A scene from Viennese life; a Gypsy-concert in the Wurstelprater park’, Illustrirte Zeitung, 4 October 1873 Guest blog by Edison Fellow Dr Jon Banks former Senior Lecturer in Music at Anglia Ruskin University This project, generously supported by a British Library Edison Fellowship, brings together traditional accounts of one of…

This week’s post comes from Cheryl Tipp, Wildlife and Environmental Sounds Curator. Above: Photo of a Tawny Owl by Jon Pauling. From Pixabay. As autumn gets underway, the characteristic hoot of the Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) will soon be heard in woodlands across Britain. It is at this time that…

This week’s post comes from Steve Cleary, Lead Curator, Literary and Creative Recordings. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, better known as Mahatma (‘Great-souled’) Gandhi, led India’s campaign to rid itself of British rule. In October 1931, during his fifth and final visit to London, Gandhi was invited by the Columbia Gramophone Company…

This week’s post comes from Giulia Baldorilli, Sound and Vision Reference Specialist. The following post is inspired by Igor Stravinsky’s famous work, The Rite of Spring. The audio featured below is an excerpt from a 12” 78 rpm disc from our archive, released on Columbia Records in 1929. Stravinksy himself…

This week’s post comes from Sarah Kirk-Browne, Cataloguer, Digital Multimedia Collections. One of the most exciting things about exploring the sound archive is all the unexpected things you stumble across. While researching the Nottinghamshire dialect, I listened to this recording of Mr Arthur Sharpe (British Library reference: C707/190). Arthur Sharpe…