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.

Wordless Wednesday - Sound Archivist with "records" t-shirt

Last day of an archivist on the job - Markus Mmutlana (Vlog1)

Markus Mmutlana, our News and Actuality Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives, went on retirement last week.

He describes how he came to realize the importance of archives after he started working as an archivist in the Sound Archives.

See a previous interview with him about his daily work as an archivist:
The Weekly Archivist interview: News and Actuality archivist

It is sad to see a lifetime of acquired knowledge walk out of the archives. Markus has a wealth of experience and information in the Broadcasting Industry as well as the history of South Africa through his work as a news and actuality archivist. He was unable to carry some of that tacit knowledge over to a new successor because posts have been frozen. It was not possible for him to teach his successor while he was still working here.

May you enjoy your retirement, Markus!


This is an experimental Vlog by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.
(Apologies for  the less-than-perfect quality as it was recorded on a cellphone.)

The daily challenges of a sound archivist

Each job has its own intrinsic frustrations that comes as a given. The sound archivist in a broadcasting environment also has a fare share of daily frustrations. I will call it daily challenges.

Daily challenges of a sound archivist

• Having to unlock a sound carrier without any information. There is no extra data on the cover, or inside. There is no information on the sound carrier itself. 

The cover of a reel-to-reel-tape (no indication of what is inside)

Inside: a reel-to-reel tape with a cryptic note: "Patrick Mynhardt reads  Herman Charles Bosman" Tape 1
But the sound differs from the note...

• The sound carriers are degrading, and some we can't recover. The mini-disc carriers are some of the fastest degrading carriers, and we are unable to digitize it as it degrades.

mini-disc carrier

• The sound recording and sound playback devices are going obsolete, and we are unable to get it serviced properly as well as get parts for broken items.

Reel-to-reel-tape Studer tape recorder

CD, MD and tape cassette machines stacked on top of each other

• The journalists, programme producers and programme managers do not alert us to new programmes or special broadcasts or a change in the daily schedule. (Although we have asked to be kept in the loop.)
• The journalists, programme producers and programme managers do not attach meta data or information about a programme on the sound being made available or on broadcast.
• The public and journalists / producers expect us to be on top of a 24/7 broadcast feed, and to have it catalogued as well! It is impossible!
• The digital world brings it own challenges. It is wonderful to have the audio available on the computer, but it does not help at all when the meta data was not added correctly. It is sometimes even more trickier to find out the origins of a piece of audio when it is only marked with temporary titles.

Dalet 5.1 Digital Audio System

• Going to the shelve, and finding it empty. It has been removed for request purposes (hopefully) or else it means that it is lost. 
• The request archivists deal with journalists who runs in at the last moment, and expect to find a sound clip to use asap. 

It is only some of the challenges that we face on a daily basis in the SABC Radio Archives. 

Can you add to this list?

Post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.