Cities and Memory - remixing the world

• Pantuase (wetland at night)

  "When choosing the field recording to work with, I was particularly drawn to a field recording of nocturnal amphibians from Pantuase, Ghana, featuring a species of frog that, until recently, had not been recorded before. The recording was made within a designated natural park, which was established both to protect species from pollution created by local industry and mining, and also to provide a place for tourists to visit. "What interested me most was the sense of nature existing independently of human presence, often unnoticed. I was also interested in the idea that, when human activity fades, nature will very quickly reclaim a space. "The composition is created mainly using modular synthesis and is structured to reflect these themes. The piece begins with the field recording, representing the existence of the natural world before the emergence of human influence. Gradually, the natural soundscape is is distorted and reduced until it becomes inaudible. However, its influence continues via the use of an envelope follower, which tracks the original recording and generates control voltage. This control voltage is then used to modulate other elements within the patch. In this way, the ecological presence survives in a latent form even after its audible disappearance. "Towards the end of the piece, the field recording returns, albeit transformed from the original and still heavily processed by the modular. My intention was to highlight the fragility of nature and the ease with which natural environments can be overwritten by industrialisation and urbanisation, whilst also acknowledging its resilience and ability to endure, even within human-dominated spaces." Amphibian chorus in Pantuase, Ghana reimagined by Richard Charles Boxley.

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• Tonal and polyrhythmic amphibians in a wetland

  Pantuase is a new wetland location added to two other wetland locations namely Trom and Bonya which were previously recorded in 2021 and 2022. Those tonal frogs heard in the recording have never been acoustically captured so i was amazed by these unique sounds they were making when the recordings were sent to me.  Since then, I keep asking myself how the place would have sounded like had it been left intact. The fate of nature in this place is unknown and can be lost at any point in time, therefore the recordings are being used to monitor/observe as well as archive diverse “remnant” species there and finally, as a tool for raising awareness about fragile ecosystems. Recorded by Emmanuel Baffoe, 13th November 2024. 

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• Kyoto bamboo nocturne

  At night, in a bamboo grove in Kyoto, the wind threads its way through the tall stalks, bending them until they sway and knock together with hollow tones. The sound is both delicate and immense — a shifting chorus of rattles, sighs, and murmurs that rise and fall like waves. Each gust carries a new texture: sometimes a low, resonant moan as the bamboo bows deeply, sometimes a fine, trembling hiss as leaves brush against one another in countless, shimmering layers.  In the stillness between, silence feels almost physical — a pause that makes each return of the wind seem like a hidden spirit passing through. The grove itself becomes an instrument, played by the night air. Here, the boundary between sound and silence blurs, and the listener can feel the earth breathing in long, slow rhythms through the voice of the wind. Recorded in Kyoto, Japan by Rafael Diogo.

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• Niger desert installation, Klimahaus museum

  Inside the Klimahaus museum, which is dedicated to telling the stories of climate and the environment. The exhibition called "The Journey" takes you around the world on a line of longitude from Bremerhaven with interactive installations and exhibits that make extensive use of sound to be as immersive as possible. Here we are in Niger, experiencing a video installation based on desert village life.  Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

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• Holy Communion in the Abbey

  A recording of Holy Communion taking place in the iconic surroundings of Westminster Abbey, with the service audible both from the priest directly and piped through the surrounding speakers, as tourists pass the worshippers on all sides, and the epic reverb of the space threatens to swallow up everything in the soundscape.  Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

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