From Paris to Alor Setar via Venice and as far as Beijing, how do the stations of the world resonate? What do their innumerable hubbubs say about our ways of inhabiting these public spaces? How do we tame these places of passage and how do they haunt our imaginations?
Monica Fantini has composed a contrasting sound mosaic of stations around the world, where voices and footsteps fit together. Word-of-mouth from sound announcements broadcast in the Gare d’Austerlitz in Paris to the Alor Setar station in Malaysia, from the squeal of a tired brake on a platform at Venice’s central station to the bells of Beijing’s station , a little (magic) trick in the stations of the world by their sound waves.
An episode made with sound recordings from the sound map oflisten to the world :
- Paris, France: Gare d’Austerlitz, Michel Créis
- Alor Setar, Malaysia: Bus Terminal, Colin Hunter
- Venice, Italy: Venezia Santa Lucia Central Station, Monica Fantini
- Beijing, China: Station, Noon, Fei Xiaoyang
Both a radio program broadcast every Sunday in RFI’s news bulletin and as a podcast on this page and participatory platform, Listening to the World lets you hear the cultures, languages and imaginations of the world through the sounds of five continents. The participatory and scalable platform www.ecouterlemonde.net offers sound postcards and recordings. To date, 245 sound recordings are available for free access.
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