Sound

I designed sound and made music for From May to Etta, with Love, a series of six short audio drama pieces as part of an audio installation created by Applied Stories for The Glamorgan Archives. They were all based on actual archival photos of Cardiff’s docklands community, taken by a Danish photographer, Fred Petersen. You can listen to them below, or read about them on the Glamorgan Archives website or at Applied Stories.

In one of the most inspiring and exciting creative projects I’ve ever been part of, had the privilege of working with a group of scholar/artists from Rapa Nui to create a sonic offering to the moai Hoa Hakananai’a, which is currently held at the British Museum. Working with a range of soundscapes recorded by the authors on the Rapa Nui, and drawing from local conceptions of time, I helped create a 16-minute piece of sound art called Recalling Home, which evoked a day on the island. This was then performed to Hoa Hakananai’a during a live ritual ceremony in January 2024. You can listen to the final performance below or read about the project on the British Museum website.

I made music and designed the soundscape for a triple-bill of Edwardian drama revivals, Makeshifts, Realities, and Honour Thy Father, directed by the inimitable Melissa Dunne for Finborough Theatre. The piece won a prize for its ensemble at the London Pub Theatre Awards. You can read more about the pieces on Finborough’s website.

“Farokh Soltani’s sound insinuates an early Grieg Lyric Piece and one by the forgotten Percy Eliott, the kind respectable young women played: there’s a bitter little twist in that.” (Simon Jenner, FringeReview)

“when Farokh Soltani’s sound design is added, it is subtle, well thought out and beautifully effective.” (Louisa Clarke, West End Best Friend)

I designed sound and music for The Museum of Stories, Applied Stories’ interactive soundwalk of Bury Park in Luton, showcasing community stories performed by community members. There were thirteen short audio pieces in total, and community members could also call in and add their stories. You can read lots more about the project on the Applied Stories website, hear the BBC radio report about it, listen to the pieces below, or go to Luton and listen to them where they happen using the app!

I made the sound and music for Eternal Telephone, a series of audio monologues produced by Applied Stories, which accompanied the British Museum’s Four Lives exhibition. You can read more about the project on the British Museum website, or listen to them below!

I designed sound and created music for two audio plays commemorating the centenary of the Irish War of Independence: The Bulletin by Barbara Bergin, and Persons Unknown by my brilliant frequent collaborator Fin Kennedy. You can read about the pieces on the National Archives website, or listen to them below!

I recorded and designed sound and (some) music for the Out of the Woods podcast series, consisting of three plays: The Fifth Dimension by Miran Hadzic (with music by acclaimed Kosovan artist Trimor Dhomi, which I also played around with), Nude by Ulpianë Maloku, and Where is Mr President? by Agnesa Mehanolli. You can listen to them below, or read more about the project at Tamasha, who supported the production.

I designed sound and composed music for the Papatango-prize-winning play Ghost Stories from an Old Country by Tajinder Hayer, directed by multi-talented Jessica Lazar. The play was always meant to tour theatres rather than be released online, so sadly you can’t listen to it anywhere (so you’d have to take my word for it that it’s some of the best sound I’ve ever made)! But you can read more about the play on the Papatango website, or read some of the reviews of my part in it below.

“This audio production is both atmospheric and intriguing.  It conjures up the most perfect, haunting scenes through its natural storytelling and eerie sound effects…” (Rachel Louise Martin, West End Best Friend)

“And the individual ghost stories themselves are marvellous, each unique and they differ somewhat from the traditional British tale that audiences may be familiar with, scored and designed to an appropriately chilling level by Farokh Soltani.” (Dominic Carr, The Review Hub)

I recorded (under Covid conditions!) and designed sound for the audio drama version of Nyla Levy’s Does My Bomb Look Big in this? as well as a series of related resource packs for schools called The Power of Persuasion, directed by Mingyu Lin. This was not released to the public, but if you run a school (or are just way too keen) you can see the relevant entries on DramaOnline, or visit the Tamasha website for information about the original theatrical run!

In 2020, while the world was shut down, junior doctor and playwright Shaan Sahota wrote Under the Mask, a play for Tamasha about her experience on the Covid ward. Not only that, but she took an Ambisonic 360-degree microphone into the ward and recorded the sounds of spaces that were out of bounds by most people. Using the raw recordings and the direction of the wonderful Sita Thomas, I designed and created a binaural soundscape and music around her play, which audiences experienced in theatres around the country. You can’t find the play anywhere online, but you can read lots more about in on Tamasha’s website, or listen to the trailer below!

“…The incessant bleeping of alarms, the metallic rasps of ventilators, the rustling of hospital staff donning and doffing PPE. Under the Mask immerses audience members in this world through binaural sound… Audience members listen to Soltani’s immersive sound design through their own sets of headphones on chairs scattered across the stage. This allows for a surprisingly intimate experience that is, at the same time, shared by people across space.” (Hannah Greenstreet, Exeunt)

I recorded, designed sound, and created music for Decolonising History, a series of five short audio plays directed by Anthony Simpson-Pike, written by writers in residence at SOAS for Tamasha Theatre. You can read about the project and the pieces on the Tamasha website, or listen to them below!