“Blair in Africa: Researching and Collecting African Music,” featuring a performance by prominent Ugandan musician Centurio Balikoowa, takes place Feb. 12 at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music.
Prior to Balikoowa’s performance, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology Gregory Barz and Holling Smith-Borne, director of the Anne Potter Wilson Music Library at Blair, will discuss their roles in preserving the centuries-old music that had been in danger of disappearing forever.
A reception will begin at 6 p.m. in the lobby with the lecture and performance to follow at 6:30 in Ingram Hall.
Barz, who is also an associate professor of anthropology, traveled to Uganda and Kenya in 2002 to begin collecting East African music for a digital music archive. He worked to establish a network of musicians there to bring the project to fruition. Barz turned over his recording equipment to Balikoowa, who continues to travel to rural villages all over Uganda to record the music and then sends the CDs to the music library. The music library, which is part of Vanderbilt’s Jean and Alexander Heard Library, built a free, Web-based digital archive of the recordings that can be accessed anywhere in the world through the Internet.
The Digital Collection of East African Recordings is the first database in what will eventually be a series of databases in a project called the Global Music Archive. In addition to being a Web-based digital archive, the Global Music Archive includes public rooms for the study of materials and audio and video listening and viewing facilities. Smith-Borne, co-curator of the archive with Barz, will offer a demonstration of the collection before Balikoowa’s performance.
The event, co-hosted by the Heard Library and the Blair School, is free and open to the public. Those planning to attend should RSVP by calling 615-343-0632 or sending an email to brenda.higgins@vanderbilt.edu. The lecture and performance will be videotaped and made available at VUCast, the website of Vanderbilt News Service, at www.vanderbilt.edu/news.
Media Contact: Ann Marie Deer Owens, (615) 322-NEWS
annmarie.owens@vanderbilt.edu