SAMRO to launch Indigenous African Music transcription website

The project, which is supported by the US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation, seeks to translate African works into international music notation and make them available to the world. It was developed by a small team within the organisation over the past three years together with 30 music specialists.

I AM transcriptions will allow the public to browse numerous works transcribed to sheet music, which will be free for download from its website.

“The team communicated with associated archives and artists around the country, and together they slowly and carefully captured the sounds of our musical legacy and transcribed them into sheet music,” SAMRO chairman Nicholas Maweni said.

Maweni also called on indigenous musicians and musicologists to contribute to the project: “This project is the beginning of a pan-African dream. We encourage all those who have documented or will be documenting indigenous African music to contribute towards this resource by informing the I AM project of their efforts with the mission to grow the open database.

“We drew on former South African president Thabo Mbeki’s famed words in his 1996 ‘I am an African’ speech. Quoting from this speech, the I AM project ‘rejoices in the diversity of our people and creates the space for all of us voluntarily to define ourselves as one people.'”

SAMRO project officer Nandipha Mnyani said: “It has been an amazing journey so far. We have all learnt so much: from the wonderful stories behind the music to the struggles of performers to the restrictions of western music notation, which is our musical alphabet.

“We have been honoured to have the opportunity to transport our music from the dusty archives of musicologists, and the fading memories of our peoples, and to place it online, acknowledging it as an art form worthy of international recognition.’”

The I AM Transcription Project website will go live at 12pm.