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https://www.positive.news/society/hearing-the-worlds-wonders-project-shares-hundreds-of-audible-gems/>
"Armchair travellers can take a sonic tour of hundreds of Unesco heritage sites
via a virtual library of atmospheric soundscapes available free-to-listen
online.
Sound artist Stuart Fowkes has been capturing and curating field recordings for
a decade for his
Cities and Memory project, which comprises more than 7,000
samples from some 2,000 contributors covering 130 countries.
Its latest deep-dive offshoot,
Sonic Heritage, takes in 270 Unesco sites and
includes recordings of crickets chirping in Florence, Tibetan prayers in
Kathmandu and the sounds from within India’s Taj Mahal.
“Sound is so immersive,” said Fowkes. “It can transport you back to somewhere
you’ve visited before, or drop you dramatically into an entirely new space.”
Sonic Heritage collates soundscapes from Fowkes’ own travels around Chile,
Italy, Estonia and Germany, and draws together submissions from other artists
across 68 countries.
He explained how the project offers an alternative way of experiencing some of
the world’s most visited sites that goes beyond tourist hordes and gift shops.
“If you think about world heritage sites, all you think of is crowds and camera
shutters and everything being ruined by over-tourism,” he said. “Those sounds
are contextually interesting, but what struck me was that a lot of these spaces
just sound really amazing and beautiful in their own right.
“You have everything from sites related to natural heritage – the migratory
patterns of whales and birds, for example – to sacred spaces that have been
designed to look and sound extraordinary.”
Sounds of people working number among Fowkes’ favourite recordings. “They
remind you that behind the picture postcard there are people who live there and
it’s part of someone’s working life,” he said."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
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mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
