The Wilton Bulletin: Wilton Library pushes efforts to put a spotlight on collection from jazz great Dave Brubeck. “Three years after agreeing to receive the works of late jazz legend Dave Brubeck, the Wilton Library is now reigniting efforts to shine a spotlight on The Brubeck Collection.”
The Violin Channel: Boulanger Initiative Launches Database for Underrepresented Composers. “All accessible for free, the database comprises extensive details of over 8,000 works written by 1,200 women and gender-marginalized composers… The current catalog focuses on historical works and curated information from non-living composers, with plans to expand.”
New-to-me, via the University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Beyond Elijah Rock: The Non-Idiomatic Choral Music of Black Composers. “Non-idiomatic, as it relates to black composers, refers to the original concert music that is not part of the traditional idiomatic canon associated with black musicians. That canon includes spirituals, gospel, jazz, hip-hop, and rap among others. There will be pieces that may be based on spirituals or gospel tunes but are, at their core, original songs similar to ones that use chorale tunes in cantatas and popular songs parodied in Renaissance masses.”
Variety: John Mellencamp to Donate Archives to Indiana University. “Singer-songwriter John Mellencamp, the proudest Hoosier in rock, plans to donate his archives to Indiana University, the institution announced Friday during a Mellencamp Symposium being held on campus.”
The Guardian: Kinks-shamed: Dave Davies asks Elon Musk to stop flagging band-related tweets. “The Kinks’ Dave Davies has appealed to Elon Musk to stop putting content warnings on posts related to the band. The lead guitarist and co-founder of the band pleaded with the Twitter owner after one of Davies’s tweets promoting a video carried a sensitive content warning, thought to be because of the band’s name.”
Financial Times: Handel the composer-philanthropist celebrated in concert and online archive. “Having committed the biggest dates in its diary to Handel for some years, the English Concert is launching Handel for All, a website that will offer video recordings of every work the composer wrote. Given how prolific the composer was, this promises to be no small challenge, comprising 42 operas, almost 30 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas and much more.”
We Rave You: New website launches with live and rare unreleased music from The Prodigy. “… a new website has been published that documents the group’s career while presenting a massive collection of audio and information for consumption. The new website, The Prodigy: All Souvenirs Are Here! site is an encyclopedia of sorts that offers a deep dive into the electronic group from England.”
University of Southern California: Taj Frazier explores how hip-hop artists are shaping emerging technologies. “Young artists are changing the game by creating unique experiences for audiences in 3D spaces and developing art with innovative decentralized technologies. Associate Professor of Communication Taj Frazier examines this intersection of music, art and technology as host of a new series, Hip-Hop and the Metaverse.”
TechCrunch: Roblox to host a free virtual Super Bowl concert featuring Saweetie. “Hip-hop artist Saweetie is performing exclusively in Roblox for the NFL’s Super Bowl LVII pregame on February 10, the National Football League announced today.”
The Guardian: ‘That’s Africa, man’: how a young musician captured the music of Rwanda . “In 2018, [Michael Makembe] decided to travel all around Rwanda, visiting communities in remote places to collect voices, poems, songs and recordings of traditional instruments. In five years Makembe has amassed nearly 1,000 different sounds. He is hoping to open an audio museum this year where people can go and listen to them. He also wants to launch Sounds of Rwanda, an online library for a global audience.”
Northeastern Global News: Rare rock star interviews ‘raw, complete and unedited’ in new Northeastern digital archive . “Now, for the first time, [Larry] Katz’s interviews with some of the most famous musicians and other cultural figures in history—many of them now deceased—are available for the public to peruse. Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Miles Davis, Lou Reed, Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono all spoke to Katz during his career, and all of their interviews are now a part of Northeastern University Library’s digital archive of what’s known as the Katz Tapes.”
Azernews: National Archive Department highlights Niyazi’s musical legacy. “National Archive Department has launched a virtual exhibition devoted to maestro Niyazi, Azernews reports. The exhibition includes documents from the private funds of the State Archive of Literature and Art. Maestro Niyazi’s musical talent was truly impressive. The maestro conducted the Azerbaijan State Symphony orchestra for 46 years.” At this writing the link in the story will give you a 404 error; remove the period at the end of the URL and you’re good. The site is in Azerbaijani and, unusually, Google Translate has a difficult time with it. You can use Google Lens to translate the photography captions without any problem.
Bay Area Reporter: Because of a song: Holly Near celebrates Oakland’s women’s music scene with new online archive. “Music is one of the connecting forces for women in the Women’s Movement, especially in the 1970s and 1980s. Women’s music legend Holly Near called the music made by women musicians at the time a lifeline…. Recently, the Bay Area Reporter spoke with Near about why she created the archive devoted to the Oakland women of the Women’s Music Movement and its importance.”
Techdirt: Tom Lehrer Puts Whatever He Hadn’t Already Donated To The Public Domain Into The Public Domain. “Back in 2014, we wrote about how a fan had basically put all of his works on YouTube, and then contacted Lehrer to apologize. Lehrer told him there was nothing to apologize for: he was glad the works were out there. The fan then asked if he needed to do something to make sure that no one would ever copyright strike the videos, and Lehrer again says not to worry, as far as he’s concerned it’s all in the public domain, and he has no heirs to cause problems after he dies.”
Rutgers University Libraries: Institute of Jazz Studies Launches Count Basie Family Papers and Artifacts Finding Aid. “A native of Red Bank, New Jersey, William James ‘Count’ Basie (1904–1984) was one of the giants of jazz, a global icon, and still one of the most influential, popular, and recognized figures in American music. The Institute acquired Basie’s papers and artifacts in 2018 and is responsible for ensuring its long-term preservation. The roughly 200-cubic-foot collection, consisting of more than 1,000 items, is unparalleled in its size and thorough documentation of Basie’s life and career, as well as those of his wife, Catherine, and daughter, Diane.”
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