Low rates leasing quick!, or, notice of pending occupancy
Recorded during the late summer months in a suburban town outside of Phoenix, AZ, a group of mostly migrant workers from Central and South American continue construction on a large-scale luxury apartment complex on a Saturday afternoon. Standing on the adjacent lot, I observe numerous workers precariously standing atop a standing structure as they frame lumber underneath and around them while ...
8m Jul 19, 2024
8m
A Sense of place
"What makes a person consider leaving their home and migrating to another country? In America, considered a land of immigrants, people came for a fresh start, a better life for themselves and their family. There have been many waves of migration to the United States in our history including for example from China in the mid 1800’s, many settling in New York City, the Irish beginning in 1845, th...
5m Jul 19, 2024
5m
That what changes and that what remains the same
"I was almost immediately taken by the sound of an instrument being played, and a song being sung, where both sounded like they have been carried along, as part of one's identity. "In the track that I built around elements of the recording I tried to built small collages of sound around that tune. Different scenes, within which these elements of identity could stand out; set changes, with iden...
3m Jul 19, 2024
3m
War time blues
"My project was a field recording of an anti-Trump protest, the voice of the woman in the recording seemed to hold a lot of power and with the music I tried to give it the sense of hope like she’s pleading to make us understand we are all one and there can’t be racism, discrimination and also in these times war. "The track is composed of a texture sample I created with some mangled sampled voi...
4m Jul 19, 2024
4m
No man's land
"Cimarron County is at the far western tip of the Oklahoma Panhandle, an area formerly known as No Man's Land. The High Plains where the field recording was created have witnessed waves of migration through the centuries: nomadic indigenous tribes following the hunt, travelers and traders on the Old Santa Fe Trail, "European settlers racing to claim land in the Cherokee Strip Land Run of 1893,...
3m Jul 19, 2024
3m
Gates can't wait
"This piece initially appealed to me because of its location tag. I have always been inspired by airports! I used recordings of my Eurorack synthesizer with samples of the source material, played and recorded live through Rogue Amoeba software on my laptop. "I begin and end with noisy elements to invoke the tension that can be felt waiting to have one's ticket scanned at the terminal gates... ...
8m Jul 19, 2024
8m
Echoes
"My recorded sample was from the streets of Houston, the voices from the field gave me the inspiration of the Echoes track, represents the timestamps of the humane experience into the time and space. The frequencies, the echoes from the past, the presence, echoing into the future, moments without expire date, life in the here and now, echoing into the cosmos." Houston protest reimagined by Joh...
8m Jul 19, 2024
8m
Unmask
""Unmask" is an electroacoustic composition that reflects on “masking” experiences related to migration and identity during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The piece draws from a field recording captured in July 2020 in New York City. The recording artist, newly arrived and feeling alienated, navigated a city transformed by masks and social distance, a scenario that resonated deeply with my own j...
5m Jul 19, 2024
5m
Resiliente (binaural)
"Out of all of the choices for field recordings, this one felt the closest to me. I grew up and lived all of my life in Chile, until I came to study in the US in 2017. The scene that is described in the field recording has become very familiar in the academic institutions that I’ve attended, where most of the labor behind the repair and construction of new buildings is carried out by Central an...
9m Jul 19, 2024
9m
Slow trains, Sidi Bou Said
 While traveling by train around Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, I observed a notable influx of refugees from the southern part of Africa seeking opportunities in the bustling city. Due to the high unemployment rate in Tunisia, both Tunisians from various regions and refugees depend on slow trains for their daily commute to Tunis. The sluggish pace of these trains adds an extra layer of challen...
13m Jul 19, 2024
13m
Al-wusool ila al-madina-al qadima
"This composition was inspired by the anticipation and joyous feeing of arrival at a special place. The original field recording is used in many ways ,from the built up manipulated voices providing a sort of spiritual chant and much texture to the piece.It was all recorded using various synthesisers played quite freely to try and convey the idea of movement." Nefta soundscape reimagined by Ale...
4m Jul 19, 2024
4m
The journey
"The music first describes people slowly getting on the train. Although they may be tired, their hearts are full of hope for the future and longing for a new life. The motive symbolizes hope, which gradually develops as the train runs as if people are weaving the most beautiful dream in their hearts. "When the train nearly arrives at the station, they wake up from their dreams. Still carrying ...
3m Jul 19, 2024
3m
Bounce back
"This field recording had a lot to work with. I enjoyed the backstory, learning about Zubin Aroz's reflections as audience to these high-paced basketball matches. To me, the bouncing of the ball in this recording became a strong symbol of the sort of life that a migrant lives, when having a new home in another country. The feeling of being torn in between two geographical places is something th...
3m Jul 19, 2024
3m
Relief
"The audio piece is the way I listen to language that is foreign to me following the notion, that all that is unknow becomes a noise that we try to push away. When I arrived in Germany from Poland I would only hear the melody of speaking not understanding it felt overwhelming, and then remembering a scrap of word that would become an earworm lingering in me. "While listening to the field recor...
8m Jul 19, 2024
8m
Old town, Tunis
This recording captures the atmosphere of a particularly impoverished area located on the outskirts of the bustling medina of Tunis. Here, I witnessed a significant number of migrants from sub-Saharan African countries who find themselves stranded in their attempts to reach Europe. In the background, the sounds of street vendors and individuals selling their belongings on the ground are promine...
8m Jul 19, 2024
8m
And the forest remained in us
"The story behind the migration of the Batwa pygmies from the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest was quite thought-provoking, and it inspired me to research this migration further. The field recording by Colin Hunter is a living example of the indestructibility of the spirit of the forest that the Batwa pygmies carried with them when they were evicted from the forest land in 1992. Being an immigrant my...
2m Jul 19, 2024
2m
Do the dunes move with the moon or the moon with the dunes?
"The recording inspired me mostly through the story behind it and through its mundaneness and relatability. The subject of the recording is part of an (originally) nomadic group of people, the Mrazig, which had me reconsidering the notion of migration for this piece. I wanted to know more about the peoples in this area, so I read up on the Mrazig and Imuhar/Amazigh people in the area. "The con...
9m Jul 19, 2024
9m
Stranger butterflies
"Although migration has always been a part of human history, because of catastrophic circumstances there are many people leaving their homelands behind, and starting new lives. Homesickness can bring back piercing memories which can suddenly feel far away and forgotten and later on popping up like plants in the rain. "A familiar butterfly, but different in this new place is a comforting remind...
2m Jul 19, 2024
2m
Cooking ASMR, Sahara Desert
Here, you can listen to a nomadic Berber tribesman cooking his meal deep in the Sahara Desert alongside his camel, providing an opportunity to immerse yourself in the Berber way of life. For centuries, Douz has been a meeting place for nomadic M’razig Berber tribesmen. Today, it is renowned for its dates and palm wine. This specific region of the desert played a pivotal role as a stop on the t...
7m Jul 19, 2024
7m
Filipino expats playing basketball
The field recording is of a group of Filipino expats having a competitive game of basketball. Filipinos form close to 25% of the population in Dubai. Most come to Dubai for work in order to support their families back home. Many of them end up staying longer, eventually bringing their families over and settling in Dubai. One of the most common activities for Filipinos (usually men) to engage in...
1m Jul 19, 2024
1m
Traditional Batwa song
For thousands of years, the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in the south-west of Uganda was home to an indigenous people - the Batwa pygmies. The original dwellers of this ancient jungle were known as “The Keepers of the Forest.” In 1992, the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest became a national park and World Heritage Site to protect the 350 endangered mountain gorillas within its boundaries. The Batwa wer...
1m Jul 19, 2024
1m
Nomad violinist on the streets of Istanbul
After interviewing a violinist from the nomad cultures of eastern Turkey, he offered to play to me. His virtuosity and feeling were incredible, especially since a malformation in his wrist had forced him to develop a new style of playing with the violin pointing down to his lap. Recorded by Josie Illingworth-Law. Part of the Migration Sounds project, the world’s first collection of the sounds...
2m Jul 19, 2024
2m
Medina, Old Town, Nefta
This is a recording from inside the medina of the picturesque town of Nefta, a sacred religious territory where, out of respect for the religion, many mosques can only be admired from the outside. The marabouts in Nefta continue to attract pilgrims from all over southern Tunisia and even from Algeria. This widespread veneration of the marabouts reflects the enduring strength of Sufism, a moveme...
3m Jul 19, 2024
3m
The South Sea narrows
"The original recording has been used pretty much all the way through the song. It is slowed to 1/2 the time and reversed in places. I wrote the whole piece around a single loop of the recording of the guitar. I really wanted to feel the vibrations and to make the piece as tranquil, calm and reflective as I could. "I have added my own electric guitar, acoustic guitar, mandolin, keyboards and v...
8m Jul 19, 2024
8m
Ocak
"This composition is inspired by the recording "Migration Soup Preparation" by Görkem Özdemir, a Turkish artist nowadays based in Slovenia. In his recording, Görkem is stirring a soup, creating different rhythms and sounds. This intimate "performance" helps Görkem in the moments of sadness when he misses his family and country. "Often, the cuisine we bring wherever we go represents our traditi...
4m Jul 19, 2024
4m
KaTRyzex
"The field recording made me think of the mixing of worlds and common points of convergence. I used the sound recordings as textures and looped sections to find some rhythmic movement, which worked as a guide to the arpeggios to follow. "In this piece, I explore the concept of migration and how sounds can make a space feel like home. For instance, the sounds of a busy street or the calls of bi...
5m Jul 19, 2024
5m
The Cura cries
"Inspired by the original material I tried to heighten both the emotional and meditative aspects of the playing. My own deep drone has been added under a pitched down version of the original recording. Lightly edited portions of the cura bağlama recording drift in and out and interweave with a distant, haunting new melody." Cura saz in Ljubljana reimagined by Flexagon. Part of the Migration S...
7m Jul 19, 2024
7m
While everyone is dancing outside
"Being a migrant means facing everyday life in a lot of solitude. Our emotions and our memories are interwoven with an internal dialogue, they become diffuse and palpable, close and far, weak and strong, all at the same time. They inhabit us and resonate in our body and environment. Pablo Ojeda reflects this journey with a soundscape in which a migrant is doing a housework, while other people a...
3m Jul 19, 2024
3m
OutReached
"This composition is informed by the specific ontology of sound as being itinerant, displaced, dislodged and fleeting. Sound is always ripped from its source to travel away from one body to another, and from one place to the other. It vibrates and makes others to vibrate with it. It moves and in doing so absorbs the conditions of its environment, brushes against surfaces, bodies and other sound...
12m Jul 19, 2024
12m
Jarocho folk music
Son Jarocho is a traditional Mexican musical genre with a strong presence in the state of Veracruz. Its origin dates back to the colonial period, when musical elements from Spanish, indigenous, and African cultures were mixed. The instrumentation of Son Jarocho includes jaranas (small guitars), harps, and the sound of zapateado (rhythmic foot tapping). In this case, the sound presents a group ...
4m Jul 19, 2024
4m
Party (at home)
A migrant is doing housework while other people are having a party outside, in Alboraya, Spain. This recording represents a migrant's solitude in contrast to the energy and euphoria of other people. In the recording you feel a mixture of feelings: anguish, explosion, euphoria, anxiety, tranquility, the attempt to reconnect with oneself. Recorded by Pablo Ojeda Doménech. Part of the Migratio...
3m Jul 19, 2024
3m
Soup preparation
In my mother tongue, "ocak" (fireplace) is refers to a place where cooking happens. As a metaphor, it also means home or family. While I was feeling gloomy, I stirred a soup in order to feel close to my parents, my hometown, and to feel at home again. I stirred the soup in different paces as my emotions were blooming with the circular motion of the whisk. Towards the end of the recording, one ...
2m Jul 19, 2024
2m
Cura saz
Sometimes it can be so hard to deal with bureaucracy, cultural differences, manage to communicate with others through a link language. In my opinion, to express ones emotions and being listened to in a patient manner is a fundamental human need. Feelings such as hope, sadness, loneliness, longing, homesickness, being away from parents, grief, hüzün, anger, vulnerability, resilience, recovery an...
5m Jul 19, 2024
5m
A seeking of solace
I am a migrant, I am an electronic music composer, I am an expat, I am an ex-academic, I am a person who needs to deal with bureaucratic processes to stay in another country than my home country. For months, I have been awaiting a job seeking visa to be granted. Within the process, more official papers are being asked from me to provide. Sometimes I feel like Sisyphus, rolling a paper boulder ...
2m Jul 19, 2024
2m
It implodes, it explodes, it falls apart
January 26, 2022 NGO visit to a refugee rest house near Batrovci, Serbia On the backroad there is no light, so I do not know, then, from where the shadows come, how they project against the rear windowpane of the van, vaguely humanoid, cutting a steady path like a family in flight across the Pannonian Plain, the Aegean Sea, the Rio Grande. The house, not a home, is not empty but neither can i...
18s Jul 19, 2024
18s
In the interest of safety
"The narrative explores the complex emotions of returning to your homeland, possibly for the last time to see an ageing parent. The salty air, the rocking of the ferry – all become sensory details that evoke the physical experience of the journey. "Yet beneath the surface lies a deeper turmoil, a haunting question about goodbyes and the fragility of life." Scottish ferry trip reimagined by Cr...
2m Jul 19, 2024
2m
Can you hear the ocean?
"With this composition I wanted to refllect Lara’s feeling: she said in her presentation that the sound of the highway she captured in Moscow, where she is currently living, reminded her of the sound of the sea she could hear in Vietnam where she resided before. I tried to weave the noise of the cars with a recording of waves. The cars' horns I added are gradually replaced by conch shell blowin...
6m Jul 19, 2024
6m
Kotlarski bridge
 "The sounds of a night under the Kotlarski bridge came with words from Andrii Shamanov, who captured them. When I read his words, I was sure, that they needed a place in my piece, so I recorded most of them. "In the house where I temporarily lived, while listening to his recording for the first time, I found an old music box which I also added - as a sound of a station on the way, a timestamp...
5m Jul 19, 2024
5m
First impressions
"The story of how the original recording first reflected with the city and the intensity of the rain reminded me of the different interactions one makes with a city at first glance. The first impression of a city makes a large impact. In my composition, I wanted to enhance this feeling of first impressions. "I used field recordings I took when I originally visited Lisbon, and my impression mix...
3m Jul 19, 2024
3m
Sospiri
"In Canto IV of the Inferno, Dante introduces Limbo with the sound of "sospiri" (sighs, that made th' eternal air / Tremble [..]). This is where the innocent souls of the unbaptised reside for eternity. "Seven centuries later we're turning fiction into reality. People, whose only fault was being born on the wrong side of the powers to be are sentenced to a grotesque, heartbreaking punishment."...
2m Jul 19, 2024
2m
Ferry leaving Tiree
"I moved to Scotland with my family around 10 years ago; a migration from England to North of the border. I had visited Scotland many times previously and always felt a longing to move here because of the sense of calm and freedom it gave me. Visits to the Hebridean Islands were central to these experiences, knowing the holiday had truly begun once the ferry had left port. I wanted my family to...
3m Jul 19, 2024
3m
Voluntary arrival at Kigali
"The UK government has been trying to send asylum seekers to Rwanda for the last couple of years (as of 2024). This is the announcement of a RwandarAir flight arriving in Kigali from London. "It is the first thing that future asylum seekers will hear when arriving to their new home based on current government plans (at the time of recording). Recorded by Carlos Vargas-Silva. Part of the Migr...
2m Jul 19, 2024
2m
The Garden Ring
"Now I live in the center of Moscow, next to the highway (for 5 years already). There is continuous road noise nearby. And it's very similar to another sound. "Before Moscow I used to live in Vietnam (7 years) near the sea and there was also the noise - the sustained and continuous sound of the sea. My note: the sounds have a different nature: one is natural, the other is industrial. The commo...
1m Jul 19, 2024
1m
Urban monsoon
"I'm originally Hungarian but I have lived in Lisbon, Portugal for many years. Elsewhere, I've never experienced such intense, warm rainfalls which turn the streets into little rivers, the urban scenario into biblical floods. This is a rainy Atlantic afternoon from my window. Recorded by Linda Koncz. Part of the Migration Sounds project, the world’s first collection of the sounds of human mig...
1m Jul 19, 2024
1m
The most
"I come from Mykolaiv, Ukraine. In 2015, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfolded and Crimea was annexed, I made the decision to immigrate to Poland, eventually settling in Krakow. One of my earliest experiences in my new home took place during a solitary walk along the Vistula River. "The night was serene, yet my mind was occupied with questions: Where am I? What am I doing here? Why is th...
1m Jul 19, 2024
1m
Electric pier
"My piece 'Electric Pier' uses and is inspired by a recording of a noisy squeaking pier in Bangkok. The pier is acted upon by the forces of a river and has a bustling city as its backdrop. The squeaking sounds of the pier are full of small and expressive micro phrases that serve as atmospheric wails or else irregular rhythmic cells effusing otherworldly melodies. "By combining the field record...
9m Jul 18, 2024
9m
Roundabout poem
"I was inspired by the text accompanying this recording of a roundabout in the Philippines. I felt the whole experience of migrating, travelling and coming back to a place that is not really home anymore was perfectly described in this text. I took my "scissors", picked the more meaningful words, and played with that material to recompose a sort of poem. "I added to the field recording the cir...
4m Jul 17, 2024
4m
Rememories
"This sound was recorded in October 2023 in Bethlehem, Palestine, so I initially had a difficult time deciding how to use it. However, after taking in the sound a few times in its entirety I decided that it creates an auditory scene of everyday life in a place that since suffered so much devastation. "I chose snippets of the sound that sound like regular interactions and conversations, especia...
3m Jul 17, 2024
3m
Fragments of Palestine
""Fragments of Palestine" reflects a serene sound bath—a peaceful mantra designed to manifest peace and solidarity with Palestine. The composition weaves together drone sounds and organic healing instruments, naturally blending with the everyday sounds that depict the struggle of a resilient nation that has been without a homeland for a prolonged period. "The heart of the recording is a vivid ...
20m Jul 17, 2024
20m
Le souq
"At first what captured my attention was the richness of the all the voices from children, woman and man. So the focus is on the voices, everything is based on that. Aside from the drone and occasional percussions, most of the sounds are heavily treated vocals. Next, I liked the organic side of the market's ambiance, therefore some live percussions was added. I deliberately left out the song ca...
4m Jul 17, 2024
4m