Public demonstration at Queretaro
Public demonstration at Querétaro, Mexico. Stereo 44khz 16bit. XXXX reimagined by Erick Ruiz Arellano. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage Photo by Tito Texidor III (https://unsplash.com/@titofoto?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_m...
1m Mar 23, 2025
1m
Danza de los voladores
"The sound I chose is based on Mexico, where it is about worshipping the gods to bring the end of droughts to their crops. The worshipping is played as four men is spinning around down from the tall wooden pole and one of them is playing a melody dancing on top of the wooden pole. This shows a lot of tension to me where I thought it will match with a fast stressful syncopated beat, so I thought...
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
Día de los muertos
"The field recording of the "Día de los muertos" consist mainly of murmur and low crowd sounds, some laughter and children shouting. To combine this with the celebrations that go along with the Day of the Dead I was listening to various traditional music that is typically played. That included rancheras, cumbias, Son Jarocho etc. I then found the quite well known traditional song "La Sandunga",...
4m Mar 23, 2025
4m
Danzantes during Romeria at Zapopan
Aztec danzantes in front of Basilica for Romeria, on the day of the Virgin of Zapopan. Mono 48kHz 16bit. UNESCO listing: La Romería (the pilgrimage) Recorded by Erick Ruiz Arellano. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage
2m Mar 23, 2025
2m
Temple of the Tooth
"My composition “Temple Of The Tooth” for the Sonic Heritage Project is based on a recording from The Drums Evening Pooja, a ceremony held at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The ceremony creates a special atmosphere of reverence where many people visit the temple to pray and make offerings. The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, also known as Sri Dalada Maligawa, is whe...
5m Mar 23, 2025
5m
Kenyan dusk
"The composition is made up of mostly drums building to a crescendo. One traditional instrument, one string sound and one synth – that’s all." Mt. Kenya National Park and Forest reimagined by Simon Woods. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.c...
5m Mar 23, 2025
5m
Deep calls out
"I chose Baikal at first because of the location, inspired by a magical realist novel set there, called The Year of Miracle and Grief by Leonid Borodin. I was curious to hear the actual sound of this ancient deep body of water. Listening, I was drawn into the scene, hearing the water lapping, like a giant breathing. And the crunching movement of feet circling it. "The presence of visitors at t...
1m Mar 23, 2025
1m
Viva Mexico
"¡Viva México! reimagines a field recording of children singing a protest song against the police, transforming their original rage into a lively, dance-like rhythm. The music shifts from anger to joy, creating a paradoxical celebration of resistance and childhood." Queretaro protest reimagined by Francesco Ganassin and Sergio Marchesini. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage proj...
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
Caballos del ritmo
"The rhythmic power of those hooves reminded me of the connection between culture and sound—the way certain sounds define a place and its history. As I began composing, I thought about how these sounds could be preserved, transformed, and shared. I layered the field recording into the track, allowing the hooves to guide the rhythm while blending modern synths reminiscent of Daft Punk’s groove. ...
2m Mar 23, 2025
2m
Tuna
"I chose a field recording, by Erick Ruiz Arellano, about a tunas seller in Zacatecas, Mexico. "I did a bit of digging to discover that Zacatecas is on the historical 'El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro' (aka the Silver Route) – a 2,500km road between Mexico City and San Juan Pueblo (in America) that was used from 1598 to 1882. "As I sought to translate and understand the conversations in this ...
4m Mar 23, 2025
4m
Voladores at Cuetzalan
Voladores at Cuetzalan, while the top volador plays a melody flute, the others descent from the top to the bottom while hanging from ropes. Stereo 48kHz 24bit. UNESCO listing: Ritual ceremony of the Voladores Recorded by Erick Ruiz Arellano. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole ...
2m Mar 23, 2025
2m
Wind turbine on Ningaloo Coast
This is an incredibly eerie recording of the wind turbine located on Ningaloo Coast to provide power for Coral Bay. It is in an area out of town in the desert where you can find lizards and birds. I have used this recording as a rhythm for experimental music production. UNESCO listing: Ningaloo Coast Recorded by Claire Pannell aka Furchick. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage p...
5m Mar 23, 2025
5m
Suomenlinna docks
"I've lived in Finland, have visited Suomenlinna and love boat yards, so it was an easy choice. I edited out some nice loops intending to use them in a beat based composition but didn't get very far with them. "Instead I used a technique I call midichops. The whole field recording was put into a sampler then a stream of midi notes play short snippets of the sample. As the track progresses the ...
10m Mar 23, 2025
10m
Soundwalk through Piazza del Duomo, Pisa
This soundwalk takes the listener right up to the foot of one of the world's most iconic structures, the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Recorded by Colin Hunter. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage
4m Mar 23, 2025
4m
Elsewhere than here - inside here
"We are near the Leaning Tower in Pisa (Italy). The ambient sounds plunged me into the heart of the hubbub, the perpetual movement linked to the passages, arrivals, comings and goings of tourists ... People go, walk, move, run. Rush? Maybe they stop and look, listen. Or not. Yes, the steps of life. "I stayed on this idea of ​​infinite movements, of life, words, times and spaces that move, cros...
4m Mar 23, 2025
4m
Echolocation
"I love the recording of bats in a cave because it’s a reminder that heritage isn’t just about monuments and structure, but about life and the continuation of both humans and animals to exist within ancient landscapes. As an artist who uses a lot of convolutional reverb in my work, I love the idea of taking a huge natural space and augmenting that natural reverb into something otherworldly. "T...
4m Mar 23, 2025
4m
The Suomenlinna dry dock
Suomenlinna is is a sea fortress composed of eight islands, of which six have been fortified; it is about 4 km southeast of central Helsinki. The Swedish crown commenced the construction of the fortress in 1748 as protection against Russian expansionism. This recording captures the working life of the population living on the islands, as work takes place on a boat in the dry dock, with a large ...
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
Bats at Ellora Cave No7
 Bats inside Ellora Cave No7. Stereo 48khz 24bit. Recorded by Erick Ruiz Arellano. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage
1m Mar 23, 2025
1m
Red Square
"My composition “Red Square” for the Sonic Heritage Project is based on a field recording made in Moscow at the State Historical Museum. The promo recording and tourist guide voices coming from the Red Square loud speakers were woven into the layered electronic world I imagined, using tape loops that I created specifically for this project. "I was interested in how ones own inner dialogue and ...
6m Mar 23, 2025
6m
All aboard!
A traditional wooden tram ride through the centre of Soller in Mallorca, with distinctive toots from the horn warning pedestrian tourists to keep off the tracks and out of the way of the tram as it clatters through the historical old town. UNESCO listing: Cultural Landscape of the Serra de Tramuntana Recorded by Cities and Memory. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, ex...
7m Mar 23, 2025
7m
Walking across the Forth Bridge
A walk along the Forth Road Bridge overlooking the UNESCO Heritage Forth Bridge just outside Edinburgh. You can hear a lot of wind, road works, tugboats, jingle of lovelocks, and a cargo ship. 19 December 2024. UNESCO listing: Forth Bridge Recorded by Bobby Jewell. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out mor...
12m Mar 23, 2025
12m
Gaita Galega
As we walk the historic streets of Santiago de Compostela, the sound of passing bagpipers, playing the distinctive 'gaita galega' fills the air, carrying the weight of centuries of tradition. The deep, resonant drones mix with the high, piercing melodies, the unique conical pipe creating a rich and evocative sonic space. Galician bagpipes, present in the region’s iconography since medieval time...
2m Mar 23, 2025
2m
Positively Forth Bridge
"The field recording captured the wild wind and traffic on the Forth Road Bridge which I have walked and ran over many times. From it you can see the Forth Bridge and hear the sea below and I felt the field recording prompted these images in my head. "As the Forth Bridges are also a busy tourism spot, I feel that the significance of capturing the sound of such places contributes to an overall ...
5m Mar 23, 2025
5m
Wooden tram
"The composition is made up of samples cut from the original field recordings, samples used as wavetable for wavetable synths and loops. These samples were: train rattling over gaps, train moving, the distinctive horn toot, passengers laughing "The non-sampled from the field recordings are string machines, Latin percussion, Mellotron and guitars." Wooden tram in Soller reimagined by Simon Woo...
4m Mar 23, 2025
4m
Santiago reverie
"I chose the sample as it was made in Santiago de Compostela, a beautiful and inspiring city that I hope to revisit one day. The original sample was very distinctive in both tempo and timbre (I believe it is the sound of Galician bagpipes). I went in a very different direction. The original sounds have been extensively processed and treated and fed through granular synthesis software to emerge ...
5m Mar 23, 2025
5m
Tourism vs. devotion
The original recording captures the environs of San Agustin Church early in the morning, as the city awakes around the tree-line square in front of the church. The reimagined piece keeps in mind that a UNESCO-listed church is primarily a place of worship, not a place of tourism, though the addition of the UNESCO recognition often has negative consequences on the original intent for the site, as...
4m Mar 23, 2025
4m
Mexico City: echoes and paths
"I received a fellowship to travel to Mexico City in the summer of 2024 to capture the city's vibrant soundscape. My project focused on recording the multitude of sounds and music that fill the city every day. While crafting the composition, I discovered the Sonic Heritage project and immediately saw how well it aligned with my vision. "The final piece weaves together my own field recordings w...
5m Mar 23, 2025
5m
A lost cause
"I was drawn towards the texture of the sound recording and Serge's description. Over the past few years I've been wrestling with how challenging it is to find peace in the modern world and how it can often be actively avoided by some, as if it's something to be scared of. However, I'm also acutely aware of how genuine silence is almost impossible and there is a real beauty to the hum and low r...
6m Mar 23, 2025
6m
Yum Kaax
"The recording of dry leaves falling at Tikal in Guatemala made me think of similar sounds in nature, in particular rain and fire, and the long memories and unknowns of a place like Tikal, an ancient Mayan city located in a rainforest. did not want to alter or distort the original recording but used parts of it to underpin the shape of the piece, like the ground under our feet when we are makin...
5m Mar 23, 2025
5m
Cathedral bells, Mexico City
Mexico City Zocalo's soundscape at 12pm. Cathedral bells and street organ players. Stereo 48kHz 24Bit. UNESCO listing: Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimilco Recorded by Erick Ruiz Arellano. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/her...
7m Mar 23, 2025
7m
Tombs of the Kings
Set against the backdrop of the Tombs of the Kings in Paphos Necropolis, this field recording explores the haunting silence of this ancient burial site. Carved into the rock, the tombs stand still, their solemn quiet broken only by a distant low rumble - perhaps from the nearby port or the hum of the city itself. This subtle noise weaves through the soundscape, creating an eerie contrast to the...
1m Mar 23, 2025
1m
Dry leaves falling at Tikal
Dry leaves falling at Tikal National Park. Stereo 48kHz 24Bit. UNESCO listing: Tikal National Park Recorded by Erick Ruiz Arellano. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage
2m Mar 23, 2025
2m
For the Ashanti weavers of Bonwire
"Samuel Kudjodzi's field recording of weaving describes how repetition can make a complex process sound graceful. The percussive clattering of the shuttle, the pulse of the treadle, and the boom of the shaft bar do not reflect the quality of the soft fabric being produced. "In my rendering of this field recording, I wanted to preserve as many of the organic elements of the original field recor...
9m Mar 23, 2025
9m
Xochicalco
"The sound was processed through a Bark Filter Processor from Verbos Electronics -- many envelope followers from there were used to drive the amplitude of the harmonic outputs of a Spectraphone from MakeNoise. "An ADDAC 508 Swell Physics provided extra modulation for the timbre of the Spectraphone as well as which portion of the spectral content from the original recording was audible (and the...
6m Mar 23, 2025
6m
Tibetan prayers at Boudanath Kathmandu
Tibetan prayers at Boudanath Kathmandu. Stereo 44kHz 16bit. UNESCO listing: Kathmandu Valley Recorded by Erick Ruiz Arellano. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage
4m Mar 23, 2025
4m
Om mani pedme hung
"The piece I chose to work (or play) with was a recording from Nepal of someone reciting the mantra “Om Mani Pedme Hung”. This mantra is associated with Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara), the bodhisattva embodying compassion. It is often translated as ‘the jewel in the lotus,' and symbolises the union of wisdom and compassion. In the practice that accompanies the mantra, one visualizes the deity Chen...
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
Wind in tabachin trees at Xochicalco pyramids
Wind in tabachin trees at Xochicalco pyramids. Stereo 48kHz 24bit. UNESCO listing: Archaeological Monuments Zone of Xochicalco Recorded by Erick Ruiz Arellano ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage
2m Mar 23, 2025
2m
Asante Kente weaving
"Among the Asante (or Ashanti) people of Ghana, West Africa, a popular legend relates how two young men—Ota Karaban and his friend Kwaku Ameyaw—learned the art of weaving by observing a spider weaving its web. One night, the two went out into the forest to check their traps, and they were amazed by a beautiful spider’s web whose many unique designs sparkled in the moonlight. The spider, named A...
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
Sea lions at Isla de Espíritu Santo
Sea lions at Isla de Espíritu Santo. Recorded from boat. Stereo 48kHz 24Bit. UNESCO listing: Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California Recorded by Erick Ruiz Arellano. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage
1m Mar 23, 2025
1m
Zalophus dances
"The sea lions (Zalophus californianus) of Isla Espíritu Santo, Mexico live in a world protected by UNESCO Heritage status which is marketed to attract tourists to swim and snorkel in Zalophus habitats. These highly curious and social creatures – both humans and Zalophus – have come to a mutual understanding, and perhaps even share similar behaviours. Males strive to be alpha, engage in confro...
5m Mar 23, 2025
5m
Limone e melone
"Limone e Melone is based on a recording from the Piazza della Cisterna in Sam Gimignano, an idyllic Tuscan hill town with medieval towers, cathedral, and a museum of torture! It was recorded in August 2021. During a Summer afternoon, the Piazza della Cisterna has one particularly conspicuous human feature: a deep queue of locals and tourists eagerly awaiting the delights of the twice world cha...
6m Mar 23, 2025
6m
Puzzle
"I've been on a very long burnout in regards of producing music, and I'm only just beginning to get out of it. "I normally use FL Studio for my production but I've decided to take things a step further by trying to use Ableton Live (12), especially since I've gotten my license quite recently, I figured it's worth a shot trying to use the tools within that DAW. "I wanted to put my resampling s...
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
Viva Florenza
"Viva Fiorenza is a tribute to Florence by some Florentine artists coordinated by Luca Romagnoli and the flautist and performer Cristina Italiani. "The piece is a sound journey in the historic center of Florence which is a UNESCO heritage site: the sound of the Martinella of the bell of the Florence Cathedral with its symbolic value of freedom, a famous Florentine song played live by the harpi...
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
Prayer to the past
"The repetitive sound of prayer from India’s Bodhi Temple is imbued with a feeling of longing – a desperate desire to cling to the concrete nature of the past. Sound is often ignored in precious places of great beauty. We closed our eyes and were inspired by the sound of prayer that has reverberated around this Indian temple for centuries. "Significant sounds in our own lives, that form part o...
2m Mar 23, 2025
2m
Kumbh Mela, rivers of life
"This field recording was of the crowds of people at Kumbh Mela, in Pryagraj, India. This Hindu pilgrimage is celebrated every 6 or 12 years and is the largest gathering of people on earth with an estimated 400 million people attending earlier this year (2025). The festival is located at the flood plain of the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers. The water is an important aspect of this religious event --...
8m Mar 23, 2025
8m
Viva Fiorenza
From a game for fearless young aristocrats il CALCIO STORICO FIORENTINO was also played on the frozen Arno Rive it became a manifesto for freedom. On February 17, 1530, Florence was besieged by one of the most powerful armies of that time, that of Charles V of Habsburg, the emperor on whose lands, it was said, the sun never set. And while the threatening drums of the besiegers beat, the Florent...
2m Mar 23, 2025
2m
Prayers in the temple, Bodhgaya
Prayers at Bodhi Temple Bodhgaya. Stereo 48kHz 24bit. UNESCO listing: Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya Recorded by Erick Ruiz Arellano. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage
1m Mar 23, 2025
1m
Crowds of people at Kumbh Mela
Crowds of people at Kumbh Mela religious festival. Stereo 48kHz 24bit. UNESCO listing: Kumbh Mela Recorded by Erick Ruiz Arellano ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
Image of Angkor Wat
"This composition transforms Colin Hunter’s recording, Angkor Temple Music, into a reimagined soundscape that stretches time and space. Using spectral processing, I extracted key sonic elements, allowing me to highlight and reshape the textures within the original recording. "Though I have never visited Angkor Wat, the recording transported me there. The resonant tones of what sounds like a Kh...
8m Mar 23, 2025
8m
Resonances - in the depths
"This work is built around and features Paul Lewin’s beautiful recording of Victory Shaft Geevor mine. The more I listen, the more we listen to places and spaces, the more we can hear their history, how these structures inhabit and belong to the landscape they exist within. With its immense depth, the field recording captures the vibrations of the mine, trembling and humming in response to wind...
7m Mar 23, 2025
7m