Botanical artist Jess Shepherd has spent the past few years immersed in the world of leaves, both from a visual and sonic point of view. In this special guest post, Jess writes about how field recording became an intrinsic part of her creative process. As a botanical painter, I specialise… read more
This week’s selection comes from Jonathan Summers, Curator of Classical Music Recordings. Scottish composer Sir John Blackwood McEwen (1868-1948) had a distinguished career producing a large amount of music, little of which is heard today. He was Principal of the Royal Academy of Music from 1924-1936 and was knighted in… read more
This week’s selection comes from Stephen Cleary, Lead Curator of Literary & Creative Recordings. In this recording, poet and reggae artist Linton Kwesi Johnson gives a lecture on the late Jamaican performance poet Mikey Smith (1954-1983), author of ‘Me Cyaan Believe It’. The talk is based on his personal knowledge… read more
This week’s selection comes from Cheryl Tipp, Curator of Wildlife and Environmental Sounds There’s nothing quite like the sound of walking through freshly fallen snow. This particular recording was made in the Kentish village of Knockholt, just after midnight on the 3rd February 2009. This signalled the start of a… read more
The Evolving English VoiceBank is an audio archive of approximately 15,000 voices created by visitors to the Library’s Evolving English exhibition in 2010/11. This collection is only partly catalogued and a new placement opportunity at the British Library offers a PhD student the chance to work on this unique and… read more