Dear ladies and gentlemen, FIELD RECORDINGS OF JEWISH MUSIC
The Jewish Music Collection of the Vernadsky Library, Kiev (An-ski Expedition Recordings, Beregovski Archive etc.) Multi-CD Edition of the Complete Recordings 1911-1947 My name is Vladimir Krasheninnikov. I have been appointed by the Institute for Information Recording and the Vernadsky National Library of the Ukraine as distribution manager for the CD project described in this message. THE VERNADSKY ARCHIVE OF JEWISH MUSIC For many years the Vernadsky National Library of the Ukraine has been the home of an extensive sound archive of field recordings of Jewish music made in Russia during the first four decades of the 20th century. At the centre of this sound archive lie the expedition recordings made in Belarus, Volhynia and Podolia between 1912 and 1914 and the legendary Beregovski archive of recordings made in the Ukraine in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. In recent years two 'experimental' promotional CDs containing sample recordings taken from the archive have been in limited circulation. I wish to inform you that these two CDs are now readily available on a normal commercial basis to anyone who wishes to purchase a copy. In addition to this, however, I wish to inform you of a far more important development which will have long-term repercussions in the fields of Yiddish studies and of Jewish music. It has been decided to release the entire sound archive commercially on a series of CDs. THE CD EDITION OF THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS In total the entire 'scientific edition' will comprise between 50 and 100 discs (at this stage it is impossible to be more accurate) and will be presented in accordance with the highest scholarly standards. The discs will be available not just to academic institutions and the like but to the general public as well. We estimate that it will take 5 - 7 years for the entire edition to be issued. All future discs will be released in the CD-Extra format and will have an anticipated average running time of around 40-50 minutes. In addition to the sound tracks, the discs will contain scans of all the music sheets and other archival documents relating to the recordings on the disc. Perhaps I should explain that CDs in the CD-Extra format are CDs that carry both sound and text/images. The sound tracks can be played back on a normal CD player or on a PC with a sound system. If they are played on a PC, you can also access the text and images. Each disc represents a mine of hitherto inaccessible source material recorded on location in the shtetls of Belarus, Volhynia, Podolia and elsewhere at a time when Yiddish was still a vibrant and thriving culture. The material about to be made available is absolutely unique and of immense musical, linguistic and historical interest. For example, from a musical point of view the complete CD edition will contain not only hundreds of field recordings of Yiddish folk and theatre songs, work songs, klezmer music and other items but also the most extensive collection of recordings of Hasidic melodies ever put together and, what is more, recorded in the very heartland of Hasidism. THE FIRST CDS IN THE NEW SERIES The first two discs in the new series are devoted to recordings made in Belarus and the Ukraine by the folklorist Zinovy Kisselgoff between 1913 and 1935 and will be available very shortly - probably within the next 2 - 3 weeks. In this particular instance the running time is about 90 minutes spread over two discs. The first disc contains about 35 minutes of cantorial items and the second disc, which has a running time of 55 minutes, has recordings of wedding and other ceremonial music and children's songs. In addition about 60 music sheets are included on the discs. Each disc will cost $34 (including postage and packing) and may be ordered by contacting me by e-mail, fax or phone (see details below). Payment is either by bank transfer or, alternatively, via the 'iKobo' money transfer system (see the company's website at http://www.ikobo.com). This payment system has been in operation for several months now and is working very well, but if anyone has any suggestions as to how it can be improved on, then all the better. Ease of payment is an absolutely crucial issue in this enterprise and if anyone can suggest other payment methods which may be preferable, I would be extremely grateful to hear from you. A PLEA FOR ASSISTANCE Finally, I would like to stress one point and once more ask for assistance. This whole project of issuing the sound archive on CD is entirely dependent on the sale of the CDs. As you can imagine, this is an enormous undertaking and involves a host of engineers, scientists and archivists. In addition, in order to make the sound transfers from the delicate Edison wax cylinders onto the digital media a special laser stylus had to be invented (the first of its kind in the world). All this has to be financed from sales of the discs. The success of the project will depend wholly on the response of the public and I would ask you to contact anyone who you think may be interested in this project and pass on the information contained in this message. CONTACT DETAILS If you wish a) to place an order b) to be kept informed about the progress of this CD edition or c) who have any queries whatsoever in connection with this present message, please contact me as follows: e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fax: +380-44 463-04-60 Phone: +380-50 310-33-87 Yours sincerely, Vladimir Krasheninnikov Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
