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The tinsmith and his (Buchla) easel (Sarawak, Malaysia)

from Future Cities by Cities and Memory

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This reimagined piece started out by mapping a drum pattern, against which samples and individual hits from the tinsmith's tools were placed alongside individual beats to give a skeleton rhythm - this drum track was then removed, leaving the tinsmith to generate the beats for the track with just a minor percussive accompaniment.

The bulk of the track is made up of five interlacing patterns from a Buchla Easel, the arpeggios of which represent the constant movement of the tinsmiths as they work - the different layers are to represent the interlacing of different type of percussive strike from the tinsmiths' tool overlapping.

The overall effect is a both a tribute to the industry of the workers, but also a warning sign that traditional handicrafts such as this are under threat from automation as we move further into the 21st century.

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from Future Cities, released October 12, 2020

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Cities and Memory Oxford, UK

Cities and Memory is one of the world’s biggest sound projects, a global, collaborative sound art and field recording programme with the aim of remixing the world, one sound at a time. It covers more than 100 countries and territories with 5,000+ sounds and more than 1,000 contributing artists.
Thousands of field recordings, recomposed and reimagined by artists around the world. ... more

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