Our first sound in the Sound Waves series for World Listening Day is a beauty, courtesy of Polish sound artists Deprivation and The Transient Source, who collaborated on a piece for us.

The reimagined sound is based around a field recording of the river Mala Panew, which flows through Krupski Mlyn, a village in southern Poland.

The piece, a gorgeous vignette of pianos, beats and a Blake poem, is described by them like this:

“The title, “Flowers and Tombstones”, is inspired by a poem of William Blake, which you can hear being recited in the track.”

“By giving this piece such a name we wanted to point out that the existence of a river – represented here in its sonic aspect – can be seen as a powerful metaphor for both natural and cultural continuity.”

“As the river flows uninterruptedly, it nurtures the life of all living organisms and shapes the landscape.”

“At the same time it nourishes the human culture, being a provider of the life-giving water, as well as a constant point of reference, a place on the map, and in history, a vessel of memory, the constant murmur of which endows those who grow and flourish with the remembrance of those who are long gone.”

City version:

 

Memory version: