To help get this blog up and running, I’ll occasionally post more than once a week, at least for a short while.
This is a brief, ethnographic recording from Mali. It’s origins are unknown, except that it seems to be a 1930s French test pressing, with handwritten notes on the label. This would seem to be either a true field recording, or a dub of one – I know next to nothing about the “Archives Internationales de Musique Populaire”…
Despite being stunningly low-fi and tinny it’s still a unique document.
Technical Notes
Label: Archives Internationales de Musique Populaire
Catalog Number: n/a
Matrix Number: n/a
Excavated Shellac 
Fantastically rhythmical. A great find. I am glad to have stumbled upon your site by accident.
More please!
This is incredible… Magical beyond description.
I already heard about these “Archives Internationales de Musique Populaire”, founded in 1944 in the Museum of Ethnography of Geneva by Rumanian ethnomusicologist Constantin Brailoiu. You will find more information (in French) here : http://www.ville-ge.ch/meg/phonotheque.php
This archive includes the whole “Ogoué-Congo” collection, with field recordings made in 1946 by Gilbert Rouget et Alain Didier for the Musée de l’Homme of Paris. This post gives more details about the Ogoué-Congo mission : http://ethnoarts.over-blog.com/article-noel-ballif-pierre-dominique-gaisseau-la-mission-ogooue-congo-70882178.html
I’m not totally sure about the former French colonies of “Soudan” (today Mali) and Guinea to be one and the same. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Guinea and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Sudan. Therefore llooking closer at the label, I would say that on side A there is love song from Gnuinea-Conakry and on side B a work song (Chant de travail) from Mali.
I believe J-F Le Bihan is correct: Soudan was never a name for French Guinea. You should refile this under Mali or French Soudan. Thanks for the fascinating music!