Sound Tracks

Here is the history of humankind's relationship with music in fifty detective stories.

'A thrilling journey into the sonic richness of human experience' PHILIP BALL

'A magical book' FRANCIS PRYOR

From the present day back to the dawn of time, from dark caves and murky swamps to open deserts and ocean depths, Graeme Lawson leads us on a transporting voyage of archaeological discovery as we unearth instruments from around the world and hear the past release its musical secrets.

We see a child's delight in Peru in AD 700, playing with a water-filled pot that chirps like a bird; we shiver with a lonely soldier sending trumpet signals to the next watchtower on Hadrian's Wall; we sway to the stately rhythms of the 64 bells buried in a tomb in China in the 5th century BC. And on this grand tour, we learn that music is part of what makes us human - a way of commemorating our pasts, communicating with others and shaping our lives.