Cities and Memory: Migration Sounds
I’m really chuffed to have my track Binario 2 included as part of Cities and Memory latest project “Migration Sounds” . It features 120 field recordings from around the world relating to migration in its broadest sense, and 120 remixes of those recordings interpreted in various ways.
My track is based on Simon Serc and Martina Testen’s (Pharmafabrik) recording of Trenitalia 20984 arriving at Sagrado station in Northern Italy. In the original recording, as the train comes to a stop, voices of Italians and migrants are audible, suggesting a diverse mix of individuals disembarking. The migrants, predominantly from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, among other nationalities, are intercepted on the train, likely en route to seek asylum in Italy.
My track is composed entirely from samples taken from the original recording. I have worked with the textures, resonances and naturally occurring rhythms in the recording. The sounds of the train moving along the tracks, the mechanical sounds of doors opening and closing, and the movements and voices of people on and off the train, as well as the white noise in the recording are the main components of the track. I filtered rhythmic sections to their transients and enhanced them with resonators. Percussive sounds were used for drum patterns and the train whistle forms the patch for the mysterious melody.
We arrive in the story whilst it is in full swing, on the road to somewhere, the anticipation of starting something, a new life perhaps. We arrive and are greeted with confusion, there is movement in all directions, yet we are staying still. We hear sounds of people on the platform, people get off, people get on. Tensions are high, but we calmly observe the scene unfold around us. The energy gradually builds up and the train departs the station, continuing once again on its journey. Who is still with us? Who has joined? What have we left behind? Where are we going anyway?
The full project can be heard here: citiesandmemory.com/migration/
Image credit: Simon Serc and Martina Testen
Hear the original recording by Simon Serc and Martina Testen here:
Sagrado Station (Source: Googlemaps)
