The space between the eras
"The silence and absence was what inspired me deeply, like the resonance of air in space. It led me to some points where I was feeling the empty space as a non-temporal era, so I tried to add and compose some small scenes within the sound. "I was practising a bit of what's called a kind of archaeoacoustics, a way of imagining spaces from a historical perspective and with a bit of imagination. ...
7m Mar 24, 2025
7m
On the streets of Dubrovnik
There is a little window, in the attic of a Dalmatian villa from the early middle ages, overlooking the dreamy cascade landscape of downtown Dubrovnik. It's early June, 8 am. A melody of old Mediterranean terracotta roofs plunging into each other is nursing a soft morning light. The polyphony of ages embedded in the stone makes the town glow from its neutron core. No corners are mislaid, and t...
18m Mar 24, 2025
18m
Nea Pafos
The absence of noise becomes as striking as the sounds themselves. The deep silence within the remains and caves offers a rare moment of solitude - one that is increasingly hard to find in today's busy world. The stones, worn by centuries of history, hold the echoes of lives long past, but the quietness of the caves offers a rare moment of solitude, allowing for reflection. The recording evoke...
1m Mar 24, 2025
1m
Obispo market
Market soundscape from Obispo in Old Havana. UNESCO listing: Old Havana and its Fortification System Recorded by Jack Hyde. IMAGE: Paul Mannix, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons ——————— 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://w...
44s Mar 24, 2025
44s
China syndrome
"I based my composition upon the 5 note motif from the original field recording incorporated at the beginning of the piece and repeated throughout using predominantly Asian instruments." Musical instrument on the Great Wall of China reimagined by Scott Lawrence Whitman. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out...
4m Mar 24, 2025
4m
Dark bamboo
"I enjoy feeling disorientated sometimes; being exposed to sound worlds which don’t reveal their inner logic. The bamboo recording felt like one of those moments. "I wanted to take the rhythms of the creaking bamboo & weave something around it, thinking about nature, preservation and the encroachment of technology, as well as Brazil’s immense percussive heritage & influence. "The piece of mus...
12m Mar 24, 2025
12m
A modern reverence
"By integrating electronic elements with the historic sound of the cathedral organ, the piece highlights the tension and synergy between the old and the new, a dichotomy central to Vienna's identity. "The composition also speaks to the theme of sound preservation by emphasising how culturally significant sounds - such as the timeless resonance of the organ - serve not only as historical artefa...
3m Mar 24, 2025
3m
St. Stephen's Cathedral organist
As I entered Vienna's iconic St. Stephen's Cathedral in the heart of the historic centre, a service was just finishing and the organist was playing a triumphant piece of music. I particularly enjoyed the long sustain held on the last chord. UNESCO listing: Historic City of Vienna Recorded by Colin Hunter. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the ...
2m Mar 24, 2025
2m
Brief synthesis, integrity, authenticity
"In this piece, the monk's chanting runs throughout, initially heavily processed by various layers of granular synthesis, and very gradually revealing itself as the composition progresses, so that by the end all we hear is the naked simplicity of the original recording. "The composition represents how we often experience the beauty of World Heritage sites, at first overcome by a feeling of the...
6m Mar 24, 2025
6m
Monk chanting, Luang Prabang
Monk chanting at Luang Prabang. Stereo 44kHz 16bit. UNESCO listing: Town of Luang Prabang 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
43s Mar 24, 2025
43s
Early morning at San Agustin Church
An early morning at the San Agustin Church is far from quiet. Street sweepers tidying old cobblestone paths, the chapel staff routine inspections and preparations, vendors beckoning passerbys their taho or knick knacks, and local guides gleefully offering their services to wandering tourists. The bells of the Manila Cathedral toll and people crossing the plaza are natural accompaniments like t...
6m Mar 24, 2025
6m
Boiling point -196C
"This composition is intended to hiss out of speakers in a similar manner to the liquid nitrogen hissing from the storage tanks outside the Department of Earth Sciences. It's a sonic reflection on standing in this small street, being surrounded on every side by the sounds of humming machinery, coolant and air conditioning, the administrative machinery that underpins and helps to make possible O...
4m Mar 24, 2025
4m
The sounds of science
Outside the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, there are several gigantic, almost-building height tanks of liquid nitrogen behind a fence, encrusted with ice and with vapour hissing out from the pipes at the bottom. The sounds of hissing liquid nitrogen vapours mix with the industrial drones of other nearby scientific machinery and air conditioning devices coming from sc...
5m Mar 24, 2025
5m
Somnium retinarii
The field recording takes us from tour group to tour group inside the world-famous Colosseum, with each guide bringing their own style and their own facts and anecdotal stories about the incredible history of this space. This composition imagines standing at the back of one of these tour groups, half-listening to what the guide is saying, but then allowing the eyes to drift upwards, allowing t...
6m Mar 24, 2025
6m
Organ drift
"There has been a fascinating wave of experimental and drone music in recent years placing the organ as the centrepiece of a meditative experience, expanding out and stretching the sound into a deep listening experience. "This piece is in that tradition, taking four sampled layers of the organ and building a slowly-changing, contemplative ten minutes in which perhaps religious contemplation dr...
10m Mar 24, 2025
10m
Órgão de Igreja (Church organ)
Recording inside the Sé Velha church, Alta de Coimbra, when someone played the service organ. UNESCO listing: University of Coimbra – Alta and Sofia. Recorded by Luis Antero. ——————— 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 24, 2025
3m
Warp and weft #4
"My background is in the visual arts, with a primary focus on sculpture, particularly wood carving. Over time, I have become increasingly fascinated by the concept of ‘residue’—the traces left behind after the physical sculpture is completed. "Sound has emerged as a compelling avenue of inquiry, with the rhythmic tapping and scraping of steel chisels against wood punctuating my process. The ac...
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
Dreams of the bell tower watchman
"I very carefully listened to scores of recordings before settling on this one and it captured my imagination instantly. It’s incredibly rich and mysterious. What was documented in this field recording transports us, I think, to a place both ancient and instantly present. We hear footfalls climbing rickety stairs. In the distance bells toll. And in the foreground a sonorous voice intones a repe...
10m Mar 23, 2025
10m
La Clerecía
The descent from Salamanca’s Clerecía Towers unfolds like an auditory time capsule, where each step resonates with the weight of history. The recording begins at the heights of this iconic cathedral, capturing the faint echoes of voices carried by the lofty ceilings before transitioning into the measured rhythm of footsteps descending the spiral staircase. As the journey unfolds, subtle hints ...
51s Mar 23, 2025
51s
Asante Kente weaving at Bonwire, Ghana with palpable textures
Mechanisms of wooden frames and wools in a seemingly textural sonic dialog during a Kente weaving session at Asante Bonwire. 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 tra...
2m Mar 23, 2025
2m
Morning incantation
I was interested in this field recording, taken from Kasuga Taisha Shrine in Japan featuring monks chanting their morning prayer. I’ve aimed to create a musical space that allows their prayers to serve as a background and a constant, with distinct sections complementing and reflecting the ongoing prayer and the approaching dawn. Monks chanting in Nara reimagined by Jaspal Singh Bhogal. ——————...
4m Mar 23, 2025
4m
Hypogeum
"The Hypogeum of Ħal Saflieni in Paola, Malta is a Neolithic subterranean structure dating from before 3000 BC. A necropolis and a place of sanctuary, it comprises several chambers carved out of the rock with primitive tools. The sophistication of its creators is evident from the intricate patterns painted in ochre on the ceilings and the entry of light from the surface, which is thought to hav...
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
Hal Saflieni Hypogeum tour
On a tour in the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, walking around. You can here other tourists on the tour and recorded guides. August 2008. UNESCO listing: Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum Recorded by David Webb. ——————— 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
Morning prayer at Kasuga Taisha Shrine, Nara
Kasuga Taisha Shrine is part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara UNESCO site in Japan. Every day, monks chant the morning prayer (chōhai) in the Naoraiden (Ceremony Hall) and the public is welcome to observe. This recording was made on 13 December, 2024 and captures part of the prayer. There were 5 monks and 7 of us in the public area. I was the only western person. In the recording, you...
4m Mar 23, 2025
4m
Our tapes have nothing to do with you
"My composition 'Our Tapes Have Nothing To Do With You' was inspired by AJ Born's field recording particularly for the fact that the recording documents the end of a Christmas Market in Germany. This fact, and the general atmosphere of the soundscape, reminded me of two really special and memorable weekend trips I'd taken with friends in 2018 and 2019 – to Belgium and Sweden respectively, durin...
7m Mar 23, 2025
7m
Buddhist enchantment
"This field recording of Buddhist chanting in what seems to be a temple in India was personally very timely. After recently reading several books on Buddhist philosophy and spiritual practices, finding this particular field recording in the the Sonic Heritage catalogue seemed by coincidence to be the perfect source to work with on this project. "Having decided immediately not to stray too far ...
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
A chaotic lullaby
I took a lullaby theme as a counterpoint to the noise. Firework sound samples provide rhythmical element. Chaos stabilises as the recording ends, to create a final sense of calm and serenity. Shanghai street festival reimagined by HDRF. ——————— 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 projec...
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
Buddhist chanting at Ladakh
Buddhist chanting at Ladakh. Stereo 48kHz 24bit. UNESCO listing: Buddhist chanting of Ladakh: recitation of sacred Buddhist texts in the trans-Himalayan Ladakh region, Jammu and Kashmir, India 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:/...
2m Mar 23, 2025
2m
Joyous sounds of fireworks welcome arrival of the Fortune God
On the fifth day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, it is the day to welcome the God of Wealth, and people often set off fireworks and firecrackers at midnight as a gesture of welcome, hoping for his favor in the coming year so they can accumulate wealth. In recent years, China has banned the use of fireworks and firecrackers in urban areas to ensure safety and reduce pollution. This recording capt...
9m Mar 23, 2025
9m
End of Christmas market in Luebeck
We are in Lübeck's old town in Germany. It is a cold and windy day. The St. Jakobi church stands at a crossroads near a large, old square called Koberg. There are many people on the street. On December 30th, large trucks are parked next to St. Jacob's Church because the Christmas market is over and things are packed. The bells of St. Jacob's Church and other churches in the old town start ringi...
1m Mar 23, 2025
1m
Westlicher Najadenbrunnen in Autumn
The sounds captured in this recording are: airplanes, dry leaves (lots of them), birds, footsteps on gravel, people talking (in several languages, since it's one of the most famous gardens in Vienna), and children playing. It was a beautiful, warm Saturday, and my close friends and I decided to take a walk through the gardens of Schonnbrunn, hot chocolate in hand and recording equipment in the...
13m Mar 23, 2025
13m
Loong Kwailei
"Listening to the audio recorded in Shanghai, China, at the Spring festival, I identified interesting melodic fragments from a puppet show, as well as discernible rhythmic and melodic elements from unintelligible background voices and other noises from the audience. "I was drawn to these sounds both as being culturally significant and as being representative of aspects of World Heritage connec...
5m Mar 23, 2025
5m
Dun on the run
"Whenever and wherever I travel, I try to meet up with local musicians so that we might play together. In this way, I have played with musicians in Africa, India, China and elsewhere. I have not been so much concerned with learning the local or national modes of playing, as in trying to propose and adapt my own modes and methods to what's being played locally, there and then. This tends to crea...
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
Warm Saturday
"The track was influenced by both the field recording and the recording artist’s description. Tomasz describes walking with friends through the famous gardens of Schönbrunn in Vienna on a “beautiful, warm Saturday,” which immediately shaped my approach. Warm Saturday felt like a natural title, capturing both the mood and memory of the recording. "I usually lean towards ambient or experimental ...
4m Mar 23, 2025
4m
Performance of traditional puppetry
While out shopping, I stumbled upon a performance of puppetry, capturing the scene of people gathered by the roadside to watch the show. This is a traditional form of performance, steeped in history. UNESCO listing: China’s Spring Festival Recorded by David Ge. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more an...
2m Mar 23, 2025
2m
Tibetan opera at Xiahe
Tibetan opera at Xiahe. Stereo 48kHz 24bit. UNESCO listing: Tibetan opera 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
38s Mar 23, 2025
38s
Echoes of the sacred
This field recording, captured on May 13th, 2023, in Pisa at the Battistero di San Giovanni, immerses the listener in the acoustics of one of Italy’s most iconic heritage sites. The soundscape is a blend of the bustling noise of tourist groups, their conversations drifting in and out of focus, and the captivating vocal performance of a tour guide. As the guide demonstrates the remarkable acous...
4m Mar 23, 2025
4m
Sacred echoes
"I was drawn to this sound due to it's sacred lineage. As an atheist, I am fascinated by peoples devotion to their sacred beliefs. The notion of these spaces being 'tourist attractions' allows fleeting glimpses in to the historical conventions surrounding religiosity. "What interests me is experiencing the sonic character of these spaces, most likely an unintended result of the grandiose desig...
5m Mar 23, 2025
5m
Duende
"My wife and I traveled to Seville on my honeymoon and saw Flamenco. I even created field recordings of Flamenco while there. But I never did anything with the recording, though I've thought about it quite often. When it showed up on the list of possible sounds to remix for Sonic Heritage, it felt like that sound chose me. "Musically my goal was to keep the essence of the original piece intact...
6m Mar 23, 2025
6m
Amazon biosphere - dawn chorus
At dawn in the heart of the Amazon Biosphere, Colombia, the world emerges from its slumber in a harmonious symphony of life. The dense, emerald-green rainforest envelops you, and the morning stillness gives way to a vibrant medley of birdcalls, insect chatter, and distant howler monkeys marking their territory. This timeless soundscape reflects the pulse of one of the most biodiverse regions on...
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
Emerald
"The recording was so beautiful to listen to, that I decided not to do my usual stripping the wav down to its bones and rebuild it into something else. "I took my cue from Rafael's description using Emerald as the title. I also included the whole recording as the base and created a reflection of electronic sounds to mirror and respond to the sounds of the Amazon, layering to build up to the da...
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
Gibbons
"We felt the field recording had quite a psychedelic and surreal feel about it, it holds melodic qualities that are unique to the voice of a gibbon, and you would never expect to hear from a human voice. Once flipped and processed by us, it had a much more synthesiser like sound, though still with a lot of organic charm to set it apart from artificial sounds. "Our composition addresses the the...
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
The bells of time
"After hearing the sound piece 213 Asakusa Bell of Time Senso-ji Temple bell and reading the accompanying description I became fascinated by the sounds and the history of this and other bells in Tokyo. Particularly by the fact that the bell is still rung everyday and is mostly now not heard above the sounds of the city. "I spoke to my friend Mike Ward and fellow musician from Longstone https:/...
8m Mar 23, 2025
8m
Whispers of the ancients: the Bushmen’s mouth bow melodies
The Seworoworo or commonly known as the Mouth Bow, is one of the world’s oldest instrument, originally invented by the Bushmen. I really feel lucky that I had the chance to record it right at the very heart of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. The instument is played by Tango, a young man from the Delta. Birds sing during his playing as well. This instrument has a palm-leaf string that is made t...
50s Mar 23, 2025
50s
High altitude temple bells
Hidden deep within the breathtaking mountains of Svaneti lies Ushguli, one of the highest and most remote inhabited villages in the world. The air here is crisp, and the silence is punctuated by the gentle chime of temple bells. These bells echo the prayers of villagers who live amid snow-draped peaks and ancient stone towers, their faith and traditions anchoring them in this harsh, otherworldl...
2m Mar 23, 2025
2m
Voices in the bows
"Voices in the Bows explores the resonance and cultural significance of the Botswana mouth bow, an instrument with a rich history of oral transmission and performance. The original field recording captivated me with its percussive qualities, harmonic overtones, and rhythmic fluidity. Rather than manipulating or digitally altering the bow’s sound, I chose to preserve its natural timbre, allowing...
3m Mar 23, 2025
3m
Svaneti Tempel
"I want to dedicate this composition to my grandfather - Anatoliy Mytianskyi. He was a passionate tourist and loved Berlin school of electronic music very much. He actually was at Svaneti in the 1970s and made some beautiful photos of this place. As a kid I remember looking at this old photos, admiring the towers of Svaneti and mountains around them while my grandfather was listening to some ep...
8m Mar 23, 2025
8m
Coimbra daydream
"The field recording I chose is of an old blind man singing to himself and talking about how he uses sound to get around the city of Coimbra. My partner and I visited the city while travelling around Europe in our VW camper in 2003, and had a lovely experience there, walking the streets, attending an avant garde music event and soaking up the city's atmosphere. We may have even passed this man ...
5m Mar 23, 2025
5m
Rua da Sofia I (2013)
Recording with a blind man at the entrance to the shopping mall who has been a regular presence there for 50 years. Your voice and the importance of sound in your everyday life. UNESCO listing: University of Coimbra – Alta and Sofia Recorded by Luís Antero. ——————— This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights. Find out more and ex...
8m Mar 23, 2025
8m
Asakusa Bell of Time
This is a field recording that I made in 2014 of the ringing of the Senso-ji Temple bell. What is heard is walking on traditional gravel path up to the bell, hearing the monk approach and ring the bell which has been rung at 6:00am for 400 years. During the Edo period at the heritage site of the Senso-ji Temple time was announced with bell chimes. These were “official” time bells called toki n...
7m Mar 23, 2025
7m