Episode Details

I selected the recording of a night forest in the Central African Republic without looking at the description, simply because it sounded magical. I usually search the recorded sounds for inspiration to tell stories that are more or less personal, but this time it was different. As I started reading about the origin of the sound, chosen solely for its magical aspect, I found myself lost in the discovery of a real-life hero who devoted his life to the collection, protection and conservation of the sounds and culture of the Bayaka people. I met legendary ethnomusicologist and fantastic human being, Louis Sarno. 

From that moment, I felt that I could not use the rainforest sound as a simple backdrop for my personal musing, I felt the need to bring back to life the magic of the forest and the love and passion that Louis Sarno devoted to his life’s work. The word "magic" that drew me to select this specific recording, kept echoing in my head, so I let the magic guide me, and what could be more magical than an incantation? 

At that point, it was simply a matter of filling in the elements usually found in an incantation: the desired effect, capturing and preserving the sounds of life; the ingredients, all freely found in the dream of a night forest; the spell, pronounced in the name of Louis Sarno’s life work; the special effects, unmissable touches for someone devoted to sounds; and finally the real-live love and poetry of life itself. 

Likimbi forest camp late at night reimagined by M Cristina Marras.

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Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds