Cities And Memory

"A sonic meditation beneath the Apple Tree. Blossom surrounds you, falling softly from the branches. You are content, the sweet flesh of the apple satisfies the deep hunger within you, sweeter than any from a mortal realm.  "Close your eyes, you are safe beneath the tree, safe in the ring of petals. In the distance, bells are calling. To pull you home? Maybe. But perhaps you should rest here a moment longer..."  Wat Indharaviharn, Bangkok reimagined by Goblin Market. 

As someone who lives in Northern Ireland, one of the most deforested countries in Europe, I was inspired by the forest ambience of Taman Negara in Malaysia, one of the worlds oldest tropical rainforests, and by a particular bird call at the heart of the recording.  The Indian Cuckoo has a beautifully distinctive and musical two tone call, and it was fun to weave orchestral and electronic textures around it, setting it at the heart of what turned out to be an atmospheric and somewhat melancholy piece. For me, the tropical rainforest sounds in the original field recording inspired dreams of the temperate Atlantic rainforests which covered much of Ireland long ago, so I added a field recording of woodland rain collected at Delamont Country Park on the shores of Strangford Lough, near my home.  Taman Negara soundscape reimagined by Neil Foster.

"Immerse yourself in the timeless symphony of Taman Negara, one of the the world’s oldest rainforest, standing tall for 130 million years. As you close your eyes and listen, you’ll be transported to a lush, vibrant world. The gentle rustling of ancient trees swaying in the breeze creates a soothing, whispering backdrop. Birds, with their exotic calls, flit through the canopy, their songs echoing through the stillness. The rhythmic croak of a distant frog and the soft splash of a hidden stream add depth to the tranquil ambiance. Above, the persistent hum of cicadas rises and falls, their resonant calls weaving a pulsating energy through the forest, like nature’s heartbeat. These ancient insects, whose songs have filled the air for millennia, provide a steady and meditative rhythm, blending perfectly with the forest’s natural cadence. The entire soundscape is slow, steady, and serene—ideal for unwinding, relaxing, or helping you drift into a peaceful sleep. Let the sounds of Taman Negara’s ageless rainforest

Outside the towering gold Buddha, the sound of soft clinking of wind chimes swaying in the breeze can be heard mingling with the sounds of the city and water features in the background. Recorded in Bangkok, Thailand by Jake Edwards. 

A group of singers clad in nautical outfits called The Original Fishtown Singers - "Fishtown" is the affectionate nickname given to the port town of Bremerhaven. Here the group change the lyrics of "Sloop John B" to refer to the town of Bremerhaven - a local flavour given to a universally-recognised song. Recorded by Cities and Memory, May 2025.  

This recording illustrates one of the crucial parts of the March of Light demonstration, which is basically a flash mob based on people showing and hiding their phones with flashlights turned on, which is then shared on social media to draw people's attention to the whole event, which is to support Ukraine in its war against its aggressor - the Russian Federation. The video with the results of this flash mob can be found on the Instagram of @mrija_org. The sounds in the recording are people raising and lowering their hands, and also people talking, cheering and chanting the most popular phrase "Slava Ukraini, Heroyam Slava" ("Glory to Ukraine, Glory to Heroes"). Recorded by Tomasz Buga. 

Our piece is inspired by a ‘March of Light’, a field recording from Austria. The rhythmic beat resembles a heartbeat. The voices that call out seem to be either a threat or a cry for help. The original piece has more darkness than light, and we worked to combine this with the tinkling melody of a steel band, which we recorded in London’s Angel Islington.  Woven around this is our field recording of the sounds of Crossbones – a medieval garden of remembrance for outcasts in London’s Borough Market area. The final track that is embedded, is an original song lyric by Stephen Mugford, inspired by a conversation overheard on a bus – a young girl feeling overwhelmed by life’s expectations. Our sound piece is plaintive, and the incessant beat feels as if it is chasing us – a fitting soundtrack to the end of 2025 – a year where it often felt it was hard to ‘even do nothing’. March of Light in Vienna reimagined by Caroline Grimshaw and Stephen Mugford.

"The song 'Sloop John B' is sung in many languages and countries, I have sung it with friends in a pub myself, and the tune belies its gritty somewhat tragic lyrics as often happens in the folk tradition. I mused long and hard about how to treat it and decided as it is very much the type of song that becomes an 'ear worm', one that you only remember a few phrases of but sing incessantly, and that it would be perfect as a song that gets sung in the shower.  "I recorded myself singing in the shower to the song being played on my phone, mixed it with the downloaded recording, and some seascape field recordings that I made for an oral history project about the fishing fleet here in Hastings, a kind of sound twinning." Original Fishtown Singers reimagined by Mary Hooper. 

"Naja haje: the way knows the way honours the Egyptian cobra as a guide across myth, land, and memory. Inspired by ancestral ties to Morocco and our life in the Pacific Northwest, we entered into dialogue with the field recording—looping rhythm, layering voice, chalumeau, recorder, and drum—to explore how sound can restore relationships with the more-than-human world.  The piece asks how honouring the serpent—through tending to habitat, safety, and community—can help heal the self. Marrakech traditional music soundscape reimagined by The Binary Marketing Show (Abram Morphew & Bethany Carder).

"Where does humanity presently sit in terms of faith, spirituality and striving for greatness?  |Our recorded history manifests as a unified drive toward the divine. Modern existentialism folds in elements of increased division and loss of direction on the path to fulfilment. "We live in an era that measures progression and success with an obsessive focus on wide-spread improvement at every level. Yet, when we look at examples of achievements in history, we feel an unnerving disconnect that we cannot define. We have a need to engage with true greatness. Increasingly though, it is a shadow of the past. "This piece reimagines the sonic artifacts from this sacred and inspiring cathedral space from the field recording and presents it as a remake for modern consumption. Something that, on the surface, implies a betterment of sorts. But also suggests that perhaps not all is as it should be.  Catedral Basílica, Santiago de Compostela reimagined by Gerald Fratzl.

"The track was built around a single, imperfect moment in time: a field recording I captured while walking through a tunnel by the main market. You can hear distant voices trading words, footsteps, fragments of conversations and the natural reverb of the tunnel itself. That recording became the spine of the piece – I didn’t treat it as background noise, but as the main “instrument”. "I started by isolating the most atmospheric sections of the recording, then layered and looped them so the voices and echoes slowly morph into a constant, breathing texture. Multiple delays with different feedback times smear the sounds into long, ghostly trails, while deep reverbs exaggerate the tunnel’s natural space and push everything further into an ambiguous, dreamlike distance. "From there, I added subtle filtering, pitch shifting and modulation effects to carve movement inside the static drone, so the ambience never sits still. Underneath, a restrained dub techno pulse emerges – low-end hits, soft chords and minimal per

"I wanted to create a musical bed of just the bird vocalizations in the Jardin de Ayora without any instruments so I grabbed different moments in the recording, cutting and looping the parrots, pigeons and some migratory birds in the park. It took me some time to create the bed of bird sounds but I knew that I needed some low end emphasis so I introduced a bass drone and some other small, minimalist musical elements. I applied some effects to a couple of the tracks of the singing birds but I left most of the tracks untreated." Jardin de Ayora, Valencia reimagined by Bill McKenna.

‘Tre Visi’ explores the sonic identity of Treviso, Italy, anchoring itself in a field recording of the city’s Fontana delle Tre Facce (Fountain of the Three Faces). The piece explores the ambiguity of the city’s history and the debate between its potential ‘Three Hills’ Latin etymology and its Celtic origins. The production includes processed samples from a Celtic-like vocal melody alongside the fountain's texture, creating a new space for three voices to navigate an expansive aural space of possibilities. Sample credits: ’Chorus 1’ by Valerie-Vivegnis  Fontana dei Tre Visi, Treviso reimagined by Luca Nasciuti.

I chose this field recording because its sound world echoed the early-morning atmosphere of the Columbia River, a landscape that grounds me. I wove fragments of the original birds and frogs into a reimagined piece that balances two emotional currents: the meditative stillness of nature and the anxiety that often shadows life in the US right now.  Asokore-Dabiasem amphibian sounds reimagined by Christi Denton.

Jingzhou City is said to be one of China’s best-preserved ancient cities, dating back to the Warring States period, with its existing walls standing for 350 years—the most intact city relic in southern China. Unlike other cities turned into gated tourist sites, Jingzhou’s residents still bustle through its gate passages.  This recording, captured in the South Gate’s barbican during the morning traffic peak, hums with people and vehicles. Different from the past are the cars and shoes on the stone path; similar are the local dialect accents; unchanged is the echo within the barbican. Recorded by Digimonk.

The "fountain of three faces" in Treviso, Italy has water coming from a three-faced figure on one head - here we move around the fountain to listen to it from different angles.  Recorded by Cities and Memory, August 2024. 

Amphibian voices at dawn at Asokore-Dabiasem, Eastern Region, Ghana, recorded in A-B stereo. Identified frog species: Phrynobatrachus latifrons (Puddle Frogs) vocalising in granular textures. In the background are domestic fowls, birds, subtle swarm of unknown insects, human activity and low frequency engines. Asokore-Dabiasem is a new addition to areas in and around Koforidua where wetlands have been highly affected by building and construction activities. Recording by Abigail Baffoe, Ghana.  Field Recording Mentoring by Emmanuel Baffoe, Ghana. Monitoring, Editing, and Mastering by Samuel Kudjodzi, Germany.  Abigail is one of 5 trainees selected for the Soundscape Ecology Education Ghana program organised by Samuel Kudjodzi, Founder of CSEM (Center for Soundscape Ecology and Multimedia) @csem_official. She is also being trained to lead, coordinate, and educate young and professional women in CSEM`s WISEA (Women in Soundscape Ecology Africa) project. This project is supported by earth fm with a field rec

This is a recording from Jemaa el-Fnaa Square in Marrakech, where locals are playing traditional Moroccan instruments. Among them is a special flute known for mesmerizing rattlesnakes, adding to the mix of curiosity and fear among us visitors. The atmosphere in the square was lively, with perfect weather, and the crowd couldn’t help but cheer and gather around the musicians. Recorded by Xiaoya Zhao.

Within the hallowed expanse of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, the organ resonates through centuries of devotion and artistry. Heard in this recording, the profound sonic environment of the historic basilica emerges as each note played on the grand organ seems to breathe life into the walls, carrying the weight of countless pilgrimages and prayers. As the music unfolds, it fills the space with transcendent quality, blending seamlessly with the ambient acoustics of the Romanesque architecture and Baroque embellishments. The rich tones of the organ evoke a sense of awe, paying homage to the cathedral's role as a sacred endpoint for the Way of St. James - a journey steeped in history and spirituality. This sound setting not only preserves the majestic beauty of the organ but also invites the listener to reflect on the timeless significance of this revered place. It is a sonic offering that mirrors the cathedral’s enduring legacy as both a spiritual sanctuary and a monument to human devotion. Recorded by Ser

This was our last day in Valencia. After an amazing lunch of empanadas and waffles, my girlfriend and I decided to take a walk to the park near the metro station we'd use later for a quick commute to the airport.  The park was filled with quaker parrots, pigeons, and collared doves, all singing, flying, mating, fighting, and creating a strange but very satisfying symphony (especially from a field recorder's perspective). Recorded by Tomasz Buga.