Andrew Eisenberg collection of East African commercial sound recordings
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Abstract
The Andrew Eisenberg collection of East African commercial sound recordings contains sound files and associated metadata for hundreds of commercial sound recordings produced for East African audiences, and in particular, African and Arab audiences of the Swahili Coast, between the late 1920s and the first decade of the twenty-first century.
Biographical note
Andrew J. Eisenberg is assistant professor of music at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). Prior to arriving at NYUAD, he held teaching positions at Northwestern University, Stony Brook University, and Bard College. A musical ethnographer and sound culture researcher specializing in urban Africa and the Indian Ocean world, Eisenberg received his PhD in ethnomusicology from Columbia University in 2009, and carried out postdoctoral research between 2010 and 2013 as a participant in the European Research Council's "Music, Digitization, Mediation" project led by Professor Georgina Born at Oxford University.
Much of Andrew Eisenberg's published and forthcoming scholarship focuses on issues of voice, place, and identity on Kenya's "Swahili coast." In recent years, he has also been carrying out ethnographic research on the music recording industry in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
Scope and contents note
The Andrew Eisenberg collection of East African commercial sound recordings contains sound files and associated metadata for hundreds of commercial sound recordings produced for East African audiences, and in particular, African and Arab audiences of the Swahili Coast, between the late 1920s and the first decade of the twenty-first century.
Dr. Andrew J. Eisenberg collected these materials in Mombasa, Kenya, between 2004 and 2006, with the assistance of local collector Jamal Hafidh Jahadhmy.
Most of the recordings in the collection fall within the realm of Swahili-language urban popular music. There are also examples of rural music traditions, colonial-era martial music, recited Swahili poetry, and Swahili comedy sketches.
The collection is comprised of three series:
Series 1: Digital audio captured from 78 r.p.m. records. The source recordings belong to a private collector in Mombasa, Kenya, who wishes to remain anonymous.
Series 2: Digital audio captured from audio cassette recordings of 78- and 45-r.p.m. records. These cassettes belong to Jamal Hafidh Jahadhmy, who created them by carefully transferring the audio recordings from records held in private collections in Mombasa, Kenya.
Series 3: Digital audio transferred from commercially produced audiocassette recordings acquired by Eisenberg in Mombasa between 2004 and 2006.
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Conditions governing access
Materials can be accessed at the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room of the NYUAD Library, and can also, in some circumstances, be accessed remotely.
In order to access the collection remotely, there are two options depending on the affiliation of the user.
For students, faculty, and other users affiliated with New York University, click on the following link and supply your university NetID and password:
https://nyu.box.com/v/eisenberg-nyu
For all other users, please click on the following link to access a form, which when completed, will be submitted for review:
https://goo.gl/forms/A7CoxIh8pxDK9SfJ3
If remote use of the collection is approved, a separate password will be supplied to provide access.
Conditions governing use
Materials in this collection are published audio-recordings that are, for the most part, protected by copyright law. They can be used for research purposes, but cannot be copied, downloaded, or otherwise published without express written consent of the copyright holder.
Immediate source of acquisition
Gift of Andrew J. Eisenberg, 2016-2017.
Related materials
Andrew Eisenberg and his colleagues at New York University Abu Dhabi (and elsewhere), have also partnered with local institutions in Kenya and Tanzania during their research, and plan to place copies of this collection in several such institutions. To date, one copy of this collection has been placed with the Dhow Countries Music Academy in Zanzibar.