British company And Vinyly offers to turn part of human ashes into actual vinyl records that can be played on a turntable, reports infohub.kz.
The company has been operating since 2009. It was founded by musician and vinyl collector Jason Leach. According to him, the idea initially started as a joke among close friends, but unexpectedly gained followers and turned into a serious business.
In the founder's opinion, it is sound that most powerfully brings back memories.
"When you hear someone's voice on a record, the sound literally makes the air vibrate around you. That is where its power lies for me," Jason Leach emphasizes.
After cremation, a portion of the ashes is added to the material used to make the record. The record remains fully functional and reproduces sound no worse than ordinary vinyl.
You can record almost anything on such a record: favorite music (without infringing copyright), a person's voice, nature sounds, or even leave it silent. Each side holds about 18–22 minutes of audio.
The service costs between £1,000 and £3,000, equivalent to 636,000 to 1.91 million tenge.
On its website, the company also posted a promotional video featuring the story of British hardcore musician and IDLES frontman Joe Talbot. He kept recordings of his mother's voice and, after her death, turned them into such a record. According to the artist, many find the idea strange, but for his family it became a way to preserve the memory of a loved one.
Earlier it was reported that a crematorium was opened in Almaty, but there will be nowhere to bury the ashes.