Cities and Memory - remixing the world

𓂃 ོ☼𓂃 另一个破碎的梦（关于鸟）𓂃 ོ𓂃 or "Another Broken Dream (About Birds)" in English "The original recording already possessed a magical and evocative quality. Drawn to its atmosphere, I began transforming the material through various forms of audio processing, allowing it to unfold into new sonic environments and fictional landscapes. As the piece evolved, it started to evoke the dark and myster...

It's January, and it's raining in Marrakesh for the first time in many months - that doesn't dampen the enthusiasm of the evening musicians, gathered together in circles to sit under umbrellas, sing, clap and play music into the small hours. It was only 8.00pm when this recording was made, but it already felt like an all-night party.  Recorded in Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2026 by Cities and Memo...

"Alwan Echoes takes its name from the Arabic word Alwan, meaning “all the colours.” "In this piece I used marranzanu (the Sicilian jaw harp, also known as scaccia pensieri) and flute, creating a bridge between Southern Italy and Morocco: from echoes of Sicilian tarantella rhythms to a melody inspired by Moroccan musical traditions. The field recording from the square of Marrakech, with its percuss...

Live jazz from one of Paris' top night spots, Le Duc des Lombards - the excellent quartet The Hookup (Geraldine Laurent, Noé Huchard, François and Louis Moutin) play a piece with just the rhythm section, before the whole group joins for a mellow track.  Recorded in Paris, France in February 2026 by Cities and Memory. 

"The piece begins with my daughter singing the title followed by isolated segments from the original field recording deconstructed and treated via tape and modular FX." Live jazz at Le Duc des Lombards, Paris reimagined by Scott Lawrence Whitman.

In Turkish culture, a "hurdacı" refers to a person who collects and sells scrap materials, particularly metals. These individuals typically roam neighborhoods in search of discarded items that can be recycled or resold. They often call out their services as they go door-to-door, announcing their presence with phrases like "Hurdacı!" to alert residents that they're available to collect unwanted met...

"To create this sound piece, I first used the provided recording, which I processed with reverb. I then added other field recordings that I was fortunate enough to make during a trip to Turkey a few years ago, also heavily transformed and processed. Finally, I incorporated a loop played on the bağlama, a traditional Turkish string instrument. "Together, these elements form an oneiric soundscape th...

The sound of warping and weaving on a traditional Canarian loom, alongside the voice of Herminia Pimentel Tejera and the weaving of Jennyfer Cabrera Guerra. A living testimony of the linen cultivation and textile traditions of Gran Canaria, preserved by the Asociación Amigos del Linolillo. Part of the participatory sound mapping project "Voices and Sounds of the Sacred Mountains", by the Union of...

Closing my eyes and listening to the original sound transported me to another place in my mind... a sunny, warm area with a family enjoying a day out. So in this composition, I tried to transport the listener to another dimension - one that felt dreamy with a hint of uncertainty. Created in Bitwig Studio. San Marino cable car reimagined by Tracy Cox.

Koh Samui's fisherman village comes to life at night when the market opens. Here one can buy many trinkets, and enjoy tasty food.  Recorded in Thailand by Jake Edwards.

"My approach to the piece involved a lot of processing. A number of times. And then, at some point, recording a couple of sessions, improvising with the pieces made up to then. This piece is half of the slightly edited and pruned output of those two sessions. "Part of my process involved finding some videos on YouTube of the market where the recording was made, and then running a couple of pieces...

"Using Audacity I added some effects to the recordinf to make it sound more organic so the swishing now could be a moving branch. I was making the effects as if from the natural world here in particular, where I am in rural New Zealand, as if to give an 'air' to the mechanical sounds of the loom." Traditional loom weaving in Juncalillo reimagined by Sonja von Kerkhoff. 

By day, the famous Jemaa el-Fnaa is a tourist trap, filled with food stalls, trinket stands but most unfortunately there are all kinds of mistreated animals. Snake charmers' trumpets and movements keep the serpents in a high state of distress, there are miserable looking monkeys posing for photos in football shirts, chained birds of prey and so on. No question it's a fascinating soundscape, but a...

Soundscape composition created from 3D Ambisonics recording at this site. 5 youths were murdered here, shot at close range by Anders Behring Breivik 22nd July 2011. The sound of the waves towards the shore are the same today as when they tried to hide in 2011. This soundscape-composition is part of the HEYR project, presenting 3-dimensional soundscapes from special locations, connected to special...

Ticking pedestrian crossings at a four-way junction in Oslo, with the sound getting louder and quieter as we approach and move away from them, and a passing fire engine siren and tram. Recorded in September 2025 by Cities and Memory. 

Exploring the Nordic Pixel Forest, an attraction in the Ekebergparken sculpture park, in which many ropes of lights hang from the trees, creating a grove of lights, and a sound installation blends birdsong and gentle ambient music, which mixes in with the sounds of actual birdsong from the real trees surrounding the grove.  Recorded in Oslo, September 2025 by Cities and Memory. 

On a quiet beach in the Oslo fjord on Hovedoya island, with very gentle lapping waves, a distant boat passing, the occasional couple walking past. A calm, relaxing soundscape from one of the islands in Oslo's fjord.  Recorded in September 2025 by Cities and Memory. 

Wandering from the main gate through to the terrace overlooking the sea, through the Café des Oudayas and into the Andalusian garden. Recorded by Rachel Beckles Willson with students of the Ecole Nationale d'Architecture, Rabat.

The most famous tourist attraction in Marrakesh, perhaps, is Yves Saint-Laurent's Jardin Majorelle, a one-hectare botanical garden and artist's landscape garden in Marrakesh, Morocco. It was created by the French Orientalist artist Jacques Majorelle over almost forty years, starting in 1923, and features a Cubist villa designed by French architect Paul Sinoir in the 1930s. Here we tune into birdso...

Walking out of the mountain village of Imlil in the Atlas Mountains, we come across a powerful waterfall next to a cave - except the cave has an improvised Moroccan cafe built into it - resulting in this soundscape of powerful torrents of water next to tourists taking selfies and ordering coffee.  Recorded in Imlil, Morocco, January 2026 by Cities and Memory. 

"This piece consist of recording of water. Seemingly peaceful, it contains echos of a dark event.  "I tried to treat it that way, shifting quickly away from the ripples of the water, without entering a too obvious aggression or rage, more like turbulence. "I tried however to maintain also the soothing emotions of water and move towards an integrated stillness."  Utoya soundscape reimagined by Seba...

"For this piece I used techniques such as chopping up the original field recording and applying more effect such as reverb, reversing, filtering, and modulating etc. I also decided to add in some of my own synthesis using a Moog Sub Phatty and Grandmother to add more layers and depth to my soundscape piece." Nordic Pixel Forest, Oslo reimagined by Jake Edwards.

"The first thing I noticed about the recording was the rhythm of the traffic light noise so I tempo matched that to 150bpm and began experimenting with different arpeggios to find a melody and a direction, I had the name Oslo Oscillation pretty early on so looked to incorporate some oscillating themes into the piece, the traffic light noise itself is oscillating in pitch, I put low pass filter on...

"Inspired by the descriptive title of the recording which ends with the word “calm”, I evoke that feeling with a gentle piano line like waves or a gently rocking boat, supported by strings and brass sounds.  "The pulsing engine sound of a passing boat in the recording led me to imagine embarking on a boat tour of the bay with some traveling music, beats and that engine rhythm propelling us along....

"Mvura (Shona for "water") was inspired by a field recording captured in the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh, Morocco. A space filled with birdsong, flowing water, passing voices, and a calm energy of nature. "The composition began with sampling the sound of flowing water from the recording and building an Afro House journey around it. I wanted to fuse the organic atmosphere of the garden with the w...