Rural flight
May 15, 2020, 01:38 PM
Gavião de Rodão, Portugal lockdown sound recorded by Rita Correia.
"Our house was in the centre of Lisbon, until a year ago when my dad decided to change his life and moved to the countryside. My grandparents live close by, in another village, so it was often that I came to visit and as I growed up I enjoyed the quietness above all.
"My grandparents show a lot of gratitude for their quiet lives, gardening and having animals, and they praise the serenity. Nevertheless, there is not a day that I don't hear them sadly regret the abandon of the neighbours' houses and lands, the exit of people - do to rural exodus - the upcoming of a ghost town in a place where their memories of a busy life seem to vanish with no one to remember about.
"Here In this village next door where I am currently living, the situation is quite similar. For me, I again appreciate the quietness, but for the ones that remember and miss a large community, this quietness is the sound of a life ending.
"In Covid-19 times, a lot of people here and at my grandparents village as well, they say that their lives haven't changed much or at all. I share this soundscape that I record from my bedroom window. I can also say that what I hear now, and what I was hearing here before the pandemic, it's nothing different.
"I think that this social isolation we are experience globally will make us more attuned to people in situations like this regardless of Covid-19, and hopefully make us more compassionate towards them and also dedicated to decentralising from city centres and building more community based lifestyles.
"You mainly hear birds, as they feed from people's gardens as well and so stay around. You can hear very far the sound of the highway, something recent for the oldest here. And I found funny hearing myself whistling to my dog, made me think I must have learn it from birds. "
Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/covid19-sounds
"Our house was in the centre of Lisbon, until a year ago when my dad decided to change his life and moved to the countryside. My grandparents live close by, in another village, so it was often that I came to visit and as I growed up I enjoyed the quietness above all.
"My grandparents show a lot of gratitude for their quiet lives, gardening and having animals, and they praise the serenity. Nevertheless, there is not a day that I don't hear them sadly regret the abandon of the neighbours' houses and lands, the exit of people - do to rural exodus - the upcoming of a ghost town in a place where their memories of a busy life seem to vanish with no one to remember about.
"Here In this village next door where I am currently living, the situation is quite similar. For me, I again appreciate the quietness, but for the ones that remember and miss a large community, this quietness is the sound of a life ending.
"In Covid-19 times, a lot of people here and at my grandparents village as well, they say that their lives haven't changed much or at all. I share this soundscape that I record from my bedroom window. I can also say that what I hear now, and what I was hearing here before the pandemic, it's nothing different.
"I think that this social isolation we are experience globally will make us more attuned to people in situations like this regardless of Covid-19, and hopefully make us more compassionate towards them and also dedicated to decentralising from city centres and building more community based lifestyles.
"You mainly hear birds, as they feed from people's gardens as well and so stay around. You can hear very far the sound of the highway, something recent for the oldest here. And I found funny hearing myself whistling to my dog, made me think I must have learn it from birds. "
Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/covid19-sounds