A Century of Sounds: NTS Radio special, May 2026

A Century of Sounds is a trip through one hundred years of sounds from all over the world, taken from the archives of the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.It's a partnership between the museum and Cities and Memory, which is one of the world’s largest sound projects, aiming to remix the world, one sound at a time. 100 artists were invited to each choose one field recording, to be inspired by the stories, the places and the history behind that sound, and to recompose that recording to reflect their own creative and emotional response to the sound.In this programme, throughout you’ll hear first an excerpt from the field recording, and then the composition that sound inspired. The final collection presents a new way of listening to these recordings and the stories behind them, and suggests new ways of using sound to help us understand humanity, past and present.You can explore the entire project at https://citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds1. Afternoon beneath a palm shelter (Central African Republic) - recorded by Louis Sarno, 1986We sing together - micca2. Natar (song) on conch and musket (Vanuatu) - recorded by Raymond Ernst Clausen, 1962Duet for conch shell and synthesiser - Cities and Memory3. "Merer Pake": an nDavu trumpet signal (Vanuatu) - recorded by Raymond Ernst Clausen, 1962Drawn to the circle - Ana Habesh4. "Sapeh (type of three-stringed boat lute) being played (Malaysia) - recorded by Leslie Bennett, 1960To the land of the hornbills - Daniel Chudley - Le Corre5. Balonyona playing the geedal (bow harp) (Central African Republic) - recorded by Louis Sarno, 1992The rainforest - Liboi6. Instrumentals featuring the hyang piri and hojok (South Korea) - Laurence Rowland and Ernest Picken, 1972How I learnt to live with ghosts - Tim Saul7. Bayaka women singing yeyi (polyphonic song) in the forest (Central African Republic) - recorded by Louis Sarno (1993)Yeyi by Neil Foster8. Beggars singing for charity (Morocco) - recorded by Audrey Butt, Michael R. Emerson or Ralph Hudson Johnson, 1961Nothing changes (a begging I will go) by Subphotic9. Women singing (India) - recorded by Nicholas Justin Allen, 1981Kinnaur calling - Sonic-Soma10. Geedal (bow harp) played in the forest with male voices accompanying (Republic of Congo) - recorded by Louis Sarno, 2002Talea - Sonic Investigation Unit