Sound Fragments: From Field Recording to African Electronic Stories

by Noel Lobley

Overview

Groundbreaking study of the world's largest archive of field recordings of African music

Winner of IASPM Book Prize, given by IASPM, 2023

Winner of the Bruno Nettl Prize, given by the Society for Ethnomusicology, 2023

Joint-Winner of the Ruth Stone Prize (with Jessica Perrea), given by the Society for Ethnomusicology, 2023

This book is an ethnographic study of sound archives and the processes of creative decolonization that form alternative modes of archiving and curating in the 21st century. It explores the histories and afterlives of sound collections and practices at the International Library of African Music. Sound Fragments follows what happens when a colonial sound archive is repurposed and reimagined by local artists in post-apartheid South Africa. The narrative speaks to larger issues in sound studies, curatorial practices, and the reciprocity and ethics of listening to and reclaiming culture. Sound Fragments interrogates how Xhosa arts activism contributes to an expanding notion of what a sound or cultural archive could be, and where it may resonate now and in future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780819580771
Publisher:	Wesleyan University Press
Publication date:	05/10/2022
Series:	Music / Culture
Pages:	348
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

NOEL LOBLEY (Charlottesville, VA) is assistant professor of music at the University of Virginia. Lobley is an ethnomusicologist, sound curator, and artist who works across the disciplines of music, anthropology, sound art, and composition. He has served on the committee of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology, is an appointed member of the Royal Anthropological Institute's ethnomusicology committee, and was awarded the 2015 Curl Lectureship at the Royal Anthropological Institute.

Table of Contents

Prologue ix

Notes on Language, Names, Terminology, and Abbreviations xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction 1

Part I Colonial Microphones

1 Hugh Tracey Records the Sound of Africa 31

2 Listening behind Field Recordings 63

Part II Local Voices

3 Donkey Cart Curation, Xhosa Anthems, and Township Terms 93

4 Art and Community Activism around the Archive 128

5 The Black Power Station 166

Conclusion Curating Sound Stories 201

Epilogue 1 Sikhona siphila phakathi kwenu 219

Epilogue 2 Conversations around Hip Hop 221

Epilogue 3 Umntu ngumntu ngabantu 227

Appendix 1 Listening Sessions and Personal Interviews (2008-2019) 229

Appendix 2 Song Translations 233

Notes 237

Bibliography 281

Index 301

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Sound Fragments offers exciting new perspectives on sound archives as sites of action and creative activism. Drawing on his long-term association with the International Library of African Music in South Africa, Lobley embarks on an inspirational journey to rescue sounds from the containments of a colonial past and place them back into the hands and hearts of the communities to whom they belong. In so doing, he breathes new life into our understanding of collaboration, ownership, sensorial self-witnessing and creative rediscovery."—Angela Impey, author of Sound Walking: Women, Music and Environmental Justice in an African Borderland

"This brilliant contribution to the literature on musical repatriation and collaborative research beautifully details the motives and methods of independent South African artists and culture workers as they repurposed and reimagined colonial-era archival recordings to address contemporary life in the complex arena of post-Apartheid Eastern Cape Province."—Anthony Seeger, distinguished professor emeritus, UCLA

Editorial Reviews

"Noel Lobley's book Sound Fragments is a 'must read' that provides an exegesis of the author's project which involved taking sound recordings from the International Library of African Music (ILAM) to the Xhosa community... When Lobley takes recordings back into the community, he is engaged in a serious business. After listening to the songs, tales, and any recordings done from their communities some decades ago, members' memories are revived. They are reminded of who they are and where they came from."—Perminus Matiure, University of Namibia, Journal of World Popular Music

"Sound Fragments offers exciting new perspectives on sound archives as sites of action and creative activism. Drawing on his long-term association with the International Library of African Music in South Africa, Lobley embarks on an inspirational journey to rescue sounds from the containments of a colonial past and place them back into the hands and hearts of the communities to whom they belong. In so doing, he breathes new life into our understanding of collaboration, ownership, sensorial self-witnessing and creative rediscovery."—Angela Impey, author of Sound Walking: Women, Music and Environmental Justice in an African Borderland

"This brilliant contribution to the literature on musical repatriation and collaborative research beautifully details the motives and methods of independent South African artists and culture workers as they repurposed and reimagined colonial-era archival recordings to address contemporary life in the complex arena of post-Apartheid Eastern Cape Province."—Anthony Seeger, distinguished professor emeritus, UCLA

From the Publisher