A woman has been reunited with a mixtape she lost on holiday after it washed up on a beach 25 years later – 1,200 miles from where she last saw it..
Stella Wedell was 12 when she took the tape to listen to her favourite songs on her Walkman while in the Costa Brava and Mallorca in 1993.
The cassette, featuring hits by artists such as Pet Shop Boys, Bob Marley and Shaggy, went missing.
Stella Wedell mislaid the tape while in the Costa Brava and Mallorca
But during a holiday to Stockholm last year she was stunned to spot the mixtape, along with a list of the 20 songs she had recorded on it, on display at a photography exhibition.
It had washed up on a beach in Fuerteventura in 2017 and was recovered by UK artist Mandy Barker.
Barker sent the tape to a professional audio restorer, who managed to listen to all the tracks, and it was included in her touring exhibition Sea of Artefacts.
“When I was reading the tracklist, it seemed very familiar to me,” Ms Wedell said.
“So I took a picture of it and compared it with the original CD from 1993, which I still have – and it was exactly the same tracklist, but starting with track three.
“I remember that I didn’t like the first two songs on the CD because I felt they were too old so I wouldn’t have included them when I recorded the mixtape aged 12.
“I also have an association with the Jungle Book song and this was always the third track.
“I always made tapes from my CDs at this time to listen to them with my Walkman, especially for holidays, and to think that a tape I could have lost more than 20 years ago had been found was incredible.”
It washed up on a beach in Fuerteventura in 2017
Ms Wedell, who lives in Berlin, had been on holiday in the Costa Brava resort of Empuriabrava and on the island of Majorca when she lost the tape.
It washed up on the beach at Playa de Barlovento de Jandia in Fuerteventura in 2017 and was collected by Barker, who has been examining the issue of plastic pollution in the oceans for around a decade.
She initially doubted it would play but was able to listen to all the tracks after sending it to the audio restorer and decided to include it in her exhibition.
Barker, whose work has been exhibited across the world, said: “Even after getting the tape to play, it was then an astounding chance for Stella to walk into my exhibition and recognise her tape.”
The tape will continue touring as part of Barker’s exhibition but will be returned to Ms Wedell afterwards.
Its tracklist is:
1. Somebody Dance With Me (Radio Mix) – DJ Bobo
2. Would I Lie To You? – Charles & Eddie
3. The Jungle Book Groove – Disney Cast
4. Rock With You – Inner Circle
5. Do You See The Light – Snap
6. One Love (Radio Version) – Dr Alban
7. More And More – Captain Hollywood Project
8. Oh Carolina (Radio Version) – Shaggy
9. The Key, The Secret (Glamorously Developed Edit) – Urban Cookie Collective
10. It Keeps Rainin’ (Tears From My Eyes) – Bitty McLean
11. Summer Summer (Radio Edit) – Loft
12. Never Let Her Slip Away – Undercover
13. Power Of American Natives – Dance 2 Trance
14. Iron Lion Zion (7” Mix) – Bob Marley & The Wailers
15. Sweet Harmony – The Beloved
16. Give It Up – Cut ‘n’ Move
17. Go West – Pet Shop Boys
18. Runaway Train – Soul Asylum
19. (I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You – UB40
20. Mr Vain – Culture Beat
