The Kalahari Desert Festival 21 - 23 March 2014 > "Sound Hunting" for archival purposes

SOUND HUNTING 
by Moshe Maghundu
Archivist: SABC Platfontein 

The Kalahari Desert Festival took place for a second time in the Kalahari at Andriesvale, ten kilometres from Ashkam. This event is very historical in nature to the SAN people as it brings together all San people from different countries with their traditional festivities.

The San people from Platfontein, the Kalahari, Upington and others from the Western Cape took part as the festivities started on the evening of Friday, 21 March, on Human Rights Day.

Moshe Maghundu was there with a crew to do “sound hunting”. He was able to host storytelling sessions with the Kalahari people and others. The people gave their full cooperation. He faced challenges with some people expecting to be reimbursed for their oral contributions. He complied out of his own pocket because of his love for the project. He understands and put a great value on their contributions for heritage and archival purposes.

Station X-K FM covered the event live from its opening till the evening of the last day Saturday 22 March.They were also responsible for arranging some of the interviews which Moshe recorded.

• Mr Markus Jetembo        Presenter
• Mr Joe Mpungo               Presenter
• Mr Piorro Mushavanga   Producer
• Me Rena Maghundu       Technical Producer
• Mr Moshe Maghundu     Archivist

X-K FM

X-K FM struggled with some technical difficulties, but luckily the technical producer took care of the problems.

It is highly appreciated that Mike Nemane provided the gazebo in which the broadcast took place.

The challenges of the Kalahari sand did not put a damper on the uplifting spirit of the festival.
Moshe Maghundu was working non-stop to get the people to tell their stories. Although it was hot, time was limited for him to get all the interviews.

Moshe Maghundu during a short break
before taking up the Marantz recorder again

DRAPJJ STARS

There were music performances in the main tent. The group from Platfontein, called the DRAPJJ STARS, with hip hop and rap music, mixed it up with the San language and the English language.

DRAPJJ STARS

The moment DRAPJJ STARS stepped  on the stage, every one in the surrounding areas ran to the tent to watch their performance.

X-K FM presenter interviewing young people

On the evening of the last day the presenter interviewed  young people about their  experiences at the Kalahari Desert Festival 2014. The presenters did an excellent job.

The donkey carts were the only transport allowed at the venue. People had to pay to be transported around in the area and it was found to be very trustworthy.

Hennie Swart

Special thanks goes to the main man, a friend, organiser and everything of the Kalahari Desert Festival.
He started the initiative for the San people to share their cultural heritage. His name is Hennie Swart, the only white man with a black surname. He drives a black Isuzu truck and likes wearing his black t-shirt.

Also thanks to the following people for making the trip a success:

• Me Regina Beregho, X-K FM station manager.
• Mr William Heath, Line Manager RBF.

Interview with an Archivist at SABC Polokwane

Phindile Maringa is an archivist from the SABC Media Libraries. She  relocated on 1 August 2012 from the SABC Radio Archives in Johannesburg, to being the archivist in SABC Media Libraries, Polokwane.

The archivists in the regions are doing things in a different way and on a different scale than here in Johannesburg. They are sometimes expected to be and do more than their initial job requirements specify for an archivist.

It is extremely interesting to have an interview with an archivist who has been working here at head office, and to now compare how things are being done in the regions.


Phindile, please tell us a why you moved to SABC Polokwane. 

I took a transfer back home because I wanted to be with my family. Working a distance away from the kids and my partner initially put strain on me as I had to travel back home each weekend. 
I say thanks to the SABC for granting my request. 

What can you tell us about SABC Polokwane?

SABC Polokwane is a warm welcoming area, where I feel comfortable to share my skills and knowledge acquired. The natural warm feeling comes when one gets greeted by various personnel, who are already calling me by my name. This helps me feel at home and welcomed.

Please tell us about a normal day in your office

I usually prioritize on request and cataloguing news and actuality. It feels good to directly deal with clients. [Which she mostly did not do have to attend to when she was in HQ] 
Besides cataloguing and attending to customer requests, I do recordings of day to day broadcasts of Thobela Fm. I transfer recordings onto cd format. 
I also sort and make a selection of material to catalogue and file. 

Tell us more about your collection and the scope of material you need to preserve in the archives in Polokwane

My collection includes a backlog of reel-to-reel tapes, cassettes, mini-discs and cd’s which contains all broadcasted material for Thobela Fm. 

Do you struggle with technical difficulties, and if so, what?

Yes, I do struggle,  but with the interference of the BIT team, my trouble get sorted right away after logging a call.

Tell us why you enjoy doing the work that you do

I enjoy being an information officer because I get to know what is current information globally. 
I have a greater awareness of what is happening in my surrounding areas as well. 
Furthermore, it gives me a chance to use various operating and information systems and to be technologically inclined.


Related post:

The weekly archivist interview: English Archivist


Questions and blog post by Karen du Toit, Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives

British Library Audiovisual Archiving training workshop

British Library

A British Library Audiovisual Archiving training workshop is busy taking place here at the SABC from 28 March to 1 April 2011.

The workshop focuses on audio and video archiving and will be funded by the British Library who will also do the training. For this workshop the British Library in cooperation with the SABC Media Libraries have invited:

1. The SABC Regions who do not always have hands-on access to training
2. One participant from the following 5 countries who are SABA members: Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho, DRC and Angola. We are working closely with UNESCO in this regard.

The SABC hosts and provides the necessary equipment. Where the SABC do not have the required equipment, the British Library brought the equipment with them.The British Library is funding the workshop as well as the workshop delegates.

25 people are attending, with representatives from Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho and the DRC.

The SABC Media Libraries hope that this will be the beginning of a long-term relationship with the British Library and that both SABA and the SABC will benefit greatly from this initiative with more member countries to get involved. – Ilse Assmann (Manager, SABC Media Libraries)

The invitation letter from Dr Janet Topp Fargion, Lead Curator, World and Traditional Music of the British Library had the following details:

The British Library has received support from the World Collections Programme to run a course on sound and audiovisual archiving in South Africa. The programme builds on similar training provided in Kenya since 2009.

Participants for the programme are being drawn from the SABC Regional branches and from broadcast archives in other southern African countries.

The training will cover issues of documentation and collection management, digitization of audio and video collections, and storage. It will take place in studios of the SABC to ensure as much hands-on experience as possible. For this reason too the number of participants is being kept to a minimum.

The trainers from the British Library will include Dr Janet Topp Fargion (Lead Curator, World and Traditional Music), Andrew Pearson (Maintenance Repair & Design Engineer, Sound and Vision) and Will Prentice (Head of Technical Services, Sound and Vision).