8,000 vintage Afropop songs, streaming online

March 8, 2016 2:30 PM

An amazing treasure trove of 8,000 Afropop tracks. The British Library just released this archive as part of their first online sound project within their Endangered Archives Programme (EAP). The recordings are from the state-supported Syliphone label and were released between 1958 to 1984.

About Guinea on Wikipedia.

A brief guide to early African electronic music.

posted by nickyskye (24 comments total)

Saweeet!
posted by asok at 2:53 PM on March 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

YYYYAAAAAAAAASSSSSSS!!!!!
posted by putzface_dickman at 2:54 PM on March 8, 2016

FLASH, come the fuck on.

(yes, I'm sorry, I'm ungrateful).
posted by fizzix at 4:08 PM on March 8, 2016

There's a ton of stuff on this site, not just this collection but many others. The interface is kind of klunky, though. It would be great if there was a way to listen to a collection without having to click on each individual song.
posted by irisclara at 4:10 PM on March 8, 2016

Incredible! I wish there was some way to get a mass download or whole albums - definitely worth paying money for, especially if it could help support the streaming, too.
posted by Mizu at 4:46 PM on March 8, 2016

Another amazing thing I didn't know about, thank you! Perfect timing too, as I was just listening to Bembeya Jazz National, via this Aquarium Drunkard post.

If people are looking for a place to start with all this wonderful music, check them out!
posted by neroli at 5:24 PM on March 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Holy crap, this is awesome!

definitely worth paying money for, especially if it could help support the streaming, too.

Or give them to archive.org.
posted by carter at 5:48 PM on March 8, 2016

I started clicking through at random, got a tune, it's great, and it turns out that it's Miriam Makeba singing, in Arabic, a song for Algerian martyrs ...
posted by carter at 6:01 PM on March 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

A bunch of these albums are available digitally on iTunes, Amazon, and emusic. Bembeya Jazz National is amazing!

I also love and highly recommend Syli Authentic, Keletigui et ses tambourinis, Balla et ses Balladins, and Super Boiro Band!!

The musical output (fostered by the Guinean State) that occurred just after Guinea's independence from France is truly incredible.
posted by nikoniko at 8:40 PM on March 8, 2016 [4 favorites]

Oh, and they're also available on Spotify...

Whether or not the musicians who are still alive will receive a fraction of a penny is another story.
posted by nikoniko at 8:49 PM on March 8, 2016

Err, a bit late to the party but... this was supposed to take only 20 minutes and ended up not, at all.

I created a shuffling player which goes through all 7781 songs here.

It's very minimal. There's no UI. If you like it & want something added to it, let me know.

(long time lurker, first time poster. hi!)
posted by vert canard at 10:56 PM on March 8, 2016 [28 favorites]

vert canard, thank you so much!!!
posted by E. Whitehall at 11:22 PM on March 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

This might be the first news of 2016 that doesn't totally suck. Thanks.
posted by Rykey at 11:23 PM on March 8, 2016

Awesome. A friend clued me into this a couple of days ago, but the dreadful interface didn't make it very easy to enjoy.

Outstanding work, vert canard. Your zero interface is much better. Although right now it's getting stuck in a loop, playing the same track over and over again. Refreshing reloads with a new track, but then that one loops too.
posted by ZipRibbons at 12:37 AM on March 9, 2016

Oh, ZipRibbons, sorry! MeMail me your browser/OS? I'd be happy to troubleshoot.

I should probably add some interface.
posted by vert canard at 12:41 AM on March 9, 2016

I added a minimalist UI and re-deployed it. Please reload the page if you see the non-UI version.

ZipRibbons, please let me know if that fixes/improves things!
posted by vert canard at 1:21 AM on March 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

You're the very best, vert canard. It's still glitching in Safari, but works fine in Firefox. I MeMailed you a breakdown.
posted by ZipRibbons at 1:49 AM on March 9, 2016

This post and this player are both fantastic.
posted by JanetLand at 5:49 AM on March 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

Thank you for the post, thank you for the player. Listening now.
posted by Speculatist at 7:21 AM on March 9, 2016

Thank you! After a rotten evening last night, this absolutely made my day. I needed something wonderful to drown out all my worries about November. :-)
posted by tully_monster at 7:30 AM on March 9, 2016

vert canard, you are amazing. Thank you.
posted by nickyskye at 9:24 AM on March 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

Vert canard is the best of Metafilter!
posted by irisclara at 10:21 AM on March 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

FANTASTIC. I am heading to Morocco for 10 days with a student group next Friday, & this post couldn't be timelier or more appreciated. Thank you!
posted by foodbedgospel at 5:46 AM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I somehow missed this when it first came around and then caught this post in Flipboard or some other app I rarely used last night, and finally checked it out for real today and it is fantastic and vert canard has made the best first comment I can imagine.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:27 PM on March 16, 2016