Per me si va ne la città dolente
Canto Three represents Dante's last moments in the earthly realm before entering Hell - and contains the most famous lines of the entire Divine Comedy. "Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'intratre" / "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" The pieces develops as a journey - first, we hear the birdsong of the dark forest as Dante and Virgil walk on. As they move through, voices begin to whisper the ...
6m Nov 14, 2020
6m
Vestibule
Vestibule created by Dinah Mullen. "The moment of waiting, of anticipation, being confined - claustrophobia. The sense of a world around you, yet being separated from it. The sound of your own thoughts and terrors, and the sounds of the terrors to come." Part of the Inferno project to imagine and compose the sounds of Dante’s Hell, marking the 700th anniversary of The Divine Comedy. To find o...
4m Nov 14, 2020
4m
Was/Is/Will Be - Please Close the Gate
Hell Gate created by Christopher Hill. "It was the idea of the Hell Gate as a threshold, a psychic and spiritual borderland that determined my sonic strategies in representing the despair embodied in Dante's motto, 'Abandon all hope ye who enter here'. The listener, I imagined, would become a third party to Dante's increasingly traumatic passage towards Hell itself.  "As the birdsong of the o...
16m Nov 14, 2020
16m
Jerusalem
Jerusalem created by Janae Jean. "When creating this piece, I sought to combine elements of the "Divine Comedy" itself, such as the frequent use of the number three and the use of beasts to symbolise the three types of sins, along with ambient sounds of night in the medieval world.  "I chose to play an acoustic guitar with a passerelle (an additional bridge) that turns the guitar into a harp-...
3m Nov 14, 2020
3m
The Love Which Moves The Sun & Other Stars
Jerusalem created by The Gaye Device. "The final part of the journey of Dante reaching Jerusalem and Paradise and looking out on to the universe inspired me to write this composition.  "Are we all looking for our own idea of paradise? How do we reach that and in what way, is it physical or mental, is it even important? This is a part of a personal journey using tones to induce an almost trans...
9m Nov 14, 2020
9m
Abandon all hope...
Vestibule created by Sherman and Field. "The work is a single-take room recording, improvised by candlelight after a storm featuring effects-drenched guitar, drone devices, beats and local-area field recordings. The intention was to capture the ominous feel of approaching the gates of hell and the abandonment of hope that commences the descent towards Lucifer… " Part of the Inferno project to...
9m Nov 14, 2020
9m
Lotus banks of the Acheron
Acheron created by Martha Riva Palacio Obón. " As Teodolinda Barolini mentions in Commento Baroliniano, Inferno 3 occurs in a liminal space. A no-place for neutral angels and all those people who, paraphrasing Dante, never were really alive. The Acheron is the threshold. In this sound work I explore the boundaries between human - no human, silence, noise, order and chaos. A circular piece in w...
10m Nov 14, 2020
10m
Through the door
Acheron created by Simon Woods. "The piece is made up of water sounds (courtesy of my bath and sink) along with synthesised bees / wasps / insects buzzing and voices of the ‘couldn’t care less’. "The final earthquake is the sound of fireworks outside my house on Nov 5th 2020." Part of the Inferno project to imagine and compose the sounds of Dante’s Hell, marking the 700th anniversary of The ...
3m Nov 14, 2020
3m
SKLTN in Limbo
Limbo created by Andy Skelton. "Dante's Limbo contains those souls trapped between two states - neither of sufficient faith for paradise, nor sinful enough for hell.  I started thinking about this, and our commonly understood meaning of limbo (ie held in suspension between two possible outcomes).   "Taking inspiration from this, I improvised a piece on shortwave radio receivers. I was careful...
4m Nov 14, 2020
4m
“My youthful hopes are in the Limbo of lost dreams”
Limbo created by Eva Q. Mansson. "“My youthful hopes are in the Limbo of lost dreams” I am the snail  In a bubble of nothing Dreaming I am here, yet am not I am a meat grinder. Grinding myself Surviving. Dying. Leaving without a trace Going nowhere. Being everywhere Believing nothing. Knowing even less I am the snail, yet am not (Thoughts during the hell of worldwide current events) Field r...
7m Nov 14, 2020
7m
Passage(s)
Limbo created by Philippe Neau. "I worked with my voice and the sounds of water and air. My track tries to evoke the expectation of souls in the afterlife, in an intermediate and fuzzy place." Part of the Inferno project to imagine and compose the sounds of Dante’s Hell, marking the 700th anniversary of The Divine Comedy. To find out more, visit http://www.citiesandmemory.com/inferno
5m Nov 14, 2020
5m
Limbus Patrum
Limbo created by Warren Daly. "My composition tries to capture the varied emotions of being ensnared in limbo.  "I used field recordings from a tropical forest in order to mirror Dante's journey. The juxtaposition of chords and polyrhythms is striking, immersing the listener in layered organic synthesis reflecting the tantalizing proximity yet rejection from utopia." Part of the Inferno proj...
3m Nov 14, 2020
3m
A Slow Hot Kiss of Wind
Lustful created by Kenneth Lyons. "“A Slow Hot Kiss of Wind” addresses the elemental environment in the zone of the Lustful into which Dante enters early into his journey. It is an environment where classical figures, “those dames and knights of antique days” such as Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Achilles, Paris and others are tossed back and forth in a violent wind as a form of punishment for giv...
11m Nov 14, 2020
11m
I was I am I am to come I
Lustful created by Vlad Suppish. "It has three layers. I've nicknamed them 'moans, groans and slaps' for this project. "The first one is a field recording of a rusty merry-go-round which I've recorded in Kyiv. Heavily processed, it became the perfect source for moan-like sounds in the begining and through the entire track. "The second one was song 'Infinity' by Aphrodite's Child from the alb...
6m Nov 14, 2020
6m
Third Circle - The Gluttonous
Gluttonous created by Alex Hawthorn. "Through my research, I learned that the souls of the Third Circle, guarded by Cerberus, were punished by laying in a freezing-cold slush for eternity, pelted by icy rain.   "I'd always heard that Cerberus was a three-headed dog, but apparently in Dante's Inferno, Cerberus is a worm-monster.  I used elements of weather - cold winds, icy rain, some hail - a...
8m Nov 14, 2020
8m
The gluttonous muck
Gluttonous created by Joseph Hoffman. "Dante describes this circle of hell as a wet and cold place. I created this piece by recording several different scenarios of water dripping and pouring. I layered the sounds of water pouring onto leaves, muck, and towels to create the sounds. I further manipulated them by slowing them down and adding effects. I also recording my family and pets eating me...
6m Nov 14, 2020
6m
Divine Comedy: Hoarders
Hoarders created by Jase Warner. "‘Divine Comedy: Hoarders’ is a composition for the Cities and Memory ‘Inferno’ project, celebrating the 700th anniversary of the completion of Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’. "My composition is made up of several original unfinished pieces, some are snippets of near-complete arrangements, others are ideas in the form of short sonic sketches. The one thing that each ...
4m Nov 14, 2020
4m
Akrasia
Hoarders created by will sōderberg. "Hoarders and spendthrifts are souls gripped by opposing sins, who move towards each other along two halves of one circle pushing weights, when they meet they hurl opposing insults at each other. The tones used depict this construction, using stereo processing to represent thus... 'so did they move around the sorry circle / from left and right to the opposin...
5m Nov 14, 2020
5m
Wrathfulness
Wrathful created by David Webb. "They see souls squatting in the riverbank, covered in mud, biting at each other. These are the Wrathful souls. The composition is made from treated voice and running tap sounds." Part of the Inferno project to imagine and compose the sounds of Dante’s Hell, marking the 700th anniversary of The Divine Comedy. To find out more, visit http://www.citiesandmemory.c...
6m Nov 14, 2020
6m
Wrath (castelli de Sabbia, Castelli di Rabbia)
Wrathful created by Patrick Bridge. "I was recently reading Alisdair Gray's translation of Dantes Hell so it was one of those coincidences that Cities and Memories chose it as your next theme.  "The section on the Wrathful appealed to me as we are in times of great upheaval and great rage. The words incorporated in my piece 'Castelli de Sabbia, Castelli de Rabbia' which translate as 'Castles ...
4m Nov 14, 2020
4m
Charon crossing the Styx
Styx created by Mike Tupling.  "Inspired by Joachim Patinir's painting 'Charon crossing the Stxy', the composition is an image in sound constructed from field recordings and synthesizers." Part of the Inferno project to imagine and compose the sounds of Dante’s Hell, marking the 700th anniversary of The Divine Comedy. To find out more, visit http://www.citiesandmemory.com/inferno
8m Nov 14, 2020
8m
Last train
Styx created by Emmy Tither. "Whatever happens after death is the last conscious journey, right? Or may well be. That made me think of a train station located at the end of the known world, with trains going off to unnamed stations. All you get is a ticket with your name on it as the world fades away." Part of the Inferno project to imagine and compose the sounds of Dante’s Hell, marking the ...
2m Nov 14, 2020
2m
Angel of Dis
City of Dis created by Heather Andrews. "I find this section of the written piece interesting  - the dynamic between Virgil and Dante is interesting here, where Virgil demonstrates his devotion to Dante's cause, to the point that he shields Dante's eyes with his own hands from Medusa. I also love the part where the heavenly messenger appears with the noise of a hurricane.  "I've attempted to ...
5m Nov 14, 2020
5m
La Città di Dite
City of Dis created by Valerio Orlandini. "I read Canti IX and X multiple times to try to feel what Dante was experiencing when he was there. The walls of the city are like a fire belt around a well-kept secret.  "They are rendered in the composition with the noisy and powerful sections at the beginning and at the end of the track, while in the centre mysterious lower sounds symbolise the sin...
7m Nov 14, 2020
7m
Wood of suicides
Wood of suicides created by Scott Wilson. "In the Wood of Suicides, Dante describes how the souls of those who have died by their own hands are transformed into trees who must endure constant assault whilst in Hell, and cannot fully reunite with their bodies at Judgement Day for having discarded them so willingly.  "This composition mixes manipulated field recordings made at a series of woode...
13m Nov 14, 2020
13m
Canto Eresia Quattordici
Heresy created by Andy Billington. "The track was started by me speaking the word "Heresy" into a simple 8 bit sampler (Bastl Microgranny 2.5). The sample was then trimmed and shaped forming 3 distinct glitch tapestries onto which i layered (via an OP1 synth) heavy drones that sounded like screaming voices. I added a simple refrain with a number of layered church organs cello and harp samples....
11m Nov 14, 2020
11m
Canto Decimo
Heresy created by Clelia Ciardulli. "This 'cerchio', circle, as Dante calls the zones of Hell, inspired me to research the history of heresy, and to try and reach as many as possible recorded executions of individuals under the charge of disagreeing, not accepting, contradicting the dogma of their place and times.   "It turns out to be a mix of catholics in Protestant areas; protestants, prot...
5m Nov 14, 2020
5m
Souls on fire
Phlegethon created by Manja Ristic. "Phlegethon was always one of the most intriguing aspects of Dante's Inferno. The realm of the darkness seeded in the human soul that reflects in extreme actions such as murder, tyranny, and violence fuels the deepest fears we struggle to comprehend or even just to look at. In the process of making the composition, I used field recording of the howling wind ...
5m Nov 14, 2020
5m
Phlegethon
Phlegethon created by Terminal Optimism (Stuart Chapman). "Although aware of Dante's Inferno, I hadn't read it. A bit of research informed me that Phlegethon is a reference to much earlier classical references to hell, and that it's a circular river of fire, with souls submerged at various heights, held there by demons, according to their sins.  "The piece starts off gentle enough, or does it...
11m Nov 14, 2020
11m
Wood of suicides
Wood of suicides created by Simon Woods. "The initial recordings are taken from a local woodland, bird sounds and magpies. These are gradually engulfed by the choir and white noise / wind with tree / hedge cutters joining in. Other sounds include gas hob ignition, match striking, drills and voices.  "All very unpleasant." Part of the Inferno project to imagine and compose the sounds of Dante...
5m Nov 14, 2020
5m
Panderers and seducers
Panderers and seducers created by David Henckel. "I liked the idea of using a combination of field recordings and synthesised sound in this piece. I was inspired by the idea of using seductive sounds layered with harsher sounds - so I guess existing in the seductive moment and hell at the same time.  "I used a variety of shepherd tones (The barber pole of sound - where it seems to be constant...
7m Nov 14, 2020
7m
8C
Panderers and seducers created by Bleep Eater. "8C  stands for the eighth circle. The whole idea of this is very dark and twisted, which really suited my style. It's harmonically rich yet smoothed off resonantly - a hauntingly realistic audio depiction of being there in Hell." Part of the Inferno project to imagine and compose the sounds of Dante’s Hell, marking the 700th anniversary of The D...
2m Nov 14, 2020
2m
Their sins run deep
The great barrier and waterfall created by Jeff Dungfelder. "After Dante takes us through the Vestibule for “undecided” and Agnostics; a place for Virtuous Pagans who lived good lives but weren’t baptized; then four levels of punishment for those whose sins were based on lack of self-control; a separate level for Heretics; and finally a level for those whose sins were violent.  "To get to the...
6m Nov 14, 2020
6m
Where we find ourselves
The great barrier and waterfall created by John Downey. "Given the dark centre stage of US politics, I decided to use only a few tracks and avoid creating a piece that would pile on that mood.  I chose some stock samples as well as two of my own.   "The percussion was an afterthought but I thought it grounds the drifting ambient drones, making this short composition introspective, fitting for...
7m Nov 14, 2020
7m
The Abominable Sand
The Abominable Sand created by Peter Hodgkinson. "Instead of the obvious religious intentions, I was more concerned with the present "violence" against nature. Most of Dante's Inferno is observational I wanted the experience to be immersive.  "The track has a breath or cycle that is clear at the beginning, this is subsumed by intensifying distorted voices and sounds which depict the descent i...
8m Nov 14, 2020
8m
Babel is burning
The Abominable Sand created by The New Cow (Hans Glib, Deiter Banal, Klaus Inane) "A cacophony of cutup recordings of various religious fanatics and extremists makes for the foundation of the piece, overlaid with a distorted breathing and treated recordings of malfunctioning machinery. We took the name of the circle quite literally - and tried to convey the sound of the wretched sufferers writ...
3m Nov 14, 2020
3m
I Am A Moment Illuminating Eternity
Sorcerors created by Thomas Van den Eynde. "I Am A Moment Illuminating Eternity is a short piece for string orchestra. When I was assigned zone 22 of Hell, I found myself in the region of sorcerors, fortune tellers and diviners. By spending their lives trying to foresee the future, they were punished by having "their heads turned backwards on their bodies and to be compelled to walk backwards ...
4m Nov 13, 2020
4m
DIScORD
Sorcerors created by Drew Mulholland. "DIScORD was recorded in one of the DISsecting rooms at the university of Glasgow, I thought that finding the correct atmosphere was important for the taping." Part of the Inferno project to imagine and compose the sounds of Dante’s Hell, marking the 700th anniversary of The Divine Comedy. To find out more, visit http://www.citiesandmemory.com/inferno
3m Nov 13, 2020
3m
Simoniac!
Simoniacs created by John Tenney. "At first, people might think that the ancient sin of simony (buying one's way into religious favour for salvation, or monetary gain) is hopelessly old-fashioned. "But there is still big money - maybe HUGE money - being made in the name of religion. Here, a modern man wants to buy a priesthood, with disastrous (in fact, INFERNAL) results..." Part of the Infe...
3m Nov 13, 2020
3m
The Magus
Simoniacs created by Nikolas Parnell. "The idea of buying and selling holiness caught my attention. They never succeed in the strict sense, but those who commit Simony aren't looking to be brokers of real righteous powers. They're looking to profit off of all the people they fool in the process.  "The burning of feet was mentioned in the text, so I felt like I had to include flame, but be on ...
3m Nov 13, 2020
3m
Ingentes
Flatterers created by Marco Furlanetto. "Flatterers are found in Malebolge, one very unique area in Dante's Inferno: according to the poet, here are among the worst sinners, those who made very bad use of the human highest virtues. Flatterers' words were meant to provide benefits, prestige, but at the same time they were full of lies, without limits in the way they were told. So Dante condemns...
10m Nov 13, 2020
10m
So... funny
Flatterers created by Coxidelic (Tracy Cox). "Reading Canto 18, Flatterers, I was curious why Dante placed this seemingly innocuous act in a lower circle of Hell than murder(!). In the canto, Dante sees people he recognises wading through (and covered in) excrement. Virgil, Dante’s guide, points out a courtesan named Thais scratching herself with filthy nails.  "This is where the inspiration ...
6m Nov 13, 2020
6m
Drive it like you stole it
Thieves created by Bassling.  "My white guilt is on display with appropriated rock and roll, including church-style organ, as well as lyrics reflecting on the role of religion in stealing land and lives from indigenous people." Part of the Inferno project to imagine and compose the sounds of Dante’s Hell, marking the 700th anniversary of The Divine Comedy. To find out more, visit http://www.c...
4m Nov 13, 2020
4m
Eternal combustion
Thieves created by Duncan Speakman. "In the Malebolge of the Inferno, thieves are tormented by reptiles. The bites of the reptiles sometimes cause the thieves to spontaneously combust, only to be regenerated again for further torment. In the spirit of the accused, recordings of reptiles and fires were 'stolen' from various sources then used in convolution processes to manipulate continuously u...
5m Nov 13, 2020
5m
The torment of hypocrisy - Oscar Wilde's voice
Hypocrites created by Giovanna Iorio. "I have used the recording of the voice of Oscar Wilde reading “The Ballad of Reading Goal” and Ergo Phizmiz "The Faust Cycle or, The House of Dr Faustus" (2006-2009) to represent the Hypocrisy and its monstrosity. "The very short introduction of my composition is the voice of Oscar Wilde at a fast speed, it sounds like terrible crows awakening the consci...
2m Nov 13, 2020
2m
Les lettres volées
Thieves created by Flavien Gillié. "Thieves. I looked in my bookshelf for my volume of The Divine Comedy, right next to it I also had a book by Rimbaud, A Season in Hell, I didn't remember having made this thematic classification. "I created this play during the second confinement, from old magnetic tapes, Rimbaud's words as an echo to those of Dante, hell seen from the outside or from the in...
5m Nov 13, 2020
5m
The Autodox
Hypocrites created by Daniel Yap. "In Autodox, the hypocrite hordes of hell chant a verse while they trod upon Caiaphas. Is the chant what it appears to be — cultic gibberish — or does it conceal a deeper truth about how we wind up as hypocrites? "I took Dante's lead on hypocrisy in religion, and made a concept piece based on the scene in his writing. I chose to explore hypocrisy that is unaw...
1m Nov 13, 2020
1m
Barrators (Andy Lyon Imagining)
Barrators created by Andy Lyon. "The Eighth Circle, Fifth Pitch is very dark.  Barrators are pursued by demons with pitchforks and thrown into a river of boiling pitch.   Barrators are corrupt politicians. Often they seem plausible and pleasant on the outside whilst all the while the fraud, contradiction and hypocrisy is bubbling away under the surface. "I've tried to capture these elements i...
11m Nov 13, 2020
11m
Immerso nell’oscurità
Barrators created by ElizaLauren. "Immerso nell’oscurità is essentially an attempt to recreate the barrator’s journey through the eighth circle of hell with sound. The intention was to put the listener in the position of the barrators, as they are exposed to the suffering that the depths of hell beholds. "Comprised of a combination of field recordings, amplified objects, and prepared guitar t...
5m Nov 13, 2020
5m
Allor mi dolsi, e ora mi ridoglio (It pained me then and it feel the pain again now)
Counsellors of fraud created by Matt Chapman Jones & Dai Bowe. "We began with the text itself and trying to recreate ideas and images from it sonically. Our starting point were the fireflies flitting about, also evoking tongues of flame and the deceiving voices of the fraudulent counsellors. We then focussed on the structure of the story of Ulysses being told - the guitars and the spoken text ...
9m Nov 13, 2020
9m