"The field recording begins with a chant that sounds like the ones the Taj Mahal’s mausoleum guards sing to demonstrate the Taj Mahal’s acoustics. Its dome has been said to create up to 28 second of reverb. I’d heard this before because of Paul Horn’s well known album Inside, which featured a singer — a friend of one of the mausoleum guards — singing in a similar style, along with Horn’s flute sometimes accompanying him or in call and response. 

"For my version, I couldn’t work with natural reverb in that way, so instead I let the untreated field recording play off different types of treated and artificial sounds. I looped the chant and played along on guitar until I found some phrases that could form the core of the piece. Then I filled it out with synths and with pads made from resampled voice and guitar."

Taj Mahal reimagined by John Savarese.

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This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights.

Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage

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