Recording of the Week: The world’s rarest traditional musical instrument?

This week’s selection comes from Jim Hickson, Audio Project Cataloguer for Unlocking our Sound Heritage. Buduma musicians playing the biram, 1967. Photo courtesy of Guy Immega. The focus of this week’s recording is unusual in a few different ways. It’s a recording of the biram, made in the city of…

Clearing the noise surrounding copyright

For World Copyright Day, Data Protection and Rights Clearance Officer Kirsten Newell examines some of the copyright law surrounding sound recordings and its implications for rights clearance on the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage (UOSH) project. The UOSH project aims to provide public access to hundreds-of-thousands of the nation’s most at-risk…

Recording of the week: ‘It is a great thing nettle beer’

This week’s selection comes from Dr. Sue Davies, Project Manager for Unlocking Our Sound Heritage. One thing I love about the sound archive is that by listening I discover things that I wasn’t looking for. This recording on nettle beer comes from a particularly rich source of diverting information. The…

Recording of the week: how to avoid being puked on by a fulmar

This week’s section comes from Cheryl Tipp, Curator of Wildlife & Environmental Sounds It’s always advisable to keep your distance from wild birds, particularly during the breeding season. The main reason, of course, is to avoid causing any distress to the birds. Chicks are being born, predators are lurking and…

Recording of the week: An interview with Ravi Shankar

This week’s selection comes from Sarah Coggrave, Rights Clearance Officer for Unlocking our Sound Heritage. In 2017, the Mike Sparrow Collection (C1248) was the first audio collection to be preserved as part of the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project. Mike Sparrow (1948 – 2005) was a radio producer and presenter…