The sound of Beijing’s Drum Tower
A striking performance today from inside the Beijing Drum Tower, one of the premier sonic attractions in China, a booming, reverb-filled temple that resounds with dozens of traditional drums – here recomposed by Simon Le Boggit:
“Quantumised Beijing Drum Tower was created by isolating full single drum-hits from the original soundtrack, and using them as individual sound samples.
“Each sample is triggered randomly in isolation, and then repeated a few times.
“Any apparent connection between adjacent drum-hits is purely coincidental, so any perceived rhythm and syncopation is a product of chance, plus the human mind’s compulsion to identify patterns.”
City version:
Memory version:
