Atlas / Lists / 10 Most Cinematic Music Venues in the World
· Editorial list · 10 venues

Cinema, scored.

Ten rooms that look like they were location-scouted. The atlas as movie set.

Some venues photograph well. A handful of venues photograph like the establishing shot of a feature film. This is the cinematic shortlist: the ten rooms in the Sonic Paths atlas whose visual signature is so strong it could carry a film opening on its own.

The list

01
The pale concrete facade of Berghain seen from a fenced path

BERGHAIN.

BERLIN · GERMANY · 52.51°, 13.45°

Friedrichshain power plant, 18-metre concrete ceilings, single yellow light. Berghain has been the establishing shot for half of Germany's recent cinematic export. Photographic on purpose.

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TYPE · Underground Club  ·  FREQ · Techno · Electronic
02
Eldborg hall at Harpa seen from the stalls, with tiers of red balconies around the stage

HARPA CONCERT HALL.

REYKJAVÍK · ICELAND · 64.15°, -21.93°

Glass facade, Arctic light, the harbour. Olafur Eliasson designed it as a sculpture; it works as a film set by accident.

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TYPE · Modern Concert Hall  ·  FREQ · Classical · Ambient · Electronica
03
An orchestra on stage under teal and red lights at the Cairo Opera House

CAIRO OPERA HOUSE.

CAIRO · EGYPT · 30.04°, 31.22°

Gezira Island at dusk. Mamluk arches, palms, the Nile in the background. The film set the Arab world has been waiting for.

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TYPE · Opera House  ·  FREQ · Classical · Opera · Arab Symphonic
04
A tall red dune with a sharp shadowed ridge under a blue sky

SOSSUSVLEI DUNES.

NAMIB-NAUKLUFT NATIONAL PARK · NAMIBIA · -24.73°, 15.34°

Dune 45 at sunrise. Deadvlei at midday. Aerial of the red dunes. Three of the most-photographed landscapes on Earth, all in one site.

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TYPE · Natural  ·  FREQ · Ambient · Field Recording · Silence-led listening
05
A carved ice bar in blue light with a figure standing at the counter

THE ICE HOTEL CONCERTS.

JUKKASJÄRVI · SWEDEN · 67.85°, 20.59°

Carved from a frozen river every winter. A literal ice cathedral, with audience breath visible in the air.

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TYPE · Ambient Ice Acoustic Experimental  ·  FREQ · Ambient · Choral · Neoclassical
06
The Edwardian sandstone facade of Cape Town City Hall under a clear blue sky

CAPE TOWN CITY HALL.

CAPE TOWN · SOUTH AFRICA · -33.93°, 18.42°

Edwardian Bath stone, the balcony Mandela spoke from. The opening shot of every South African political documentary since 1990.

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TYPE · Civic Concert Hall  ·  FREQ · Classical · Jazz · Choral
07
Gato Preto on stage at Nyege Nyege in Jinja, two performers mid-dance under a green laser

NYEGE NYEGE FESTIVAL.

KALAGALA FALLS · UGANDA · 0.61°, 33.18°

Kalagala Falls. Six stages on the Nile rapids. Dust in the light. The most-cinematic festival site on the continent.

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TYPE · Wilderness Music Festival  ·  FREQ · Experimental · House · Afro-house
08
A large fire burning behind a row of arches at night

AFRIKABURN.

TANKWA KAROO · SOUTH AFRICA · -32.48°, 19.90°

Tankwa Karoo. Effigies in flames against a black-sky horizon. The desert burn that has photographed itself into the Burning Man canon.

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TYPE · Desert Burn Festival  ·  FREQ · Electronic · Techno · Experimental
09
The Hassan II Mosque and its minaret silhouetted against a low sun over the sea

HASSAN II MOSQUE ESPLANADE.

CASABLANCA · MOROCCO · 33.61°, -7.63°

Casablanca, 210m minaret, half-built over the Atlantic. The architectural anchor of the Arab world. Films use it without permission.

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TYPE · Religious Architecture / Esplanade  ·  FREQ · Quranic chant · Sufi · Andalusian
10
Lava fountaining from Stromboli's crater at night

VOLCANO EXTRAVAGANZA.

AEOLIAN ISLANDS · ITALY · 38.79°, 15.21°

Active volcano, Aeolian Islands. Rossellini filmed Ingrid Bergman here in 1950. The cinematic precedent has been set for 75 years.

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TYPE · Art and Music Festival  ·  FREQ · Contemporary Art · Performance · Electronic
· FAQ

Asked and answered.

Q.What is the most cinematic music venue in the world?
Subjective, but the four most-cited candidates are: Berghain (Berlin power plant interior), Harpa (Reykjavík glass facade), Sossusvlei (Namibian dunes), and the Ice Hotel concert hall in Jukkasjärvi. All four appear in the Sonic Paths cinematic shortlist.
Q.Which music venue has been in the most films?
Stromboli (the active Italian volcano) has been a continuous film location since Rossellini's 1950 film with Ingrid Bergman. Cairo Opera House and Hassan II Mosque feature in most Egyptian and Moroccan film productions respectively. Berghain has been the cinematic establishing shot for Berlin since the 2000s.

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Editorial cuts of the Sonic Paths atlas.

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