Sonic Signatures: Music, Migration and the City at Night

Abstract

Sonic Signatures is a compelling and multifaceted exploration of what urban soundscapes at night mean for migrants. Edited by Derek Pardue, Ailbhe Kenny, and Katie Young, the collection distinguishes itself from previous literature on cities and nighttime through its unique points of view and articulations as well as its innovative approaches and analyses to investigating the multisensorial aspects of darkness. The book addresses the limitations of recent anthropological studies of migration that focus largely on temporality and tensions by instead investigating different instances of musical “encounters” of migrants at night from across the world as represented in ten chapters and the five interludes in between them. It thus stands as an invaluable transdisciplinary and multi-modal contribution from scholars and artists to the fields of (ethno)musicology, sound studies, night-time urban studies, cultural studies and migration studies. Through “methodological experiments” and woven creative conversations from ethnomusicology, geography, philosophy and fiction, the contributors offer nuanced perspectives on the role of sound in urban environments and how it shapes human experiences and identities. The editors introduce the volume as an exploration of the complex relationship between the power of music and senses of space, memory, migration, cultural identity and belonging within the context of the nocturnal city. Overall, the collection emphasises the importance of music in both migrants’ adaptations to new environments and their resistance to cultural erasure, making a compelling case for the relevance of these themes in contemporary migration studies. The chapters explore this transformative power of sound and music by each delving into the