Photo by washingtonydc.

“I’ve been tasked with collaborating with the whole city,” Kokayi says.

The Grammy-nominated artist and producer is creating a new anthem for D.C., to be released in time for this year’s Funk Parade. His ingredients: the sounds of the city submitted by folks via a website.

“I’m looking for sounds of the neighborhood,” Kokayi says. He doesn’t want, for instance, a clip from your favorite go-go song—unless it’s being played from a stopped car or blaring from a boombox at the corner of Florida and Georgia. “I hear that, and I know exactly where I am,” he says.

Living in a city, we can get so used to these sounds that we stop registering them. “The doors closing on the Metro, the stupid horn on the new trolley, church bells on Lower Circle. These are super specific to D.C. Make it something that sparks these memories.”

Once submitted, Kokayi will listen to all of the sounds and reassemble them. “I’ll be recreating everything in rhythmic time,” he says. That means a car door slamming shut could become a snare drum, a shout could turn into a hi-hat cymbal.

“Life gives you melody and harmony in places you don’t even look for,” he says.

D.C. also has more peaceful sounds, like ones Kokayi often hears where he lives in Deanwood. “If I drove you to a certain part of my neighborhood, you wouldn’t even know you’re still in the city. My neighborhood is really quiet,” he says. “Hopefully people are thinking about that, and recording the wind, the crickets—sounds they can appreciate the negative space with.”

For Kokayi, creating this song will be a chance to preserve a slice of D.C. as it’s in flux. “The landscape has changed, so the soundscape is changing,” he says.

He’s hoping to finish the project by next week. The Funk Parade is on May 7.

Submit your sounds here.