Your Favourite London Sound is an attempt to discover what Londoners think and feel about their city's rich and varied soundscape. Since it started in 1998 many people - including all 74 of London's Members of Parliament - have been asked the question, "What is your favourite London sound and why?". The response has been very good - the MPs returned nine - with a lot of interest in the question and discussion on how to answer it. Hundreds of favourite sounds have been proposed, often in considerable detail. Many have since been recorded, taking care to be as accurate to the original suggestions as possible. People have also sent in recordings made by themselves. The tracks on this CD are a selection from the hours so far collected.
Taken as a whole the favourite sounds reveal a fascinating perspective on London - that of the ear. It is quite different from that of the eye. London's soundscape is regularly described as general urban noise, loud, undifferentiated and not usually pleasant. The amazing variety suggested here shows otherwise. Sounds range from the extremely loud to the very quiet, from the natural to the digital electronic. There are those found under, at or above ground level, indoor and out, some are deeply personal and others all-encompassing atmospheres. They clearly distinguish between season and time of day and take London's unpredictable weather very much into account. Almost none are exactly identical.
London's sounds are appreciated with a surprising amount of detail, which obviously relates closely to individual lives. It is heartwarming to find that it matters whether the bus you are hearing is a number 12 or 73, and whether the underground announcements are on the Bakerloo or Northern Lines. The tiniest sound differences can become significant if they are within the pattern of someone's daily life. It is also good to be reminded that, even with the ever increasing levels of background noise in urban areas, we can still be sensitive to the smallest and most local sounds of everyday London life.
Your Favourite London Sound was originally put together for the radio station RESONANCE, which was organised by the London Musicians' Collective and broadcast from the South Bank Centre during June/July 1998.
May 2001