True Echoes: Cambridge Expedition to the Torres Strait Islands, 1898

The Alfred Cort Haddon 1898 Expedition (Torres Strait and New Guinea) cylinder collection (C80) is a collection of 140 wax cylinders recorded as part of the 1898 Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits. The collection is made up of two parts; 101 cylinders recorded in the Torres Strait Islands in…

Windrush Day: Bristol’s Princess Campbell

Today is Windrush Day, a day which honours the contributions and hardships of the British Caribbean community and those who travelled to the UK after the Second World War to help rebuild Britain and start a new life. To mark the day we have a guest blog from one of…

Recording of the week: Carol Ann Duffy reads ‘Mrs Midas’

This week’s selection comes from Dr Eva del Rey, Curator of Drama and Literature Recordings and Digital Performance. I have been listening to Carol Ann Duffy reading her poem ‘Mrs Midas’ at an English PEN event held in London in 1994. King Midas is known in Greek mythology for his…

Walk in their footsteps: Windrush Voices, a new digital education programme at the British Library

Reuben Massiah on the Windrush Voices educational programme

Recording of the week: A Yanomami ceremonial dialogue

This week’s selection comes from Finlay McIntosh, World & Traditional Rights intern for Unlocking our Sound Heritage. In 1978, the writer, musician and scholar David Toop travelled to the Upper Orinoco region in the Venezuelan Amazon to record the Yanomami indigenous people and their songs, rituals and ceremonies. While these…