This richly layered audio walking tour, narrated by writer Paul Auster, commemorates the life and history of the World Trade Center and the surrounding neighborhood.From a stunning array of phone messages and interviews to live music recordings and historic audio, NPR's The Kitchen Sisters and Soundwalk have crafted a transporting audio tapestry of Ground Zero. As The Ground Zero Sonic Memorial Soundwalk unfolds, the spirit and history of the area come to life through a wealth of neighborhood recordings made over the past 80 years and a selection of intimate stories from a range of vantage points.
Some of the most moving recordings in the walking tour include phone messages from the World Trade Center and United Flight 175 on the morning of September 11, 2001; archival recordings from the Observation Deck and Windows on the World; Philippe Petit's 1974 high wire walk between the Twin Towers; sound artist Stephen Vitiello's field recordings of Tower One oscillating in the winds of Hurricane Floyd; and live musical performances on the World Financial Center Plaza and in the Winter Garden of renowned artists, including Odetta and Bill Frisell.
For the nearly 7,000 visitors who come to Ground Zero daily from New York and around the world and the millions who cannot, The Ground Zero Sonic Memorial Soundwalk is an invitation to reflect, pay tribute, understand explore the past, and contemplate the future of this historic area with sensitivity, imagination, and depth.
The Ground Zero Sonic Memorial Soundwalk's thoughtfully designed route, meticulously produced stories, and intimate content provide a singular experience of a neighborhood with a complex and dynamic history.