Gurdwara community kitchen, Southall
An incredibly welcoming space, this Gurdwara in Southall offers a community kitchen that is free and open to all to come in and enjoy some food - this soundscape is from inside the community kitchen with clattering trays and cutlery, food being served, the sound of washing and drying of hands, and the prayers from the temple being broadcast into the space via TVs and a sound system too. Record...
6m Jul 15, 2024
6m
Sewing machine
"Using reverse engineering techniques, Circular Void synthesizes and designs layers of sounds reminiscent of sewing machines, resulting in an experimental dressmaking soundscape. Resampled mechanical sounds of the workshop, intertwined with electronic elements of analogue and granular synthesis, shape reassembled textures of electroacoustic form. "The composition reflects the struggles of dias...
3m Jul 15, 2024
3m
Natasha's borscht
"These are the sounds of my Ukrainian housemate, Natasha, making borscht. Natasha is a refugee from the war in Ukraine and has lived with me for almost two years now. "We have become fast friends and learned a lot from each other, not just about cooking. The percussion of chopping, the melody of bubbling, the laughter of delight." Recorded by Maria Margaronis. Part of the Migration Sounds pr...
20m Jul 15, 2024
20m
Cañambú
A quartet of musicians from three countries now living in London. In the recording, Carlos Romero (Mexico), Naomi Wilmshurst (UK), Maria Teresa Luson (Cuba) and Bruno Quezada (Mexico) are rehearsing in Greenwich. Recorded by Madeleine Sumption. Part of the Migration Sounds project, the world’s first collection of the sounds of human migration. For more information and to explore the project,...
2m Jul 15, 2024
2m
Sawing and chopping at the meat counter
As recorded in the 2021 UK census, one in six Bangladeshi residents across England and Wales live in Tower Hamlets, making this London borough’s local Bangladeshi population almost twice the size of the next largest within a local authority. Within that, Whitechapel is a major area for the Bangladeshi community, with many local specialist shops providing food from Bangladesh and beyond, such a...
7m Jul 15, 2024
7m
Ipswich Town fans celebrating
"In the recording, you can hear the reaction from football fans after the Iraqi-born Ipswich Town player Ali Al-Hamadi scored to make it Ipswich Town 4 - 0 Millwall FC. The fans initially chant general Ipswich Town songs, before chanting Al-Hamadi's name." Recorded by Ben Brindle. Part of the Migration Sounds project, the world’s first collection of the sounds of human migration. For more in...
1m Jul 15, 2024
1m
Lunar New Year celebration, Greenwich
Lunar New Year celebration at the Maritime Museum in Greenwich - a large crowd of children and parents watch a Lion Dance performed by artists from China. Recorded by Madeleine Sumption. Part of the Migration Sounds project, the world’s first collection of the sounds of human migration. For more information and to explore the project, see https://www.citiesandmemory.com/migration IMAGE: Sue...
1m Jul 15, 2024
1m
Kitchen remix
"In this recomposition I am imagining the kitchen as a universal meeting and sharing space, inspired by the intimate recording of Natasha and Maria. Shared cooking is when distant worlds become close, when family trees and traditions remix and meet in front of a sink and a pan: recipes become a space for stories. "I decided to use only some relevant spoken exchanges, a lot of noises and textur...
2m Jul 15, 2024
2m
Sweet, sad memories of a beautiful place
"The field recording is sampled from a public performance of a band playing traditional Latin music found in countries such as Cuba and Brazil. This music captures the feeling of sweet melancholy - of longing for the beauty of home, while also sharing this cultural expression with an audience in London. "As I listened to this sample over and over, I began to really feel the humanness of the mu...
12m Jul 15, 2024
12m
Marrow
"This composition was partly inspired by my experience with migration and how it affected me. I moved to Switzerland as an infant and back to Portugal in my early teens. The decision to focus the composition around a low-frequency drone is based on my early memories of flying in an aeroplane.  "At the same time, the high-frequency sweeps of noise illustrate the sound of crashing waves from my ...
5m Jul 15, 2024
5m
Hinchas
"The original recording is a group of fans for a football club, in Argentina we usually call it "la hinchada." Each club in each country has a different song and here I could notice it, it is a very special passion that goes in a fan wherever he goes, regardless of the language. "I resorted to using wind, reverb and delay like in a real stadium. Very spacious." Millwall FC chant reimagined by...
3m Jul 15, 2024
3m
A lion's new pride
"I was immediately caught by the metallic sounds and percussive nature of the recording. The location of Greenwich and lunar new year theme also appealed to me as I used to work in the area and had a colleague celebrating Lunar new year at the time. "Migration stories at their core always centre around people or groups moving from one locality, area, country to another and as someone who has m...
7m Jul 15, 2024
7m
Pierogi in a pan
 Inside the kitchen at Bar Polski, a close-up recording of traditional Polish pierogi being prepared, including the bubbling of a boiling pan, followed by the frying of bacon and onions - at the end of the recording we leave the small kitchen and head back out into the bustling bar. Recorded by Cities and Memory. Part of the Migration Sounds project, the world’s first collection of the sounds...
4m Jul 14, 2024
4m
Amazing Grace
 Singers from a local Cameroonian church in Peckham take to the streets to sing a version of “Amazing Grace”, accompanied by an acoustic guitar. The soundscape is lent a surreal edge by the robotic recorded voice advertising a closing down sale for Wow Peckham, the shop directly behind us. Recorded by Cities and Memory. Part of the Migration Sounds project, the world’s first collection of th...
2m Jul 14, 2024
2m
Steel drums in Brixton
 Brixton in London is also known as Little Jamaica, the heart of the Jamaican community in the city. In this recording, we can hear a steel drum group performing directly outside the tube station. Recorded by Cities and Memory. Part of the Migration Sounds project, the world’s first collection of the sounds of human migration. For more information and to explore the project, see https://www....
2m Jul 14, 2024
2m
Made For Ukraine community event
 Conversations with local Ukrainian people and soundscape of incidental music, and ambience at the Made For Ukraine fundraiser event in All Saints Church, Hove, 21st October 2023. Music in this recording is not from live music performances on the day, but instead includes clips from song and dance workshops and someone improvising on the piano while the gig was being set up. Recorded by Phill...
13m Jul 14, 2024
13m
Bedouins, South Sinai
This recording captures my connection with a Bedouin tribe in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, where an unconditional love for the land is ever-present. Bedouins persist in leading a traditional, subsistence lifestyle, moving from place to place and engaging in trade between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Isolated from the rest of Egypt, their settlements are nestled among high mountains, incl...
2m Jul 14, 2024
2m
Here at the border
 "Starting off in a Polish bar’s kitchen in London, we take a journey through sound association. "15 personal recordings from 10 locations in Europe and Asia have been added to the original recording. They are sounds of places I settled in - at first unsettling, later soundprints of a feeling called home; and sounds that brought me back while on the move - like the taste of a homeland dish in ...
15m Jul 14, 2024
15m
World closing down
"Migration is movement. It may be escape or connected with ambition and dreams. We selected ‘019 Amazing Grace’ because of its connection with the uplift of the spirit. This was our starting point. The end of the field recording repeats ‘closing down sale’ and this prompted a vision of closed borders. The juxtaposition of being uplifted and closed down reflected the journey that we often find o...
2m Jul 14, 2024
2m
Steel and melancholia
 "Ever since I was 7 years old and first "played" with the Interactive Media of Encarta 97 Encyclopedia World Music on my computer, I became captivated by the sounds of Trinidad's steel drums. These sounds, perhaps through cultural associations, filled me with absolute joy. In the naive imagination of a 7-year-old Peruvian girl, the Caribbean was portrayed as a paradise brimming with life and c...
2m Jul 14, 2024
2m
Voices
 "What drew me to apply for the Migration Sounds project in the first place were my own experiences of constantly moving. States, cities, areas and apartments, there have been many over the last two decades. However, this has always come from a position of privilege. "In recent years, as humanitarian crises have become more frequent, I have become deeply contemplative about acknowledging this ...
7m Jul 14, 2024
7m
Bedouin radio (pt. 1 - 5)
 "Using snippets of the vocal samples, recordings from my phone of me playing a Taylor guitar (tuned to drop D), some improvised recordings of Ciat Lonbarde synths (Esoterica Chainlock PCB “Made by Tripping on Wires” Sheffield Uk), I created circa 90 samples I could pitch down and play live. "Next I built layers of sounds inside a sampler that would give the impression of radio waves, desert v...
16m Jul 14, 2024
16m
Machines are terrible
"I was intrigued by the snippets of speech and coffee machine noises - there's something very global and universal about them. I wanted to decontextualise them into a Glass / Reich kind of setting. "Koyaanisqatsi" crossed my mind, as did "Different Trains". Ebow was abused. Aside from electric guitar, all the other sounds are sampled or processed from the field recording." Prague workshop conv...
4m Jul 14, 2024
4m
As she walked away I remembered her shoes
"The field recording of a demonstration from a divided Cyprus reflects decades of historical forced migration on the island, while at the same time protesting against present day atrocities in Gaza. Conflict is a global driver for unwanted migration splitting up families, friends and communities and the field recording inspired a piece that reflects my deep sadness for innocent people migrating...
4m Jul 14, 2024
4m
La Colombiana
 "Having grown up outside my country of origin, and subsequently returned as to a familiar-but-unfamiliar place, I have some insight into how it feels to have an outside perspective on the place where you live. "I found it interesting that the recording was made by someone able to view the sights & sounds of a place from an outsider’s perspective, noticing sounds, colours and characters that o...
6m Jul 14, 2024
6m
Le loup et l'agneau
 "I was enchanted by Christine Renaudat’s recording of her daughter aged 9 reciting Jean De La Fontaine’s version of the old Aesop’s Fable - The Wolf and the Lamb. Her daughter was born in Colombia and Christine home schooled her in French. She was teaching her all about her homeland of France talking about animals she could “barely imagine” (wolves and sheep) and learning the names of the Fren...
4m Jul 14, 2024
4m
A new beginning from Xiamen
"The field recording with the importance of preserving the city's valuable cultural heritage, even amidst the changes, inspire me a story with sound images that help you rediscover the beauty of Xiamen. "At the beginning, the sound of cut bamboo and a fascinating pentatonic melody, created and played by me on the flute ,brings to mind a magic and ancestral atmosphere. "I created 4 tracks: 2 f...
4m Jul 14, 2024
4m
Coffee in Prague
In early December 2023 I was running a workshop in Prague for Ukrainians who had been forced to flee because of the full-scale Russian invasion of their country, and who were now living in other European countries. The students I was teaching were learning about how to tackle disinformation and propaganda, and how to develop effective communications strategies to encourage people in their new c...
1m Jul 14, 2024
1m
Divided united
Recording of the 'Free Palestine' peaceful protest in the fall of 2023, which took place in the divided capital of Cyprus, Nicosia, itself being both exemplary and conflicting. This unprecedented moment in history glues the refugee crisis in previous years with the new wave due to the ongoing wars. While people look for a home and assimilate into the new environment, they also support the caus...
1m Jul 14, 2024
1m
Carretillero
If there is one sound that represents our daily life in Cartagena, Colombia, where we chose to live years ago, after leaving France, it would be this one. The chanting/singing/shouting of the  many street vendors who work in our neighbourhood. This one was recollecting recyclable materials, and whistling while pushing his handcart. He would arrive every morning at 7h30 in our street. I don’t s...
4m Jul 14, 2024
4m
Le loup et l'agneau
This is my daughter at age 9, reciting a Fable by Jean de la Fontaine in French. Migrating often requires navigating between languages. My daughter was born in Colombia, but I wanted her to  speak and write in French. So I home schooled her in French. The distance learning program we followed required recording her while she was reading or reciting some poems. So we were at home, living in th...
2m Jul 14, 2024
2m
The beauty of Xiamen
 The recording depicts a group of elderly locals from Xiamen engaging in conversation. As modernization continues to progress, an increasing number of young people are leaving the city to pursue employment prospects elsewhere. This trend is directly tied to the broader theme of migration, and has led to a decline in the use of the Xiamen dialect as a result of both population loss and urbaniza...
1m Jul 14, 2024
1m
Sounds of nomadic Altay Kazakhs
In Altay, Xinjiang, China, Kazakhs have lived here for hundreds of years and still maintain a nomadic lifestyle that follows the seasons. However, the process of modernization and development is changing their traditions, customs and even language. The younger generation is unwilling to continue the hard nomadic life, and the older generation who are gradually aging may be the last generation ...
4m Jul 13, 2024
4m
Vancouver 1987
I migrated from Stockholm, Sweden to Vancouver, BC, Canada in 1987. The cities are approximately the same size and are located on the same latitude. I was somehow expecting something similar to what I was used to. I was wrong. The first shock was the sound of the city of Vancouver. The noise bouncing between glass clad skyscrapers was, in my ears, extreme. And it went on around the clock. Traf...
3m Jul 13, 2024
3m
EU border voices
On a sound research visit to the EU border of Bosnia and Herzegovina I visited and spoke to different individuals stuck in B&H to transport their voices to document an art exhibition in 2022. In this recording me and friends were welcomed by a group of people to their temporary home the so called "Family Squat" located outside of Velika Kladuša. There are 3-8 people sleeping in one room, carpe...
2m Jul 13, 2024
2m
Park Maximilian
In this binaural recording, we can hear a group of young men playing a game of football on a small courtyard. The players run from one end of the field to the other, chasing the ball and trying to score. We can hear the ball being passed around and some attempts of shooting the ball, resulting in a loud, metallic 'bang' against the metal caging of the field. You can also hear men shouting in di...
7m Jul 13, 2024
7m
Brunnenmarkt - a piece of home
Vienna has a lively tradition of streetmarkets. The Brunnenmarkt is a daily opened food market in the workingclass quarter Ottakring. Years ago it was a quite small market in the Brunnenstrasse, nowadays it is expanding every year, because it‘s a great opportunity to get your first job when you are new in Vienna, without the necessarity to speak German, because your customers are mostly from yo...
2m Jul 13, 2024
2m
Nomadic trail
 "The recording I chose for work is, to be honest, quite self-sufficient. However, I decided to wrap it in sound like a wool blanket without adding many other elements. I thought for a long time about what sonic texture I associate with China, Kazakhstan, and Altai, and what at the same time resonates with my personal experience of migration, and eventually, I came to overtone singing. "As the...
5m Jul 13, 2024
5m
Broadcasts of the displaced
""Broadcasts of the displaced" is a soundscape composition exploring the transient nature of migration, combining the provided field recording, which was then manipulated to be come the source for all of the additional sonic content. I am drawn to the ideas surrounding ghost voices in the airwaves, and the idea of slowly decaying radio broadcasts. "Inspired by the my own migration and a connec...
8m Jul 13, 2024
8m
Journey's ends
"I was inspired by the scale of the call to prayer playing out in Bosnia. Using the notes I added some improvised piano to the supplied field recording getting further and further away from the maqam. The impression of war was added as heavily manipulated layered field recordings which included slowed down cobbles and use of the GRM Evol plug in on nature sounds. "A plaintive alto sax (me) and...
12m Jul 13, 2024
12m
Precarious conditions
"I was drawn into the recording by the complexity of the sound - the different layers: close and far / long and short / bass and treble / soft and loud. It was almost like a type of jungle. "I was also drawn in by the story of the park - a residential area in the centre of the city where migrants pitch their tents - an arena where the potential for both clash and collaboration is so clearly pl...
3m Jul 13, 2024
3m
Brunnenmarkt (Andy Lyon reimagining)
"The story of the market highlights the positives of migration, the blending of cultures, sharing and evolving of traditions. I've used a glitch aesthetic to represent this fusion, those fragments of conversations that you don't quite hear in a busy place and fragments of forgotten memories from the past." Brunnenmarkt, Vienna reimagined by Andy Lyon. Part of the Migration Sounds project, the...
4m Jul 13, 2024
4m
Woodend Christmas
 "Rob's story brought a slight tear to my eye at first read, and before even hearing the sound, I knew I was going to want to do minimal processing to the sound itself, as what it captures is really quite a beautiful story, although rooted in sadness, and certainly sees the family making some kind of progress after what has been some difficult years with the loss of a loved one and the separati...
4m Jul 13, 2024
4m
Then to now
"I chose Maria Gunko's recording from Armenia because it's a simple, peaceful field recording of a woman gardening out on her balcony after moving there "...striving for safe harbor from state violence amid the Russia-Ukraine War." "My remix, called "Then to Now", is an interpretation of a journey from war to a safe harbor. The first part, Then", is meant to be a bit discordant and slightly ch...
5m Jul 13, 2024
5m
I remember in pieces
"Memory is fragmented, especially when you're trying to remember the many people you been in the places you've been. Those memory pieces come up at odd times-- such as when you're making dinner and hear something on the radio that's so familiar yet so far away its almost forgotten now. That's the moment when you remember just a bit. "And then the moment has passed. And anyway... dinner's almos...
3m Jul 13, 2024
3m
Cumulonimbus
I have played with all the elements of the original recording and added 2 clips from recordings of mine in the mix - a spring dawn chorus and clay flutes activated by my voice in an installation. The process and re-mix reminds me of Cumulonimbus clouds which are born through convection, often growing from small cumulus clouds over a hot surface. They get taller and taller until they represent ...
4m Jul 13, 2024
4m
Into the call
 "I thought about the sample and how musical it is, yet so different from Western musical traditions of tuning and rhythm, and it's also part-spoken, rich in spiritual and cultural heritage. The sample is full of background noise, which can be annoying in music, but I find it gives a sense of place and enhances memories, including my own, of being in Arabic countries. I was interested also in p...
9m Jul 13, 2024
9m
Life: Woodend
 This is a recording of a few moments from Christmas Day 2023 in Woodend, Victoria, Australia - about an hour north of Melbourne. I come here with my wife, Heather, and our children when we can save up enough to pay for the airfare, as it is a critical opportunity for my family to connect with their cousins, and particularly for my wife to see her niece and nephew, who she loves very deeply and...
7m Jul 13, 2024
7m
Balcony chores
 A woman went out onto the balcony of her new apartment to rearrange the flowers. She is surrounded by the rare sounds of the street in an emptying town within the 'remoteness' of Armenian highlands. While locals leave this place in search of jobs and better life opportunities, she arrived here striving for a safe harbour from state violence amid the Russia-Ukraine war. She enjoys the tranquil...
2m Jul 13, 2024
2m
Tango for Ines
 I'm a tango violinist who migrated from the US to Argentina in 2002. This is a tango I improvised & my friend put some guitar to it. I felt deeply connected to tango 25 years ago and this pull on my heart inspired me to migrate halfway across the globe. I have been absorbed by tango, the stylish essence mixed with the mugre (filth) of the big city streets, the rhythmic swing that belongs to B...
2m Jul 13, 2024
2m