Prayers, protests and perogies: Sound project aims to humanize the migrant experience
120 sounds of human migration were collected globally including a ship rescue and traditional cooking
The sounds of people celebrating after surviving the difficult journey from Libya to seek refuge in Europe can evoke a powerful emotional reaction in a listener, according to Stuart Fowkes.
"It's the sound of just the pure joy of being alive," Fowkes, the co-creator of Migration Sounds, told The Current's host Matt Galloway.
"And that is not something that comes across in the traditional portrayal of migration, particularly in that context, in most news media, just to hear the simple joy of … having survived a crossing like that."
It's one of 120 recordings in a project called Migration Sounds that aims to help people understand the movement of people from one place to settle in another, in a more visceral way.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates there were 122.6 million forcibly displaced people globally by mid-2024, up from 117.3 million people at the end of 2023.
Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN refugee agency, said international conflicts are the fundamental driver of that global displacement, which he said has "grown constantly, relentlessly for the past 12 years."
Although migration has been an integral part of human history for centuries, driven by reasons such as escaping conflict, reuniting with loved ones, or seeking better economic prospects, it remains a highly polarized issue.
"It can sometimes feel like you need to be on one side of the debate or another," said Fowkes. "Conversation can often start from quite an adversarial place."
However, he believes that by listening to the sounds of human migration, the conversation can move beyond the simplified debate of whether one is for or against it.
"More than any other sense, except maybe smell, sound can transport us really directly and vividly into a situation," said Fowkes.
He says it's important to consider what's really at stake, because behind every statistic about migrants is a person with their own unique story.
"It's kind of about getting away from news coverage and cliche around migration, and using sound as a whole new entry point to the conversation, and giving us all kinds of new perspectives on these stories," said Fowkes.
"It's easy to lose the human side of it in this polarizing debate."
What is Migration Sounds?
Migration Sounds is an interactive online exhibition, and a collaboration between Cities and Memories, one of the world's largest sound and field recording projects, and the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society at the University of Oxford.
The exhibition features 120 recordings that include sounds from 51 countries. Each recording is accompanied by the story behind it and its significance to the person who captured it.
Each recording is also reworked into a creative composition with the help of over 100 global musicians and sound artists.
One of the clips Fowkes recorded was of prayers at the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara temple in the U.K., where the local Sikh diaspora worships.
Musician and producer Jaspal Singh Bhogal then blended the prayers with his elderly father's recollection of his own migration story.
"Sound gives people a deeper, a richer, sense of what it actually means to migrate, what it might mean to lose loved ones to another place, how it feels to escape danger, or how it feels to actually feel at home in a new place for the first time," said Fowkes.
"That's at the center of Migration Sounds, this idea that we can hopefully help people to think about migration a little bit differently."
Along with featuring various sounds to highlight the nuances of migration, the stories themselves are also about different types of migration.
"You've got the sounds of people crossing borders … migration-related protests against migration laws or police brutality," said Fowkes.
There are also everyday sounds, such as people cooking their traditional dishes, such as Ukrainian borscht soup or Polish perogies, in their new country.
"It is not just about arduous journeys across borders. It's about daily life for countless, millions of people all over the world," said Fowkes.
Canada's migration story
Fowkes hopes his project prompts conversations about migration, which has become a polarizing global topic.
In Canada, consensus around immigration is changing, in part due to concerns over population growth and housing market pressures.
As reported by CBC News in October, recent polling by the Environics Institute for Survey Research shows an increasing divide among Canadians towards immigration, with 58 per cent of people believing that immigration is too high.
Last month the Liberal federal government announced cuts to immigration over the next three years, with the aim of stabilizing population growth and relieving pressure on the housing market.
Filippo Grandi said he understands the Canadian government's recent decision to take a more cautious stance in its immigration plans, citing domestic challenges such as housing.
But Grandi, similar to the aim of the Migration Sounds project, urges people to consider the human dimension of migration.
He asks Canadians to maintain their "very unique, positive attitude" toward immigrants and refugees.
"Preserve that window that you have always kept open for people that are fleeing from violence, from persecution because it has been so valuable in saving so many lives," said Grandi.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Audio produced by Niza Nondo.