Sound Fragments: From Field Recording to African Electronic Stories

Groundbreaking study of the world's largest archive of field recordings of African music

Winner of IASPM Book Prize, given by IASPM, 2023

Winner of the Bruno Nettl Prize, given by the Society for Ethnomusicology, 2023

Joint-Winner of the Ruth Stone Prize (with Jessica Perrea), given by the Society for Ethnomusicology, 2023

This book is an ethnographic study of sound archives and the processes of creative decolonization that form alternative modes of archiving and curating in the 21st century. It explores the histories and afterlives of sound collections and practices at the International Library of African Music. Sound Fragments follows what happens when a colonial sound archive is repurposed and reimagined by local artists in post-apartheid South Africa. The narrative speaks to larger issues in sound studies, curatorial practices, and the reciprocity and ethics of listening to and reclaiming culture. Sound Fragments interrogates how Xhosa arts activism contributes to an expanding notion of what a sound or cultural archive could be, and where it may resonate now and in future.