning, and the falling apart of things around us, but they also were leading a way out." Bells from Gloucester Cathedral reimagined by Lostworldsounds - Michelle Breslin.

It was a Saturday afternoon and I was browsing antiques at the Gloucester Antiques Centre when I heard the muffled sound of bells. I moved to the back of the shop to a barred door that led to the backyard and set my recorder.  Through the cracks in the door came the sound of Gloucester Cathedral's bells ringing a few hundred meters away. They had been peeling intermittently across the city all afternoon. I listened a few moments until they fell silent and the sounds in the shop reasserted themselves. Recorded by Paul Stephens-Wood.

A nighttime recording from the Ecuadorian Amazon reveals the hidden world that awakens after dark. Bats flutter overhead, insects create an otherworldly symphony, and distant howls echo through the trees. A gentle stream murmurs beneath it all, weaving a tapestry of life, survival, and mystery. Recorded by Rafael Diogo.

As dawn stretches gently over the bay, the village stirs to life. The soft clatter of fishermen preparing their lines mingles with the playful clinks of children spinning an old bicycle wheel with a bamboo stick — a game as timeless as the tide. Nearby, the metallic hum of the village well echoes through the dusty sand alley, as barefoot kids dash beneath the waking sun. Roosters, curiously late, call out as if surprised by a world already in motion. This is the soundscape of a quiet coastal village in the Philippines — a delicate braid of labour, laughter, and nature — where time unfolds not in hours, but in tides and tradition. Recorded by Rafael Diogo. 

Takeshita Street, located in Harajuku, Tokyo, is a bustling pedestrian-only street known for its fashion boutiques, cafés, and restaurants. In the recording, made in late October 2024, you can hear the sounds of footsteps, lively conversations, and a mix of languages.  This constant flow of people and linguistic diversity reveals the dynamic nature of the street, where the coexistence of so many languages in one place evokes the idea of a contemporary Tower of Babel — a place where different cultures intersect and connect. Recorded by Gus - On Collector.

"When listening to the field recording I kept imagining movement all around me. Then I began going to a darker place where I felt large unseen creatures moving toward me and the feelings of slight panic one might experience in that situation, despite the beauty of natures surroundings. My attempt here was to capture the mood and ambience these thoughts brought forth." Night in the Ecuadorian Amazon reimagined by Gerald Fratzl.

"Takeshita Street is a busy pedestrian street, I've taken a perspective of being someone who is lost in the crowd / distracted by their phone to create an experimental / ambient / glitchy / tape loop track.  "I've used the recording in a number of samplers to create ambience and create those snippets of conversation you tend to hear in passing. It was recorded as a one take live recording on iPhone." Takeshita Street, Tokyo reimagined by Andy Lyon.

"I was inspired by the melancholy and foreboding tone of the bells in direct contrast to the modern chatter like the call of the ancient with the bells dominating the streets almost like they were haunted.  "I used it by picking the tone of that bell and enhancing the eerie, haunting atmospherics, weaving the voices in with it." Midday bells in Hannover reimagined by Julie Woolmore.

"Remix of Malapascua Island Fishing Village field recording merged into music with inspiration from Head Like A Hole by Nine Inch Nails. All samples apart from the main synth sound are from the original recording and used to create drum and percussion sounds as well as ambience."  Malapascua Island reimagined by Gareth Eckley.

"This is a strange pub scene, the kind where all of a sudden you're inside your own head, as if flashing back years later. The premise came from the first intelligible bit of speech—“It happened so fast”—with flashes of conversation breaking in on that withdrawn mental space, with tones built up from the pub's background music and the intonation of the language: “it happened so fast,” “the hardest thing,” “watch it,” and especially “all day,” a two-note phrase that became the central rhythm around which everything else holds."  Kelly's Cellars, Belfast reimagined by John Savarese. IMAGE: Albert Bridge / Kelly's Cellars, Belfast

Ambience from inside Kelly's Cellars, a traditional Irish pub in Belfast, including traditional music, pub chatter and the sounds of drinking and general merriment. Recorded in November 2023 by Cities and Memory. IMAGE: Albert Bridge / Kelly's Cellars, Belfast