The Genadendal Music Archive (GMA) has begun digitising music from the Genadendal Mission Museum’s collection and uploading it to a digital archive at Stellenbosch University (SU).
Archival projects such as the GMA play a vital role in “recognising the contributions of communities that are still on the periphery of official historical narratives”, said Dr Lizabé Lambrechts, senior researcher at the Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation (AOI) and chief executive officer of Nuuseum.
Nuuseum is a non-profit organisation “actively preserving the cultural heritage of South Africa”, according to Lambrechts.
The main team involved in the Genadendal Music Archive consists of five people. They are, from left to right: Inge Engelbrecht (researcher), Daniel Taylor (research assistant), Dr Jürgen May (project head), Petronella Louis (research assistant) and Anke Froehlich (researcher). Photo: Supplied/GMA
Finding harmony
The GMA, which was launched at the end of March, is the pilot project of a larger online platform for research into the music of Southern Africa. This is according to Dr Jürgen May, GMA project leader and affiliate academic of the AOI at SU.
Archiving music is important “to be able to keep a record of musical evolution in an environment”, according to Aidan Forbes, BMus student at SU.
The Genadendal Music Archive (GMA) website launch took place at the Africa Open Institute on 23 March. The website is, however, “still a work in progress”, according to Dr Jürgen May, GMA project leader and affiliate academic of the Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation (AOI) at Stellenbosch University. Photo: Supplied/Jurgen Meekel
The Genadendal Mission Museum boasts an array of music from early music traditions established by the Moravian missionaries, according to Inge Engelbrecht, GMA researcher. This collection is thanks to Genadendal’s status as the first mission station in South Africa, she explained.
Some works included in the Genadendal Mission Museum collection are those of Mozart and Handel, pieces composed specifically for the Moravian church, as well as “secular and sacred scores, such as chorales and hymns”, according to Inge Engelbrecht, Genadendal Music Archive researcher. PHOTO: Connor Cogill
Music sheets are physically archived in acid-free folders and boxes from Europe, stated Engelbrecht. A copy stand, imported lights and a camera designed specifically for digitisation are used to digitise the physical material. The digitised content is then edited and catalogued, and “eventually uploaded to SU library’s SunDigital platform, where some of these items can currently be viewed”, she said.
The Genadendal Music Archive team archives music in Genadendal. Dr Jürgen May was awarded funding for the project’s commencement in October 2020, said Anke Froehlich, master’s fellow at the Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation and researcher involved with the project. Photo: Supplied/GMA
Facing discord
Through the GMA, a relationship has been developed between the Genadendal community and SU. According to May, it has been shown that “culture” is not only integral to urban areas, but rural areas as well.
The vision for the future of GMA is to create a research platform for Southern African music that does not present collections and projects as single units, but “displays them as part of a larger context”, said May.
However, audio-visual archives in South Africa are at risk due to several factors, such as a lack of funding and institutional support, insufficient storage facilities, and a shortage of experts with the appropriate archival knowledge, said Lambrechts.