Mostly, I take copious notes when travelling, but occasionally I leave the notebook and pen in the satchel and take out my recorder instead.
Some of the narratives below are ‘audio note taking’ – which are short snippets or descriptions. Others are longer pieces.
These are not ‘produced’ and rarely edited. So it would be misleading to suggest these are podcasts.
In my opinion, the best way to listen to these recordings are through headphones (or earphones).
Tunisian Soundscape
I took a small recorder on a short trip to Tunisia in Feb/Mar 2020. What follows is a small selection of sounds I encountered. After the introduction we hear a cacophony of small birds (sparrows I think) at dawn along Avenue de France in Tunis which leads to a walk through an empty Medina to a cafe where early morning prayers blast out from a TV.
We hear call to prayers that reverberate across Tunis before I stumble across an Oud teacher warming up in an old palace and then via a record shop onto the city of Kairouan. Once the city wakes up women can be heard practicing prayers. There is a small section recorded in the Sahara where only wind passing over the dunes and momentary birdsong can be heard.
The soundscape ends at a temporary music venue, back in Tunis, where a young singer performs a Nina Simone song (12m 03s).
Pakistan: Karimabad
Karimabad was my first real experience of Northern Pakistan and the Karakorum Mountain range in particular. I arrived late after a long journey from Naran. After waking up early the following morning I stood to watch dawn break over this wonderful country. Below is a short narrative of what I saw (3m 02s).
Pakistan: Crossing the Chitral River in a cage
I record my journey in a cage across the raging, cement grey Chitral River. I’ve posted a picture of the ‘cage’ under the audio file (1m 23s).
Pakistan: Tarashing Morning Walk
Tarashing (sometimes spelt: Tarishing) is a very small village high up the Astore valley in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Northern Pakistan. It is the village where many of the expeditions to climb Nanga Parbat start from.
This recording is me going for a short walk round the village, during which I meet some carpenters, a farmer on a brightly painted tractor and some children on their way to school. There is also a rambling story about a chicken…as I say earlier, these recordings are not edited nor produced. What I say is what you get… (23m 44s)