Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford University)

Based in Oxford, U.K., the Pitt Rivers Museum website has thousands of archival sounds which include information about other field collectors and their related collections. The collection includes European children's songs and Bayaka women's songs of the Central African Republic.

The archive has six reel to reel tapes of Berber music. It also has soundscapes from the Ait Hadiddu people that was recorded in August 1961. They were purchased by the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1963. The recordings were made by members of the Oxford University Expedition who visited the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. A document giving context and song translations accompany the recordings.

The music from the recordings includes examples of violin and drum playing, men and women singing. The music also has soundscapes recorded in markets inside a mosque and some from a festival in Rich. The recordings also include several examples of Berber poets singing love songs, beggars singing for charity in Rabat Market and poets praising the prophet and the King of Morocco.
The museum is available to the public, scholars and other audiences.
Type of Archive: Recordings