The digital return of ILAM’s Zimbabwean recordings: revitalization of the sound archive through postcolonial engagement between ILAM and African universities

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe International Library of African Music (ILAM) is located in South Africa and is the largest sound archive of African music on the continent. This article examines a project involving the digital return and revitalization of Zimbabwean mbira (The mbira (or thumb piano) is an instrument classified as lamellophone in the categorization of instruments (organology). The lamellophones belong to the type of instruments mostly found in sub-Saharan Africa.) recordings (the mbira is an instrument popularly known as the thumb piano or lamellophone) which was undertaken by the author during 2015–2016. The article describes how the project involved taking recordings from the sound archive in a digital format (CD or MP3 mainly) back to the country, region, or location where these recordings were made and how it led to increased engagement with the recordings and to collaboration between ILAM, the author, scholars, and mbira teachers in Zimbabwe. The outcomes from the project are detailed and the project is placed in the wider context of discourse around postcolonial studies and the repatriation of cultural heritage.