Hear the beloved country

I was listening to one of those generic CD sets that purports to present an easy-listening selection to represent all the parts of the world -- 'the sound of Africa', 'the sound of Arabia', 'the sound of India', the sound of Australia', etc -- the sort of thing that nobody would ever have any serious listening use for save as a background soundtrack, and happened to have picked the Africa disc as probably more accessible than than Asian music. And as a lead-in and tailpiece track, someone had assembled what was evidently supposed to be a soundscape of the idea of Africa: tomtoms beating, wild animal calls, the pounding of tropical rain, lions roaring and exotic bird cries.

That was months ago now, but it occurred to me to wonder what sort of soundscape I would pick to represent my own country, and I keep assembling ideas. What are the sounds of England for me? ( Read more... )