157 sound recordings of Indigenous peoples and rural communities | 157 grabaciones sonoras de pueblos indígenas y comunidades rurales

By Fernando Chavez, Vision 360:

France donates 157 sound recordings of Indigenous peoples and rural communities in Bolivia

The archives date from 1903 to 2001 and will be freely accessible.

The Center for Research in Ethnomusicology (CREM) of France donated 157 sound recordings of Indigenous peoples and rural communities in Bolivia, made between 1903 and 2001, to the National Archive and Library of Bolivia (ABNB), which operates under the Cultural Foundation of the Central Bank of Bolivia (FC-BCB).

“The purpose of this donation is part of the center’s policy to return recordings to their countries of origin, emphasizing respect for the intellectual property of Indigenous peoples and thereby contributing to the enrichment of Bolivia’s documentary and sound heritage,” stated ABNB Director Máximo Pacheco, as quoted in a press release from the FC-BCB.

CREM researcher Rosalía Martínez delivered the digital copies of recordings from 11 collections containing the sound archives on November 19.

Jean-Michel Beaudet has been working in ethnography for more than 40 years. Photo: Nouveaux Espaces Latinos

The digital files transmitted correspond to the archives under the responsibility of CREM, particularly the Créqui-Montfort and Sénéchal de La Grange Mission Collection (1903), as well as the collections of depositors Jean-Michel Beaudet and Rosalía Martínez, researchers from the CREM Laboratory of Ethnology and Sociology.

The material can be freely consulted in the spaces of the national repository for research and other non-commercial purposes.

The repository may also send copies to members of the local communities from which the recordings originate and to the descendants of the performers mentioned by the compiler.

CREM is a team within the Laboratory of Ethnology and Sociology, located on the Paris-Nanterre University campus since 2009, dedicated to ethnomusicology or musical anthropology, and responsible for a global sound archive comprising more than 32,000 items.

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