A Century of Sounds: live launch event

We’ll be launching our Century of Sounds project with a unique live event, taking over the Pitt Rivers Museum on Friday 27 February.

A Century of Sounds: Live is a unique live event, bringing together the Pitt Rivers Museum’s extraordinary sound collections with 100 artists from around the world to create a new way of experiencing these incredible, diverse recordings. We’ll be taking over the entire museum for the evening and dedicating it to sound.

The event will feature seven live performances reimagining different ethnographic sounds from the Pitt Rivers sound collections, ranging from conch shell performances in Vanuatu to traditional music from Afghanistan, South Sudanese warrior songs and wedding music from the Himalayas.

The live performances will feature ambient electronics, modern composition, songwritten reinterpretations and much more – all performed live on the museum’s beautiful balcony space.

Tickets are £10 in advance and selling fast – you can buy them here.

With live performances from:

Cities and Memory
Cristina Italiani
Kid Kin
Masako Yokouchi
Rebecca Denniff
Simon Holmes
Tim Saul

As well as the live performances, we will have contributing artists in conversation with the Pitt Rivers curatorial team to discuss creative approaches to ethnographic sound recordings.

In conversation with the Museum:

Laura Irving
laura dymphna
Nick Drake

Salma Ahmad Caller
Neil Spencer Bruce
Ilaria Boffa

The entire Century of Sounds project, featuring 100 compositions from all over the world, will be available to experience in the museum’s unique ‘sound shower’ – and you’ll be able to create your own remixes of the Pitt Rivers’ sounds with a special sampler setup.

The museum will also be hosting handling sessions with some of its most fascinating instruments.