Cities and Memory - remixing the world

From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a collection of wax cylinder recordings of songs and spoken language made by anthropologist Northcote Thomas in Nigeria and Sierra Leone between 1909 and 1915. Recorded by Northcote Whitridge Thomas. Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. ——— Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100...

This sonic work is an attempt to communicate my profound childhood relationship with Kano, as well as to hint at the complex layers of Northern Nigeria. It is a piece of strange juxtapositions, and cross-cultural interferences and vibrations. The sounds of ancient rock gongs in Birnin Kudu reverberating across the plains, beating out Hausa and Fulani rhythms and songs; the colonial British voice,...

The recording was made onto wax cylinder between 1928 and 1930. Sudan has a very turbulent past - a history of trading in slaves and ivory, a number of different administrations, a policy of separate development compared to North Sudan leading to a period of neglect. It's a forgotten history that really needs more prominence. This inspired my approach in a number of ways. I tried to achieve a resp...

"A Subject in a World Full of Objects" is a brief liaison (around St. Valentine’s Day 1977) between a collection of European musical boxes and a slightly jaded gentleman archivist. The devices he is tasked with recording served as elegant salon entertainment for social occasions, aided musical democratisation and were vessels for cherished memories, and carry a huge weight of human stories within...

Bayaka group water drumming, with rhythm changes. From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a large collection of cassette tape and digital audio tape recordings of Bayaka music and soundscapes made by ethnomusicologist Louis Sarno mainly in the Central African Republic (and the Republic of Congo) between 1986 and 2009. Recorded by Louis Sarno. Copyrigh...

I wondered if I could combine something foreign with the fully formed musical space of African polyrhythms, so I tried creating parallel sounds using a Chinese qin, a Western double bass, and a violin. When I combined the rough sounds from field recordings with the sounds created in the studio, it worked surprisingly well.  Listening closely, I also noticed that the rhythms of African drums resemb...

From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a collection of reel-to-reel tape recordings of Berber (Ait Haddidu) music and soundscapes made by members of the Oxford University Expedition to the Atlas Mountains of Southern Morocco in 1961. Recorded by Ralph Hudson Johnson. Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. ——— Part of the project A Centur...

Rock gong music from Nigeria, some rhythms accompanied by singing, with spoken introduction. From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being one of a number of miscellaneous or individual ethnographic field recordings (rediscovered during a recent research project). Recorded by Bernard Evelyn Buller Fagg. Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. ——— Par...

From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a collection of wax cylinder recordings of songs and spoken language made by anthropologist Northcote Thomas in Nigeria and Sierra Leone between 1909 and 1915. Recorded by Northcote Whitridge Thomas. Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. ——— Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100...

For this track, I worked on a ten-minute recording of a conversation between two Inuit women. My usual approach is to research the context to inform the mood, then manipulate the original recording until it tells me its secrets. Greenland has always fascinated me since I saw that large white island on my school atlas. Interested in the dark history and the resilience of its people, I wanted to con...

Ceremonial (wedding) music from the Eastern Himalayas in Nepal. From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a collection of reel-to-reel recordings of music and spoken language (principally Thulung Rai) made by anthropologist Nicholas Allen in Nepal and India between 1970 and 1981. Recorded by Nicholas Justin Allen.  Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, Universi...

Phonophany, or the All-Revealing Medium dramatises the manifestation of occult and hidden mediation processes present in both audio technologies and Zande magic practices. As a composition, it works from a field recording of a Zande revelation song used to detect witches, employing audio mediation to allow the listener to experience a progressive unfolding of the recorded voice from initially unin...

Zande "witch doctor" song performed by Badobo. From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a collection of wax cylinder recordings of Zande songs, dances and spoken language made by social anthropologist Edward Evans-Pritchard in South Sudan between 1928 and 1930. Recorded by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard. Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford....

"Then we heard the grass blades bending under the laziest hooves but they know how slow they should be grazing at noon  Then we heard the pine twigs snapping under bare feet and fresh blisters forming from the here and now because they know how fast good pain turns to fluid Then I heard the tallest reeds breaking under boots of rubber and I couldn’t help but think of the 87 months it took those ba...

Instruments in the forest at dawn (flute and harp). From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a large collection of cassette tape and digital audio tape recordings of Bayaka music and soundscapes made by ethnomusicologist Louis Sarno mainly in the Central African Republic (and the Republic of Congo) between 1986 and 2009. Recorded by Louis Sarno. Copyri...

This project was a bit of a step out of my comfort zone, since, not having any cultural connection to or knowing anything much about Bulgarian traditional music, I felt extremely out of place working on this project. As someone who works with ethnomusic on a regular basis, the questions of cultural appropration and sensitivity to such things all too often come up. But, it is a tradition that inspi...

From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being one of a number of miscellaneous or individual ethnographic field recordings (rediscovered during a recent research project). Recorded by Anne Elizabeth Pennington. Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. ——— Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the colle...

The original sound source for this composition is a selection of Nuristani songs. The voice is accompanied by a plucked and bowed string instrument as a type of rhythmic drone. This recording is a recently rediscovered item in the Pitt Rivers sound museum and I was drawn to it based on its historical and tonal ambiguity. I find it interesting that the library information is not able to give an exa...

This recomposition begins from a deep interest and curiosity towards the material life of the archival recording itself. The source comes from the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum: wax cylinder recordings of Naga (Angami, Sümi, Lotha, Chang, and Sangtam) songs recorded between 1915 and 1919 by administrator and anthropologist John Hutton. Rather than treating the recording of a polyphon...

"Kukimi Lakuhu 'Le" (Song of the Kuki War): polyphonic song about Sümi Naga interpreter Kekheche, who was involved in the Anglo-Kuki War of 1917–19, performed by a group of Sümi Naga singers ("Kekheche, my father,/ Kekheche, my father"). From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a collection of wax cylinder recordings of Naga (Angami, Sümi, Lotha, Chang...

Nuristani music: recording of traditional Nuristani songs, featuring the waj (five-stringed harp) and sarangi (two-stringed fiddle), with vocal accompaniment, recorded in Afghanistan by anthropologist Lennart Edelberg. From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being one of a number of miscellaneous or individual ethnographic field recordings (rediscovered during a...

Laarim warrior singing to his favourite bull ("This bull is the whole of my love/ I will never say anything against it"). From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a collection of cassette tape recordings of music and spoken language (principally Laarim) made by anthropologist Patti Langton in South Sudan during 1979 and 1980. Recorded by Patti Langton....

The warrior sings gently and lovingly to his favourite bull. As he repeats his song, we're drawn into the beautiful moment and as the communication continues, voices weave in and out with the past and present.  A reminder of the musical connection between humans with each other and other animals on the planet. Laarim warrior singing to his favourite bull reimagined by Lostworldsounds. ——— Part of...

With a project like this, I knew the work had to begin with research. I immersed myself in the cultural textures of South Sudan: its music, its landscapes, its people. From photographs and descriptions, a sense of place started to form. I wanted the first section of the piece to feel intimate yet quietly observant.  I found myself picturing the Laarim man and his beloved bull, Logralim, moving tog...

"Chuluth": a Laarim man's song for a favourite bull ("I love cattle without horns/ This bull is called Logralim"). From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a collection of cassette tape recordings of music and spoken language (principally Laarim) made by anthropologist Patti Langton in South Sudan during 1979 and 1980. Recorded by Patti Langton. Copyri...