Skip links

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: