Cities And Memory

At Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England (the birthplace of prime minister Winston Churchill), there are exhibitions dotted around about ways of life at the palace over the years. The entire stables area is converted into a museum about past ways of life in the grounds, one of which is a series of traditional English bowler hats suspended from the ceiling. Each hat contains a speaker, which plays interviews with workers from the palace estate, talking about their jobs and daily lives. As you walk around underneath the hats, you're exposed to a sound collage of lives being revealed to you.  Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

"I have used the source track recorded in a church in Valletta, which is an ambient recording of a sacred space and created a composite sound piece to show a sound world to reflect inner and outer sacred spaces. The additional sounds are from my own field recordings of woodland sounds, myself and my daughter singing in Merlin's Cave in Tintagel, a heartbeat repeating, and a choir singing at rehearsal.   The Our Lady of Victory church in Valletta reimagined by Mary Hooper.

The Our Lady of Victory Church in Valletta, the first church and building completed in the city, carries with it centuries of history and gratitude. Commissioned by Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette in 1566 as a thanksgiving offering after the Great Siege of Malta, its walls have stood as a tribute to both faith and resilience.  Today, the church echoes with the sighs of anticipation as people gather for a baroque concert beneath its grand arches. Amid the summer heat, the faint buzz of fans offers a quiet counterpoint to the sacred stillness, blending with the whispers and soft steps of concertgoers. As the space fills with the energy of the present moment, the church’s rich historical legacy lingers in the background, awaiting the first notes of the performance to lift the air.  This recording immerses us in a moment where the rich history of the space resonates alongside the growing anticipation of a new musical experience, creating a dynamic atmosphere in this timeless setting. Recorded by Serge Bul

"I envisioned a hot day in Italy a large square full of restaurants people eating lunch and the waiters movements as they serve the guests. Using sounds from the soundscape as a backdrop with elements pulled out and repeated ,some Foley sounds of my own for table and restaurant atmosphere." Treviso city soundscape reimagined by Al Mavrik.

A very hot August afternoon in Treviso, Italy. The city is on its post-lunch break, while the sun is at its hottest - shops are closed, there are very few cars or pedestrians, and everyone is seeking shade. We sit under a tree next to the river and record the sounds of a city a rest in the summer. Recorded by Cities and Memory.  

A huge, multi-organisation street protest in Paris, France, recorded on 14 December 2024. Multiple groups, ranging from labour rights and workers' organisations to pro-Palestine campaigners march through the city, with music, drumming, dancing, chanting through megaphones and in large groups. This recording comes from close to Barbès–Rochechouart metro station, and you can also hear trains clattering in the background in places during the recording as we move back and forth around the crowds. Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

This recording captures a poignant moment from my time living in one of southern Portugal's most secluded villages. Each evening, the shepherds and their dogs orchestrated a dance around the cattle, a ritual filled with nostalgia and reminiscent of my childhood.  In today's rapidly modernizing world, such traditions are sadly fading, making these sounds all the more precious. Recorded in Vilarinha, Portugal by Rafael Diogo.

This recording captures the dawn amphibian chorus in the Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda. The previous night, a large storm had passed over and immediately after the lake sprung to life with a magnificent (and very intense) frog/toad chorus.  The following morning, when I recorded this soundscape, the soundscape was less intense, more dispersed. Birds including Hammer Cobs and Marabou Storks were walking around eating the frogs and toads, picking them off one by one.  The dominant species is the Guttural Toad, Bufo gutturalis and there is also some puddle frogs, Phrynobatrachus, typical of this part of the African continent. Recorded by Colin Hunter.

This is an evening recording of the riverside next to my Wife's family dacha - their holiday house in Ukraine on a warm summer evening in 2021. In the recording you hear a rich wildlife of insects, birds and a chorus of frogs beginning their evening calls.  You also have sounds of humanity; locals chatting whilst fishing the river and dogs barking from the village across the water. This recording is special to me as it reminds me of a peaceful, carefree time for my family in Ukraine. I long for this night to end and for peace to return to this beautiful country.  Recorded in Sosonka, Ukraine by Ben Gale. 

This recording captures the serene underwater ambiance of the Fraga da Pena stream in Portugal, just downstream from the waterfall. The tranquil environment was undisturbed by human presence, offering a pure connection with nature.  The gentle sounds within the recording are produced by fish navigating the stream, occasionally nibbling at the hydrophone, mistaking it for food. Recorded at Fraga da Pena, Portugal by Rafael Diogo.

Tram route number 7 in Helsinki, from the ferry terminal to the Kamppi shopping centre. Classic tram sounds, Finnish announcements, conversation between two English-speaking women, exiting the tram and the sounds of the tram departing. Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

A field recording of a Baguio Plaza-Loakan Public Utility Jeepney (PUJ) trip from the Loakan terminal to its terminal in T. Claudio Street, Baguio City. The field recording captured the human and non-human actors that define the soundscape of a Loakan jeepney during its 8-10 kilometre trip.  Jeepney is a socio-cultural artifact in Philippine public transportation and a caricature of the everyday life in urban spaces. In recent years, old-fashioned jeepneys together with their operators and drivers are battling phaseout for modernised electric vehicles or e-jeeps/e-buses introduced by the government.  Recorded by Benj Meamo III.

Morning rain in Palenque jungle. Stereo 48kHz 24bit. Recorded by Erick Ruiz Arellano.

"As the familiar, rhythmic clatter of the tram on its journey towards Kamppi provides a grounding sense of movement, Karhide, working within Ableton Live, introduces a delicate, almost imperceptible soundscape. The field recording captures muffled Finnish conversations and the soft, synthesized sounds, creating a bed for the piece's minimal elements."   Tram ride in Helsinki reimagined by Karhide.

"Hydrographic Reverie unfolds as a misted recollection of an ecosystem—not quite remembered, not fully imagined. A morning chorus of frogs and toads, recorded in Uganda, forms the submerged root system of the piece, its polyphonic texture drawn through modular synthesis until it shimmers with unfamiliar light.  "Time softens at the edges; pitch flickers like heat rising off water. What remains is a spectral environment shaped by breath, circuit, and echo—where natural and artificial timbres coil together in a humid loop, neither fully here nor there.  "Listening becomes a kind of mirroring, as if tuning into the dream of the place itself." Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda reimagined by Brad Rose.

"For Jazz in Grunge, I let myself be guided by the original field recording and it's rudeness; both the content and the recording itself are very rootsy, rural and taken from everyday life; water, cows, dogs, wind, with its typical superficial dullness and underlying tension.  "I tried, through audio manipulation and composition, to bring these initial characteristics to the forefront, in a context of musical unnameability and freedom." Vilarinha, Portugal reimagined by Sebastian Dingens.

"This piece is built around a field recording of a jeepney ride through Baguio City, with the original recording being both mixed and processed through my modular synth.   "The recording is first played back as an audio file into the Morphagene module to fragment and reassemble its textures. The dry and processed signals mix, evoking the layered chaos of urban transit - voices, engines, and static, moving in and out of focus. A bass pedal note anchors the piece with pulsating Euclidean rhythms provided by Pamela's New Workout, while melodies from dual Rings modules emerge, offering glimpses of fleeting order. Finally, an extreme time-stretch of an earlier take adds a shimmering pad-like wash.  "As the piece evolves, the field recording is slowly overtaken by looping delay sounds from the Clouds module, reflecting the transformation of lived reality into memory and abstraction. The track evolved intuitively, aiming to mirror the disorderly beauty and fleeting impressions of urban life." Baguio Plaza-Loakan P

"I drew inspiration for this piece from the serene sounds captured in a field recording done by Ben Gale of life around a river in Ukraine. The tranquility of that moment—especially in light of Ukraine’s current circumstances—moved me to create a soundscape that both contrasts with and complements it.  "I was aiming to capture a delicate balance between beauty and unease, and the resilience of trying to live peacefully amidst conflict."   Ukraine riverside at Sosonka reimagined by Antifilm.

"All the sounds in this piece were present in the original file. It was a delight to listen again and again to Erick’s recording and find new and surprising sounds each time. "In making this piece I used a tension present in that recording - the calm, incessant rain of the jungle - here reimagined as layers of repeated, wave-like sound - punctured by sporadic individual sounds - a bird calling from close by, muffled coughing, the loud crack of something like a twig snapping." Morning rain at Palenque jungle reimagined by Chris Lillywhite.

"When I think about Portugal the beaches and the Atlantic Ocean come to my mind. When I heard the silent drops of the sample I had the idea to connect that water source sound-wise to the ocean.  "Small bits of the sample (single drops) were taken to create a somewhat random rhythm. A bigger part of the sample was taken and slowed down a lot using Paul Stretch.  "The output was fed into two different effect chains. These sounds represent the waves of the ocean. Sequenced sounds were added to connect the drops of water in the mountains flowing finally into the big ocean."  Fraga da Pena, Portugal reimagined by Bernhard Straub.