Cities And Memory

From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being one of a number of miscellaneous or individual ethnographic field recordings (rediscovered during a recent research project).Recorded by Anne Elizabeth Pennington.Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.———Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds

The original sound source for this composition is a selection of Nuristani songs. The voice is accompanied by a plucked and bowed string instrument as a type of rhythmic drone. This recording is a recently rediscovered item in the Pitt Rivers sound museum and I was drawn to it based on its historical and tonal ambiguity. I find it interesting that the library information is not able to give an exact date for the recording, and it could have been recorded in either 1954, 1964, or 1970. There seems to be many conflicting theories about the "origins" of the people residing in the Nuristani area, however due to the more recent introduction of Islam, their pre-Islamic rites, religion and rituals are still strong. The language that the songs are recited in attracted me as it did not sound like the main current language used in that region. As a young child I lived in the north west of Iran which is not far from Afghanistan and remember those years as a profoundly simple, dream-like and creatively rich source of my

This recomposition begins from a deep interest and curiosity towards the material life of the archival recording itself. The source comes from the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum: wax cylinder recordings of Naga (Angami, Sümi, Lotha, Chang, and Sangtam) songs recorded between 1915 and 1919 by administrator and anthropologist John Hutton. Rather than treating the recording of a polyphonic song as a transparent document of the past, I approached it as a dense and opaque sonic field — one in which voice, noise, damage, and time are inseparably entangled.My primary impulse was to draw sound from within the crackles itself. The surface noise of the wax cylinder — its dense abrasions, hiss, fizz, and granular distortions — became a site of listening rather than an obstruction to clarity. Using filtering, time-stretching, modulation, reverberation, and layering, I created a series of tracks foregrounding the submerged voices and textures, amplifying tonalities already present within the recording rather

"Kukimi Lakuhu 'Le" (Song of the Kuki War): polyphonic song about Sümi Naga interpreter Kekheche, who was involved in the Anglo-Kuki War of 1917–19, performed by a group of Sümi Naga singers ("Kekheche, my father,/ Kekheche, my father").From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a collection of wax cylinder recordings of Naga (Angami, Sümi, Lotha, Chang and Sangtam) songs made by administrator and anthropologist John Hutton in India between 1915 and 1919.Recorded by John Henry Hutton.Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.———Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds

Nuristani music: recording of traditional Nuristani songs, featuring the waj (five-stringed harp) and sarangi (two-stringed fiddle), with vocal accompaniment, recorded in Afghanistan by anthropologist Lennart Edelberg.From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being one of a number of miscellaneous or individual ethnographic field recordings (rediscovered during a recent research project).Recorded by Lennart Edelberg.Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.———Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds

Laarim warrior singing to his favourite bull ("This bull is the whole of my love/ I will never say anything against it").From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a collection of cassette tape recordings of music and spoken language (principally Laarim) made by anthropologist Patti Langton in South Sudan during 1979 and 1980.Recorded by Patti Langton.Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.———Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds

The warrior sings gently and lovingly to his favourite bull. As he repeats his song, we're drawn into the beautiful moment and as the communication continues, voices weave in and out with the past and present. A reminder of the musical connection between humans with each other and other animals on the planet.Laarim warrior singing to his favourite bull reimagined by Lostworldsounds.———Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds

With a project like this, I knew the work had to begin with research. I immersed myself in the cultural textures of South Sudan: its music, its landscapes, its people. From photographs and descriptions, a sense of place started to form. I wanted the first section of the piece to feel intimate yet quietly observant. I found myself picturing the Laarim man and his beloved bull, Logralim, moving together across the land, carrying out the rhythms of an ordinary day. From that image, the music slowly surfaced. I knew the original field recording needed to remain whole, a living thread, so I kept it centred in the mix. The second part of the piece reached outward, toward the stars. I imagined him looking up at the constellation Taurus, the stars echoing something ancient and vast. Those visualisations, both earthly and celestial, became the internal score from which this composition unfolded."Chuluth": a song for a favourite bull reimagined by Eulipion Corps.———Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining

"Chuluth": a Laarim man's song for a favourite bull ("I love cattle without horns/ This bull is called Logralim").From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a collection of cassette tape recordings of music and spoken language (principally Laarim) made by anthropologist Patti Langton in South Sudan during 1979 and 1980.Recorded by Patti Langton.Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.———Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds

Storm: recording of torrential rain made during fieldwork in Colombia.From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a collection of reel-to-reel tape recordings of Chocó music and soundscapes made by students Jonathan Ambache and Richard Saumarez Smith in Colombia in 1965.Recorded by Jonathan Ambache and Richard Saumarez Smith.Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.———Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds

I composed this piece in an attempt to understand trance. I sought to merge specific leitmotifs and elements,embedding them within a classical orchestral context. This purely intuitive and emotional act, guided by the sensations inspired by the sound archive, follows no predefined methodology other than that narrated by improvisation itself, as articulated by the archive. The guiding thread is clearly the archive, serving both as a foundation of respect and as a compass for the composer. At eight distinct moments, sliding sounds of bowed strings emerge, followed like a shadow by a frenzied percussion that articulates an almost inhuman cadence. By placing these two sonic environments in contrast, the restraint of the classical orchestral language and the unbridled surge of ritual, I believe a union is established between two styles which, though articulated differently, pursue the same aspiration, the transcendental, the absolutely spiritual, intertwining and mutually illuminating one another.In order to avoi

A significant aspect of this project has been research into the location of the recording - the Colombian Chocó department, one of the rainiest regions on Earth. With dense rainforest and flooding, the terrain is uncompromising and one of the most isolated regions of Colombia, with no major infrastructure due to underdeveloped roads, yet it is one of the most richly biodiverse zones on the planet.Since the recording was made, there has been ongoing desecration of the land from both violent conflict and extraction of its gold leading to enforced displacement, cultural disruption, poverty and lack of healthcare and resources. The more I learnt about this volatile status in Chocó in relation to both its natural and violent political climate, the more I felt a responsibility to understand the impact on the Indigenous communities such as the Emberá, as well as the historical roots of the AfroColombian diaspora. The dense and remote jungles have historically provided refuge for African slaves escaping from gold mi

This recording was originally broadcast in 1963, in the first year of Taiwan’s first terrestrial TV station, the Taiwan Broadcasting Company. "Look me in the eye" takes a short sequence of a mountain folk song sung by a women’s chorus, from the original 30-minute recording. I layered sound in GarageBand, selecting and editing archival material, contemporary field recordings, overheard dialogue and digital loops, to build aural glimpses of cultural, temporal, and geographic landscapes. By positioning the mountain folk song in dialogue with a recording of a metro train in a Tokyo tunnel, I form a sonic relationship between the mountain above, the underground below, and the distant flatland of my Newhaven studio from which the piece is composed.The folk song functions as both voice and landscape, carrying the acoustic imprint of elevation and openness (shaped by geography rather than infrastructure), of a community embedded in place, where sound travels across valley and mountain, retaining its sense of distanc

From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a collection of cassette tape recordings of songs and instruments made by playwright David Mowat across several different states in India during 1987.Recorded by David Mowat.Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.———Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds

"Regional Music of the Republic of China" (Taiwan): a recording of instrumental music and folk songs issued by the Broadcasting Corporation of Taiwan (literally: 'Broadcasting Corporation of China'), performed by its national orchestra and choir.From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being one of a small number of recordings issued or released by foreign broadcasting corporations or radio associations.Recorded by Broadcasting Corporation of Taiwan.Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.———Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds

Turkish Folk Songs and Dances about Weddings and Wrestling": a recording of fourteen Turkish folk songs and dances issued by the Turkish Radio and Television Association (with publicity sheet).From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being one of a small number of recordings issued or released by foreign broadcasting corporations or radio associations.Recorded by Turkish Radio and Television Association.Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.———Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds

After several listenings to the beautiful 30-minute music program of Turkish folk songs (I encourage all of you to listen to the original audio in its entirety. It's a wonderful cultural window), I selected my favourite piece. From there, I chopped out the main musical theme and then I dissected that section into even smaller bits. I then played along with in on my piano and came up with the main musical parts which I decided to change from piano to synthesiser to help meld the sounds of the original audio with the new audio. I chose the title "Cezve" after a Turkish long-handled coffee pot since the sound was "brewed" into a deep liquid texture similar to Turkish coffee.Turkish folk songs about weddings and wrestling reimagined by Janae Jean.———Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds

"American researcher discussing vocabulary and translations of various English words": fieldwork recording of anthropologist Roger Gomm discussing with several men and women the language of the coastal Digo people of south-east Kenya, asking his interlocutors for the translation and precise meaning of many different words in the Digo (Chidigo) language.From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being one of a number of miscellaneous or individual ethnographic field recordings (rediscovered during a recent research project).Recorded by Roger Gomm.Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.———Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds

I love the rhythm of the exchange between the anthropologist and the Chidigo speaker in the first section of this recording, and at first I thought about building a percussion piece around it. But I chose this piece to work with because of my deep interest in languages, especially marginalised ones, so I decided to work with words in the tradition of the Pitt Rivers collection, which brings together objects related by theme or function rather than place or time. I chose some words in the recording that have resonance for me and asked four friends to record them in their native tongues: Hanna Komar in Belorussian, Krysia Osostowicz in Polish, Darius Paymai in Farsi and Krithika Varagur in Tamil. I used those words as a kind of embroidery on the rough cloth of the field recording, interrupting, counterpointing, enhancing. The 2,000-year-old Tamil poem, "What He Said," is read by Krithika and in A.K. Ramanujan's English translation by Hanna. Languages, too, can mingle "like red earth and pouring rain".Researche

"Bwaidogan kadede": a dance song performed by Biliko, Kwaiago and Wakalubu, a trio from the Bwaidoka district of Goodenough Island.From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a collection of wax cylinder recordings of songs and spoken language (principally Bwaidoka) made by anthropologist Diamond Jenness and Methodist missionary Reverend Andrew Ballantyne on Goodenough Island (D'Entrecasteaux Islands) in Papua New Guinea in 1912.Recorded by Diamond Jenness and Rev. Andrew Ballantyne.Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.———Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds