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…

Recording of the week: Efe honey gathering in the Ituri Forest

This week’s selection comes from Catherine Smith, Audio Project Cataloguer for Unlocking our Sound Heritage. For about two months a year in the Ituri Forest, it is honey gathering season for the Efe people of north eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. This season is an important and exciting time…

Recording of the week: On architecture and identity

This week’s selection comes from Giulia Baldorilli, Reference Specialist. In these extracts from an oral history interview, architect Edward Jones talks about his approach to architecture, and what it means to build houses in both London and the rest of England. The interview was recorded in 2012 by the National…