Cities And Memory

"Thinking about the ascent and the vastness of Gran Sasso Park I stretched sounds to hold the sound of the water and this suggested voices so Caruso takes a trip to the park." Gran Sasso park in Italy reimagined by Stuart Wilding.

Living with an isolated Shipibo indigenous family in the Peruvian Amazon, this recording features an ícaro titled "Yoi Jacon" ("another world") by curandera Ronin Mea. The chant speaks of a realm beyond our own, filled with ancient wisdom, amidst the backdrop of a disappearing way of life due to deforestation and modernization. Recorded by Rafael Diogo.

The gentle tinkling of cowbells in a field among the Dolomites at the end of a long summer afternoon. Recorded in Colmean, Italy by Cities and Memory, June 2025.  

"The field recording is a completed song, sung to the backdrop of a symphony of sounds apparently arising from the Peruvian Amazon setting where the performance and recoding took place. The chant/song repeats and winds upwards in tonal centre as it journeys through a call and response form.  "My composition takes shape as a tribute to the eternal, calm yet elegant and alive feeling and state of mind that I experienced with the field recording. The oud is performed as a single extended gesture of surprise and awe, playfully speaking to the song’s landscape with juxtaposing textures and rhythms." Shipibo icaro in Peru reimagined by Mastaneh Nazarian.

"I liked the tonal qualities of this recording. There is a constantly varying pattern of sound: the cars, trucks and buses never pass over in the same configuration so the tones will always combine differently. Each time I improvised this musical re-creation was also unique. The different patterns of sound could have gone on for eternity, but here I have just reimagined it twice." Hawthorne bridge, Portland reimagined by Philip Gibbs. 

The Hawthorne Bridge, built in 1910 is the oldest vertical lift bridge in the USA and the oldest highway bridge in Portland, Oregon. I stood beneath it one sunny summer day, as the traffic passed over the open steel grills of the carriageway creating the rushing tones in this recording. Recorded by Paul Stephens-Wood.

"I thought about the cows maybe wanting someone else to jam along with in the Dolomites, and then a bunch of choristers turn up with a wannabe DJ in tow, and they end up getting it together just in time for milking." Cowbells in Colmean, the Dolomites reimagined by Rod Dykeman.

Persistent, detailed creaking wood and metal sounds coming from the floating dock structure on Hovedoya island, Oslo, along with gentle wave sounds underneath, September 2025. Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

"I really liked the calmness of the sea which contrasted with the harsher sounding creaking wood and metal sounds. I created a track that features and contrasts between these two sounds.  "I used a variety of samplers, loopers, delays, reverbs and other effects to create an ambient, tape-loop, drone type of track with a stilted - wonky - rhythm created from drum-like sounds and the creaks created from the recording.  "It came out a bit darker than intended, I started trying out recording a few ideas and really liked the result so kept the original one-take live recording." Creaking dock on Hovedoya islands, Oslo reimagined by Andy Lyon.

"It is a wonderful and relaxing recording that evokes sitting down and unwinding after a long day. I chose to include a few happy and playful guitar tracks, maybe like the music a person would strum themselves or listen to whilst sitting by a river before bedtime. A very joyful recording session for the Autumn Project." Mara river, Kenya soundscape reimagined by Jeff Brown. IMAGE: Danijel Mihajlovic, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

It is around 11.00 pm at Malaika camp, Kenya. The sound of the river is always present. Different types of birds are singing. Hippos are aroung the area and can be heard. Also in a distance lions calling each other can be heard (7'10) At the end of the attached video you can see the river Mara in the daylight and a hippo coming into the river, recorded from the camp's restaurant. Recorded by Christina Antoniadou. IMAGE: Danijel Mihajlovic, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

A unique recording in the kitchen at Bremen Bonbon Manufaktur, as sweet-making maestro Luca takes us through the process of making sweets by hand, including heating up mixtures, adding sugar, manipulating the still-warm ropes of sugary candy into the right shapes, chopping them down to size and more.  An aural record of a traditional - and delicious - handmade practice.  Recorded at Bremen Bonbon Manufaktur by Cities and Memory. 

"I love port sounds and this had so much more. An untuned bell and a brass band too. I split the recording into four "stems" and then edited it down to 4 minutes, bounced them down then added some effects and some subtly detuning resonant bass." Aker Brygge harbour soundscape, Oslo reimagined by David Webb.

At Aker Brygge in Oslo, a tourist catamaran docks, we hear its engines throbbing as it manoeuvres into the dock. Passengers disembark under instruction from the crew, and all the while we hear the arhythmic bell chimes from the Untuned Bell sound installation to our right. Recorded by Cities and Memory, September 2025. 

"I attached contact microphones to an empty tin of Monty Bojangles chocolates. I used it, together with some kitchen implements, to create the sounds of an imaginary sweet factory and resisted the temptation to process, or add effects to, my contact mic recordings. There are short extracts from the original recording at the beginning and end of my piece." Artisan sweet manufacture in Bremen reimagined by Roland Pyle.

This composition is a multi-layered synth improvisation, reacting in real time to the sounds of the breaking waves and calling birds in the field recording. Listening through to the full recording four or five times to immerse myself in the location, I then responded live to the recording on three passes with three separate synth sounds, allowing the emotions I felt listening to the recording to guide the performance, instead of a formal structure. The title comes from the poem by druidic bard Amergin Glangel: “I am the Wind that blows across the Sea I am the Wave of the Ocean I am the Murmur of the Billows I am the Bull of the Seven Combats I am the Vulture on the Rock I am a Ray of the Sun I am the Fairest of Flowers I am a Wild Boar in Valour I am a Salmon in the Pool I am a Lake on the Plain I am the Skill of the Craftsman I am a Word of Science I am the Spear-point that gives Battle I am the god who creates in the head of man the Fire of Thought. Who is it that Enlightens the Assembly upon the mountain

The rising tide, gently lapping at rocks, with the quieter general sound of the sea in the background. The recording contains many bird sounds – both land-based such as blackbirds (Turdus merula) and sea-based such as oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus). Recorded at dusk as the birds chorus before nightfall.  Recorded at Tarskavaig on the Isle of Skye, Scotland by Peter Brooks.

"The collective murmuring in the original recording filled me with comfort as soon as I heard it. There is something very nurturing about praying together and singing together in a beautiful resonate space.  "It’s almost like the murmuring becomes a vast benevolent beast. This is an ode to the collective power of the voice, a huge hopeful entity moving against the tide of conflict and division." Sanctuary at Viano do Castelo, Portugal reimagined by Jess Bryant.

This recording offers a glimpse into the spiritual heart of Portugal, where tradition and faith come together in a celebration of devotion and praise. Step into the serene atmosphere of the Santuario de Santa Luzia in Viana do Castelo, Portugal, as a Sunday church service unfolds. This recording captures the intimate moments of devotion and worship, as the priest leads the congregation in prayer. The gentle murmur of the congregation's responses creates a sense of community and reverence. As the service reaches its close, the congregation rises to their feet, and the majestic sound of the organ fills the sanctuary, accompanied by joyful singing of the worshippers. Recorded by Colin Hunter.

A walk outside IRCAM in Paris around the Stravinsky Fountain at noon, a trumpet player performs in public, a quick chat with a colleague, crowd and water sounds from the fountain, elevator speech synthesis, walking underground inside IRCAM, water splash from a sound installation, walking in the studios corridor, stopping by a closed room with a ventilation mechanism, taking the elevator, door opens.  Recorded on a sunny day, ordinary things in a special place. Recorded by Guillaume Piccarreta.