Cities and Memory - remixing the world

"The recording was chosen as I was due to visit that very departure lounge a few weeks later. "That trip to Valencia was taken at a significant time of reflection following the death of my father and the clearing out of my parents house, a place redolent with memories of my childhood. I found an old, battered Spanish Guitar in a cupboard which makes an appearance, it seemed appropriate. My piece a...

"On first listen to this field recording of Lisbon’s tram (elétrico), I was struck by the prominence of a musical note contained in the hum of the system’s wires. This ghostly tone resonates like a singing bowl as the tram and its passengers navigate the city’s narrow, hilly streets. I imagined it as the centrepiece of a film score, and this is the result." Lisbon tram reimagined by Anne Pope.

This one recording doesn't have a unique sound in general, but the setting is quite unusual from my perspective, and it has the nice mix of restaurant sounds, messages over the loudspeaker, and people talking in multiple languages, which I think creates a soothing chaos. Recorded in Valencia airport by Tomasz Buga.

Birdsong at 8.00 am in the morning in a back garden in Shipley, England, with a plane overhead and a dog whimpering inside the house who wants to come out. Recorded by Alice Gilmour.

After a long and eventful trip in Lisbon, one of the final activities I did was ride the famous 28 tram passing through the narrow corridors of the city with the wooden windows down, reminiscing on the streets trekked and the landmarks of the city before embarking on the journey home. Until next time.  Recorded in Lisbon, Portugal by Andrew Ramsey.

El Badi Palace is one of the most historic buildings in Marrakesh, and today is famous for the storks that choose its towers and turrets as prime nesting spots - in this recording, as well as the general sounds of people exploring the palace grounds, you can hear several instances of the famous and unforgettable clacking sounds of storks as they throw their heads back and exclaim to one another. ...

"This piece traces the European stork’s migratory routes - there is an eastern route and a western route. Recordings from various countries the storks pass through on their way are combined with some spoken words." Storks in El Badi Palace, Marrakesh reimagined by Sophie Oldenbourg.

"I found the recorded voices both compelling and slightly disturbing. The levity around the use of a spice to drug 'brides to be' was deeply uncomfortable. Having lived in Tanzania and having some familiarity with the culture, I wanted to create a piece that was both challenging and a celebration. I felt conflicted, wanting to capture both the incredible joy of the people and community, and the pr...

A tour guide in the spice farm is describing to the group how nutmeg is used by locals to as a drug by men to replace alcohol, or is given to young bridges who are afraid of their wedding night.  Zanzibar is known as the “spice island” and exports a number of spices including nutmeg. It also does a roaring tourist trade showing tourists around the farms and selling spices in Stone Town market.  Re...

I walked into my local market one day, out of sorts, and I came across a freezer in the back of the store that sounded like it was malfunctioning. I could very much relate. I had my recorder with me that day so I thought it would be a cool sound to use in my music making. I recorded the loud, mechanical sound while my partner patiently waited for me. I kept recording as I turned to walk out and I...

"I wanted to see if I could make some music without any musical instruments: No keyboards. No guitars. No wind instruments. No drums or bass. I think I succeeded but then I'm not the final judge. I sampled from the original recording a car rolling past the market which becomes the bass line. The failing refrigerator becomes a beat. I looped other elements in the grocery store including a short con...

A rare chance to hear the sounds from a community oven, which are in every neighbourhood in the city. People bring their bread dough, their tagine or whatever else needs cooking, pay a small amount of money and use the huge community oven to cook it. It's efficient, cheap, and it brings the community together - wonderful.  Recorded in Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2026 by Cities and Memory. 

Roadside stop on Route 66 in Arizona, USA. Richard J. Lovington memorial garden; sound of chimes, birds and occasional passing traffic. Recorded by Mark Wilden.

"T'he road was there' uses a field recording made by Mark Wilden. The recording is of the Hackberry General Store, a famous road stop on Route 66 in Arizona, USA. I was enamored with the chimes from the field recording, which I filtered and fed through a series of delays and reverbs. The filtered chimes are accompanied by sine waves and my electric guitar." Hackberry general store, Arizona reimagi...

"I am an advocate of food sovereignty, and I believe that coming together around food preparation and consumption, in its most simplest forms, strengthens communities and relationships.  "Combining this perspective, with the visual images the source sound provoked in my imagination, I chose to work with a field recording of a communal bread baking oven in Marrakesh, Morocco.  "In the recording I w...

"The source material for my submission to this most recent Cities & Memory call is a field recording by Shaye Thiel, a New York artist whose medium is sound, hearing, perception, and the practice of attention. She is hard-of-hearing and these sounds were recorded with her hearing aids.  "I chose to work with and reinterpret Thiel’s field recording because I really loved the description of her...

"As I began losing my hearing, the urgency of archiving memory through everyday sounds became more pressing. This raw audio was captured through my hearing aids while I walked across the Manhattan Bridge from Brooklyn, suspending the listener while people shift around them in the subway, in cars, cycling and on foot. This is an ongoing research project capturing the difference in my hearing loss c...

A game of table tennis recorded in the park high up in Belleville, looking over the rest of Paris on a Sunday morning.  Recorded in Paris, France in February 2026 by Cities and Memory. 

Strange sounds of water and steam valves operating beneath a Victorian steam engine.  Recorded in the maintenance access chamber beneath the Markfield Beam Engine, Tottenham, London by Paul Wheeler.

Yongnian Road and Shunchang Road are packed with “72 tenants” style lilong buildings, teeming with residents who speak softly to avoid stares. Street-level homes, often shops or card rooms, hum a bit louder. On summer nights, Shanghai uncles (yeshu), shirtless, sit on bamboo chairs, sipping cold beer, eating, and ga sanhu (chatting).  In the 80s and 90s, with rising incomes, this lively scene last...

"Paul Wheeler's original recording of the Beam Engine evoked a haunting sound of the steam-powered mechanics in an abandoned subway or perhaps a disused tube station on the London underground. "Frozen in time, and haunted by the sounds and reflections of the past. Mechanical remains still try to function in a lost existence, where they are no longer seen or heard. "A theme which I find moving and...

"Initially I was interested in this field recording because of the joy and fun the competition and ping-pong sounds evoke and the idea of creating a piece to match that energy. As I was working with the recording (changing speed/octaves), I was struck by how easily these fun sounds could be transformed into nightmarish sounds. This led me to combine the nightmare quality, the way sounds can be inc...

"The recording of YongNian Rd. reminds me of living in China a number of years ago, and visiting Shanghai and walking down streets like this. What I love about this sample are its many layers - the traffic on the street, the bird chirping - likely in a bamboo cage -- but especially the lively sounds of people talking. Many streets are busy with folks enjoying each others' company - reflecting a co...

"I dearly love Iceland - and on one of our many visits I was fortunate enough to go whale watching and see two magnificent humpback whales swimming right by our boat, their fins touching. It looked like a gesture of love, and I thought of all of our stories of selchies and other sea creatures - lost dreams of swimming with the sea mammals, and them choosing to walk with us.  "We on the land, and t...

"The piece is performed by Tara Milton (ex of 1990 famous bands 5.30 and The Nubiles) on Flamenco and acoustic guitar, and Giorgio Curcetrtri (played with Tara in The Nubiles and together they penned the classic ^Layabout^, indie Top Ten in 1994)) on Flamenco Guitar, Oud, Handclaps, Tambourine, Shakers, Bass and slide guitar. "The music has been written by Tara Milton and arranged by Tara Miklton...