Sonic Heritage - NTS Radio special, June 2025

Cities and Memory x NTS Radio: Sonic Heritage. Originally broadcast on NTS Radio in June 2025.

Sonic Heritage is the first collection of the sounds of the world’s most famous sights.

The project, created by global sound collective Cities and Memory, presents the sounds of 270 UNESCO World Heritage sites and items of intangible heritage – all reimagined by artists from around the world to create a brand new way of experiencing these spaces. In this show, you’ll hear field recordings from 13 World Heritage sites around the world, followed by compositions built from those recordings. There’s everything from iconic spaces like the Sistine Chapel and historic St. Petersburg to natural soundscapes like Te Wahipounamu and traditional Ghanaian textile weaving, with ambient, electronic, spoken word and many other creative approaches to those sounds. 

You can explore the full collection at https://citiesandmemory.com/heritage.

Timecode, tracklisting and credits

01.10 Tallinn, Estonia 

UNESCO listing: Historic Centre (Old Town) of Tallinn

Field recording: Raekoja Square at 10pm by Cities and Memory

Composition: The bell of Reval by Penelope Trappes

04.17 Bonwire, Ghana

UNESCO listing: Craftsmanship of traditional woven textile Kente

Field recording: Asante Kente weaving by Emmanuel Baffoe

Composition: Warp and weft #4 by Formolo

07.31 Avignon, France

UNESCO listing: Historic Centre of Avignon

Field recording: New Year's Day bells by Colin Hunter

Composition: Beautiful iron friend by Simon Holmes

12.28 Okarito, New Zealand

UNESCO listing: Te Wahipounamu

Field recording: Dawn chorus at Okarito by Janina Castro

Composition: The place of greenstone by Cities and Memory 

18.09 St. Petersburg, Russia

UNESCO listing: Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments

Field recording: Peter and Paul Fortress carillon by Masha Sha 

Composition: Russian house by Dermot Fitzsimons

21.52 Tikal, Guatemala

UNESCO listing: Tikal National Park

Field recording: Dry leaves falling by Erick Ruiz Arellano

Composition: Yum Kaax by Laura Hills

25.20 Cornwall, England

UNESCO listing: Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape

Field recording: Head gear, Geevor mine by Paul Lewin

Composition: Resonances - in the depths by Elissa Goodrich

30.20 Venice, Italy

UNESCO listing: Venice and its Lagoon

Field recording: Glass-making demonstration in Murano by Cities and Memory 

Composition: Glass factory by The Leaf Library

35.48 Rome, Italy

UNESCO listing: Vatican City

Field recording: Inside the Sistine Chapel by Cities and Memory 

Composition: Crosswise I strain me like a Syrian bow by Cities and Memory 

39.33 Kraków, Poland

UNESCO listing: Historic Centre of Kraków

Field recording: Wieża Ratuszowa by Serge Bulat 

Composition: Wieża by Ross Reilly

43.47 Nara, Japan

UNESCO listing: Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara

Field recording: Morning prayer at Kasuga Taisha shrine by Lisa Germany

Composition: Morning incantation by Jaspal Singh Bhogal

48.56 Morelia, Mexico

UNESCO listing: Historic Centre of Morelia

Field recording: Cathedral bells at Morelia by Erick Ruiz Arellano

Composition: Ultimo sueno by Kamala Sankaram

54.06 Edinburgh, Scotland

UNESCO listing: The Forth Bridge

Field recording: Trains crossing the Forth Bridge by Simon Holmes

Composition: The soft entrance by glacis