Serge Bulat - Phonomundi: Selected Recordings of Heritage Sites and Traditions 2017-2024 (2025)

On UNESCO’s World Heritage Day, composer Serge Bulat releases Phonomundi, a global sonic journey made up of 49 recordings from 12 countries, collected over eight years. Though rich in variety, the album is the length of a standard CD, designed for seamless listening.

Bulat captures vanishing sounds—of nature, traditions, and human cultures—often endangered by over-tourism, political conflict, or environmental decline. From Malta’s fortified cities to Cyprus’ divided capital, from Pyrenean fire festivals to Egyptian deserts, the album reveals the tension between human noise and natural presence, ancient and modern.

Recurring motifs include bells, border crossings, and the presence—or absence—of nature’s voice. Bulat includes contributions from musicologist Artur Blasco i Giné and bell-ringer Robert Lizarte, blending ethnographic detail with personal reflection. Some tracks evoke joy, like weddings and local festivals; others highlight how tourism and human activity often drown out the sites themselves.

The closing tracks turn reflective, especially with the “Voices of the Pueblos,” honoring Indigenous communities whose cultural expressions are at risk. The album asks a pressing question: who will speak for these places and people when their voices are gone?

Tracklist:
1-1 Serge Bulat - It-Tlett Ibliet [7:37]
1-2 Serge Bulat - Il-Belt Valletta [2:31]
1-3 Serge Bulat - Border Crossing: Lefkosia [0:46]
1-4 Serge Bulat - Border Crossing: Lefkoşa [1:31]
1-5 Serge Bulat - Buffer Zone, Nicosia [1:14]
1-6 Serge Bulat - Çay Culture [0:23]
1-7 Serge Bulat - Οδός Λήδρας / Girne Cd [2:22]
1-8 Serge Bulat - Κάστρο της Πάφου / Paphos Harbour Castle [1:06]
1-9 Serge Bulat - Τάφοι των Βασιλέων / Tombs of the Kings [1:01]
1-10 Serge Bulat - Larnaka Salt Lake and Hala Sultan Tekke [1:24]
1-11 Serge Bulat - La Clerecía [0:51]
1-12 Serge Bulat - Artur Blasco i Giné: Els Cigalons de Canalda [0:42]
1-13 Serge Bulat - Artur Blasco i Giné: 12 Goigs de Nostre Senyor [2:38]
1-14 Serge Bulat - Artur Blasco i Giné: La Flor del Pèsol [2:16]
1-15 Serge Bulat - Església de Sant Serni de Canillo [0:11]
1-16 Serge Bulat - Carillon / Ronlle [0:18]
1-17 Serge Bulat - Campanology with Robert Lizarte [0:37]
1-18 Serge Bulat - Sant Serni de Canillo: Bell Ringing with Robert Lizarte [0:45]
1-19 Serge Bulat - Pyrenees Fire Festival Summer Solstice / Les Falles d'Andorra [0:55]
1-20 Serge Bulat - Sagrada Família [1:46]
1-21 Serge Bulat - Barcelona, Gaudí and Parrots [0:53]
1-22 Serge Bulat - Reflections at Santa María del Naranco [0:46]
1-23 Serge Bulat - Catedral Basílica de Santiago de Compostela [0:34]
1-24 Serge Bulat - Praza das Praterías / Gaiteiros [1:06]
1-25 Serge Bulat - Ponte de Dom Luís I [0:48]
1-26 Serge Bulat - Ακρόπολη Αθηνών / Akrópoli Athinón [0:38]
1-27 Serge Bulat - Post Ρεμπέτικο / Rebetiko: Mediterranean Diet [0:51]
1-28 Serge Bulat - Bus Ride to Dealul Romilor [2:03]
1-29 Serge Bulat - Bosporus, Fatih, İstanbul [1:01]
1-30 Serge Bulat - Kadıköy Fish Market [1:28]
1-31 Serge Bulat - Topkapı [1:17]
1-32 Serge Bulat - Beyoğlu Drummers [0:46]
1-33 Serge Bulat - Beyoğlu Bakers [1:25]
1-34 Serge Bulat - Wedding in Adalar [1:00]
1-35 Serge Bulat - Börek of Büyükada [1:29]
1-36 Serge Bulat - West Bank of Luxor: Day [2:17]
1-37 Serge Bulat - الواحات البحرية / Bahariya Oasis: Night [0:34]
1-38 Serge Bulat - Toward Thebes / Waset /طيبة: Nile Crossing [1:47]
1-39 Serge Bulat - مدينة هابو / Medinet Habu [1:31]
1-40 Serge Bulat - Valley Of the Golden Mummies [0:37]
1-41 Serge Bulat - القاهرة / Cairo [1:17]
1-42 Serge Bulat - Sahara el Beyda: Stones Sounds from the White Desert [0:17]
1-43 Serge Bulat - Piasa San Marco [0:26]
1-44 Serge Bulat - Blue Trams in Kraków [1:21]
1-45 Serge Bulat - Rynek Główny [1:11]
1-46 Serge Bulat - Stare Miasto w Krakowie [1:09]
1-47 Serge Bulat - Toulouse Gastronomy [0:44]
1-48 Serge Bulat - Red Deer Mating Calls, Pyrénées [3:00]
1-49 Serge Bulat - Voices of the Pueblos: Laguna, Acoma, Hopi, and Zuni [9:53]