Full steam ahead for music project
The music archive project team met aboard an Mzimkhulu river barge.
THERE was good news for members of the South Coast’s The Hidden Years Music Archive Project team and other local music lovers who met to talk about the project aboard a boat on the Mzimkhulu River recently.
According to convener and veteran South African singer and songwriter David Marks, the laid-back river meeting had been most productive and he thanked the Lange family for the use of the floating venue.
Those at the meeting were pleased to hear about the progress that was being made with the project, which is being steered by Dr Lizabé Lambrechts of the University of Stellenbosch.
The University of Stellenbosch has rented a house in Melville and is finalising the digitisation of David’s personal collection, the 3rd Ear Music Hidden Years Music Archive and the Ben Segal collections, among others.
Music by the likes of Clem Tholet, Alan Royal Pierce, Jeremy Taylor, Malombo, Lefifi Tladi, Dashiki and many more private collections have been recorded or collected by David or donated to his personal archive. By the end of August this year the original tapes, photos, negatives, journals and press cuttings should be added to the bulk of David’s 3rd Ear Music and Ben Segal collections, already stored in the library of the University of Stellenbosch.
Lizabé, a Volkswagen Stiftung Research Fellow, is being assisted by researcher ‘Ayo’ Oladele Ayorinde from Nigeria. Also on board are two local assistants, Lionel-Dean Wentzel and Chris Stewart.
The digitised music material from this South Coast process will form part of the proposed Music Archive Library Museum in this area. David is also in the process of writing a biography, ‘The Hidden Years Music Story’, that Lizabé will help to edit.
“The general aim of the project is to provide an outlet and a repository for South Africa’s ‘hidden years’. It is also a way to share in a contextual collection of contemporary folk music and related events online and through a series of published articles and books. Eventually, the project will create an international portal for researchers, students and South African music followers,” David explained.
Lizabé thanked local sponsors Raefe Dyer of Nashua Port Shepstone and James Starkey from Key Computers, Shelly Beach for sponsoring the an A3 scanner and a computer for the South Coast digitisation project.
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