The project "
Ghana's Highlife Music Collection: A Digital Repertoire of Recordings
and Pop Art" of M. Kwame Sarpong's
Gramophone Records Museum and Research Centre (Cape
Coast, Ghana) involved the selection of 78rpm Shellac records from the 30s to
the 60s, as well as various related documents, in order to provide easier access to archival
material that would otherwise be difficult in the context of Ghana and West Africa.
By securing the collaboration of the National Library of Canada to this project, the
Daniel Langlois Foundation received the technical assistance and expertise of the
Library's Audio Conservator, a welcome help when choosing the digitizing equipment.
The Foundation then coordinated the trip to Ghana of the Audio Conservator, in order
to instruct the Museum staff on the use of the equipment, and on the processes involved
in digitizing sound and image.
To disseminate the result of this documentation and conservation project, M. Sarpong
and the Foundation, with the help of the Ghana Music Rights Organization,
were able to locate the rights owners of 10 Ghanaian musicians like
Jacob Sam,
Kakaiku, and
E.K. Nyame, in order to publish online a selection of Highlife songs.
Mrs. Carmelle Bégin, ethnomusicologist working at the Canadian Museum of Civilization
(now Canadian Museum of History), helped us in every step of this project since 2004,
and has written the General Introduction.
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