BBC Field Recordings
In 1982, Madeau Stewart compiled a guide to the BBC Sound Archives - recordings of what she categorized as folk, national, ritual, religious and classical music from all countries, excluding Great Britain. As the Telegraph writes “she took on the task of augmenting the BBC’s early music and non-British folk and indigenous music archives."
After the war she got a job as a selector for the BBC's Sound Archives, which at that time consisted mainly of spoken material. Finding that there was a growing demand from programme-makers for appropriate theme and incidental music for period dramas and travel series, she took on the task of augmenting the BBC's early music and non-British folk and indigenous music archives, a job which involved travelling around the world to collect recordings from far-flung parts and gathering in material from itinerant contributors.
Tom Hatfield, one of these ‘itinerant contributors’ describes how Madeau allowed him " whilst a penniless student, to go round France recording hurdy-gurdies" and lent him from the BBC engineering department what was then cutting edge technology, a device that recorded sound on tape(!), which apparently worked off batteries and weighed half a ton."
He goes on to say what happened to some of these recordings. In this instance, he recounts how "Madeau’s skill and enthusiasm helped convert my hair-brained scheme into an eventual programme, which she produced, along with one I did ten years later on the music of the Tuaregs, which was broadcast at a particularly quiet time on the BBC Third Programme but nevertheless made quite a stir among connoisseurs of the genre. After she left, I made a fruitless proposal of a programme on pre-Columbian music to some suit who didn’t know the difference between a crumhorn and a Tibetan nose flute."
Madeau Stewart's introduction to the BBC Sound Archive compilation gives further indication to what the BBC Field recordings were for and how they were obtained:
CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ
A guide to the BBC Sound Archives recordings of folk, national, ritual, religious and classical music from all countries, excluding Great Britain. All the recordings are ABR ( All Broadcasting Rights) therefore no payment is required when they are used.)
A highly selective process has been exercised in creating this catalogue raisonné. Much of inferior musical or technical quality or of doubtful origin has been omitted. Poor or inadequate documentation has made it difficult to be sure that entries and descriptions are always accurate. Whilst the Catalogue was in preparation during 1979 /80 at least two countries achieved independence and changed their names - not always in time to correct the alphabetical list of entries; thus New Hebrides, now Vanuatu, retains its earlier name. The Catalogue includes material in the BBC Folk and National Music Recordings Volume 1, Foreign Countries, 1958.
It is important to remember that collectors (a list will be found under COLLECTORS) exercise selection when recording and that the BBC exercised further selection when purchasing for Sound Archives. Thus, recordings from a country or a region should not necessarily be taken as being typical of that place.
A special tribute should be paid to all collectors for their contribution to this collection and in particular to those who undertook hazardous journeys into remote regions to record and thereby preserve for parity music of incalculable value. Musicology or ethnomusicology has never had the international support that archaeology has enjoyed and most of the collectors hardly broke even let alone made a profit.
SUMMARY OF COLLECTION
The global turmoils of recent years which include industrialization and mechanisation, have destroyed both the need for and the belief in many musics. The Archive collection has, sadly, to be accepted as a record of the past, often a very deep past. As no plan was made and no discipline exercised as to who went where to record what, the collection as a whole is a random one and all the gaps show up clearly. In many cases these gaps can be filled by recordings held in the National Sound Archive, London.
The catalogue is categorized topically - either through the name of country with a summary of the material and list of subject entries, or through subject entries like "Panpipes" with the name of the ethnolinguistic group ( if known) - or otherwise the locality - followed by the name of country. The subject entries provide comparative tables. - thus under Panpipes, will be found all the countries where panpipes have been recorded.
An example is Madeau Stewart's entry for Burma:
Burma
From 1951 until 1961 all archives contained of Burmese music was a curiously horrific series of 78’s ( 16643–16650) in which a Burmese actor age 69 called U Po Sein, sang a number of undistinguished songs to the accompaniment ofThet sein at the pianoforte.
In 1961. Stewart Wavell of the BBC Burmese Service made a collecting trip to Burma. When I first heard the tapes, I felt very uneasy about the authenticity of the music and the proficiency of the instrumentalist in everything but the tribal music hearing collection after a gap of 20 years, my uneasiness is in no way dispelled. Much of the tribal music has a rather sinister character and can be monotonous. The classical music seems to express a tradition in decline. The following number of entries must no way be interpreted as an indication of the richness of the music, it is only an attempt to sort it all out in spite of feeble documentation into relevant categories.
Animals Ballads Bells Buddhist Curiosities Dances Drone
Drums general drums melodic Fireworks flute Funeral
Gongs Gong, Orchestras Harmony Horns
Instrumental groups Jaw’s Harp
Harp National anthems Oboe Panpipes
Pipes single Pipes double Political Processions
Royal music Similarities Snake charmers Street musicians Tunes
Violin Western influence Work Xylophone
For Cambodia:
A sad little Collection. One side of LP 23647 and one track on LP 31675. The former is from radio UNESCO and labels seem to provide all the documentation there is.
see also Buddhist
Drama, musical sung
Fiddle
Gong, Orchestra
Hindu
Lute
Under the Subject heading for Castanets:
Known to ancient Egypt and probably before that. the prototype is said to be the bi-valve shell, A dancers' instrument. Prevalent in Spain, where the tradition was to play them in pairs, the higher pitch being female, the lower, the male a distinction to be found in the pitches of drums in various countries.
Morocco: Qaraqeb (castanets) with drum 37944 Ft 3 *
Philippines: dance accompanied bamboo castanets. 30816 Ft 6
Spain: Asturias: Pandero que toco: The higher sounding female castanet can be heard entering before the lower pitched male
Ibiza: Three Christmas songs: Large castanets; rattling good towards end 18817
* Accessibility note: These numbers are the BBC Sound archive's catalogue numbers. In rare cases, these can be cross-referenced with the British Library's online catalogue and can then be requested to be digitized and listened to onsite at the British Library. ( This process can take up to four weeks).
If the BBC accession number is not found the number needs to be submitted to the British Library's Listening Service , where they then go to the basement, physically look for the disc, catalogue it and then digitize it for the reader. This entire process can take up to 2 months.
Search
25 items
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Anak Ayam (Zapin): A traditional instrumental Malaysian folk dance in the zapin style, performed by violinist Hamzah Dolmat and his group Rakan2. The performance includes unestablished instrumentation, most likely harmonium, violin, accordion, and percussion. More »Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
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Anak Tiong (Asli): A traditional instrumental Malaysian folk dance in the asli style, performed by violinist Hamzah Dolmat and his group Rakan2. The performance features unestablished instrumentation, most likely harmonium, violin, accordion, and percussion. More »Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
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Bercherai Kaseh (Masri): A traditional instrumental Malaysian folk dance in the masri (Egyptian) style, performed by violinist Hamzah Dolmat and his group Rakan2. The performance includes unestablished instrumentation, most likely harmonium, violin, accordion, guitar, drum, and bell-rattles. More »Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
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A recording of a Java suite, featuring Gamelan and piano music by Leopold Godowsky, with arrangements for tuned percussion. The content is likely copied from a commercial or broadcast recording. The recording starts at 01:23:53, and the entire duration is 1 hour, 35 minutes, and 30 seconds. The Java suite is found at the end without any introductions. The performers are unidentified. More »Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
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Johor Sport Club (Joget): An instrumental Malaysian folk dance in the joget style, performed by violinist Hamzah Dolmat and his group Rakan2. The performance features unestablished instrumentation, most likely flute, violin, accordion, and frame drum. More »Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
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Recording contains a recording of the popular theatre show Ketoprak, featuring comedy with dialogue and crowd laughter. The recording is on a 30 cm disc with 2 sides and plays at 78 rpm in mono. It is part of the BBC ARCHIVE with the code 22570. More »Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
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Recoding, labeled "Ketoprak (popular theatre)," contains a 30 cm 78 rpm mono disc with the code BBC ARCHIVE 22570 1CL0072057. It features comedy, dialogue, gamelan music, and crowd laughter performed by unnamed individuals. The disc is stored under the code 9CL0029181 in the BBC Archive. More »Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
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A recording of King George V opening the British Empire Exhibition, with a collector's note indicating it was recorded acoustically by an amateur. The performance includes speeches and actualities, but the sound quality is poor, with audible audience noise at times. More »Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
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Lenggang Mak Imang (Imang): A traditional instrumental Malaysian folk dance in the inang style, performed by violinist Hamzah Dolmat and his group Rakan2. The performance features unestablished instrumentation, most likely harmonium, violin, accordion, drum, and tambourine. More »Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
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In the Malaysian national music recording, unestablished instrumentation including the harmonium, violin, and percussion is used, with performers such as Negar Ku and Hamzah Dolmat of Rakan 2. The traditional instrumental Malaysian folk dance in the zapin style is performed by Hamzah Dolmat and his group using instruments such as the oud, violin, accordion, and drum. The recordingencompasses popular music, folk songs, folk dance music, and world and traditional music, with a focus on Asian culture. Hamzah Dolmat, a prominent violinist, and his group Rakan2 are featured in these recordings. More »Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
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This auditory exploration encompasses a repertoire of seven traditional Malaysian folk dances. Hamzah Dolmat, a distinguished violinist, collaborates with Rakan2, employing a diverse array of instruments including accordion, oud, guitar, mandolin, drums, tambourine, and bell-rattles. This ensemble offers a nuanced rendition, capturing the rich cultural tapestry of Malaysia. More »Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
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A recording of King George V delivering a Christmas message from Sandringham on 25/12/32. This is noted as the first Christmas broadcast, preceded by the first round-the-world link-up. The performance includes a recording of 'The first Nowell' at the beginning and 'God save the King' at the end, along with an introduction by the radio presenter. However, the sound quality is poor, with muffled audio throughout. More »Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
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The Second stage initiation ceremony of the Sumarah Mystic Society featured a solo male singer chanting on a 30 cm 78 rpm mono disc with 2 sides. The recording is part of the BBC Sound Archive collection under catalog number 22570. The singer remains unidentified. More »Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
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Serampang Lant, a representative of the Joget style, materializes as a traditional Malaysian folk dance. Helmed by Hamzah Dolmat and Rakan2, the performance encompasses accordion, drum, and tambourine, offering a rhythmic exploration into the cultural nuances of Malaysia. More »Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
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Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
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Embarking on an instrumental journey, Sri Kenangan exemplifies a Malaysian folk dance in the Masri style. Guided by Hamzah Dolmat and Rakan2, the ensemble utilizes accordion, mandolin, frame drum, and bell-rattles, constructing a sonorous narrative encapsulating the cultural ethos of Malaysia. More »Field Recording |Topic: Culture |Audio
