Migration Sounds on NTS Radio

Legendary online radio station NTS  played a 30-minute special on Migration Sounds on 15 December, as part of a 24-hour broadcast marking International Migrants Day.

Our programme is a 30-minute mix of field recordings taking you through three aspects of migration: forced migration, diaspora communities and daily life as a migrant.

Programme info:

The field recording excerpts in this programme are as follows: 

2.15: Mediterranean Sea: Three boats rescuing around 130 people from an overloaded rubber boat in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, at 2.00am on 27 December, 2022.  The rescuees were attempting to reach Europe from Libya - where they had suffered extensive abuse. Among them were many children, and one infant just weeks old.
Recorded by Frey Lindsay
4:29: Mediterranean Sea: After the first rest they've had in a long time, the rescuees aboard the Ocean Viking celebrated having survived the journey, utilising the drums kept onboard. 
Recorded by Frey Lindsay
5:36: Mediterranean Sea: Testimony from Joseph, an asylum seeker from Nigeria, onboard a charity rescue ship. Along with over a hundred other people, he was rescued from an unseaworthy rubber boat headed for Europe from Libya.
Recorded by Frey Lindsay
6:33 Marianosztra, Hungary: Inmates in the prison behind the Marianosztra Monastery were feeding metal tape through stamping machines to make razor wire to fortify Hungary's border fences against migrants and refugees. The razor wire was also being exported to other countries.
Recorded by Maria Margaronis
7:36 Eidomeni, Greece: In 2016,  more than 14,000 people on the move from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere were living in a muddy, makeshift camp site at Eidomeni on the Greek-North Macedonian border, hoping to make their way north. This is the voice of Mohammed, from Syria.
Recorded by Maria Margaronis
8:36 Bordeaux, France: On 19th of December 2023 France approved a new immigration law. It is a law that makes it harder for families of immigrants to join them, limits the support for migrants from outside the EU, establishes staying illegally in the country as a crime, suppresses the automatic right to citizenship for those who are born in France from foreign parents and demands a fee from foreign students in the country. This is a recording of a protest against this law.
Recorded by Rocio Calvo
9:39: Bremen, Germany: Protest against racism and strict EU/Germany migration laws in Bremen, Germany. Protesters are chanting "Um Europa keine Mauern – Bleiberecht für alle und auf Dauer!" ("No walls around Europe – Permanent right to stay for everyone!")
Recorded by Pedro Oliveira

10:16 Louisville, USA: A Somali immigrant speaks at the Louisville Movement Against Trump rally, March 2017, set up to oppose Trump’s visit to Kentucky.
Recorded by Aaron Rosenblum
11:19: London, England: Prayers inside the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara Sikh temple in Southall, a modern Sikh temple with space for 3,000 worshippers which also organises regular community events. 
Recorded by Cities and Memory
12:56: New York, USA: Columbus Park in Chinatown, New York has served as a gathering place for the local Chinese community, where the neighbourhood meets up to play mahjong, perform traditional Chinese music and practise tai chi in the early mornings. 
Recorded by Cities and Memory
15:21: Xinjiang, China: In Altay, Xinjiang, Kazakhs have lived here for hundreds of years and still maintain a nomadic lifestyle that follows the seasons. However, the process of modernization and development is changing their traditions, customs and even language. The younger generation is unwilling to continue the hard nomadic life, and the older generation who are gradually aging may be the last generation of nomadic Kazakhs.
Recorded by Yang Jie
17:36: London, England: The sound of traditional garment manufacture and repair at Dressmode Tailoring, which is run by Bangladeshi Mohammed Shajahan, originally from Sylhet, Bangladesh. This shop has been operating for around 17 years, but times have been tough for businesses like this in recent years due to the growth of fast fashion and outsourcing. The owners were telling us that while the older generation of Bangladeshis often travel home to visit, the younger generation are forgetting Bangladesh completely.
Recorded by Cities and Memory
18:38: London, England: The sound of a traditional west African barber’s shop in Peckham. Barber’s shops like these often operate as a centre for the local African community to come together and socialise, just as much as to get their next haircut - they’re an essential part of the fabric of local African diaspora communities in the city.
Recorded by Cities and Memory
20:41: Padova, Italy: Dominic is an immigrant from Senegal, West Africa, who has been living in Padova in Italy for a number of years, performing as busker in the same spot every single day. We had been enjoying listening to his beautiful voice and songs from his home every time we visited the city for several years until last year we finally stopped and spoke to him to hear a little bit of his story.
Recorded by Cities and Memory
22:12: Dubai, United Arab Emirates:  The field recording is of a group of Filipino expats having a competitive game of basketball. Filipinos form close to 25% of the population in Dubai. Most come to Dubai for work in order to support their families back home. One of the most common activities for Filipinos (usually men) to engage in is basketball.
Recorded by Zubin Aroz

23:37: Ljubljana, Slovenia: “While I was feeling gloomy, I stirred a soup in order to feel close to my parents, my hometown, and to feel at home again.”
Recorded by Görkem Özdemir
24:54: Cartagena, Colombia: Christine’s daughter, aged 9, recites a fable in French - born in Colombia to a French mother, she has been home schooled in French. Reading and reciting poems was part of her distance learning programme. 
Recorded by Christine Renaudat
26:23: San Francisco, USA: Juan Pablo is 19 years old. I randomly approached him in Dolores Park in San Francisco and asked to record him speaking about what he's learned about himself so far in life. He's explaining his migration from Brazil to the US. This piece explores his journey through the confines of cultural, social, and political borders. 
Recorded by Wendy Baker
27:26: Zitacuaro, Mexico: The sound of thousands of monarch butterflies known for their long annual migration between Mexico and the United States, recorded as Christine, a migrant settled in Latin America, was mourning her grandmother, who had passed away in France, back “home”.
Recorded by Christine Renaudat