Halim El-Dabh Mali and Senegal Recordings

Housed at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., Halim El-Dabh’s Mali and Senegal Recordings is a collection of recorded music archives by Halim El-Dabh. El-Dabh is an Egyptian American composer, performer, ethnomusicologist, and educator, who has had a career spanning six decades. He is particularly known as an early pioneer of electronic music for having composed in 1944 the first piece of electronic tape music specifically an electroacoustic musique concrète piece, and later for his influential work at the Columbia–Princeton Electronic Music Center from the late 1950s to early 1960s.

His collection features seven 10-inch tapes of music of Mali and Senegal which he recorded in 1967. The collection includes a two paged log (13 hours; Includes LWO 5132). The collection features a number of tapes with different recordings. The first tape (1 hour; LWO 5132 reel 1) contains rice cultivation songs recorded in Bamako and songs sung by Bambara, Kai, Peul, Sisoks, and Sonrai. All these songs were recorded in Segou, Mali. The second (1 hour; LWO 5132 reel 2B) has a marriage procession recorded in Bamako and Tharef music (including Peul and Sonrai performers) recorded in Tombouctou, Mali.

The third tape (1 hour; LWO 5132 reel 3) contains solo songs by the Sonrai Guard; ‘Nature’, a speech in Tamasheq (Tuareg language); music performed on the Tuareg violin by a Sonrai woman; and music performed on the thumb piano by a Sonrai man. It was recorded in Tombouctou, Mali.

The fourth tape1 hour; LWO 5132 reel 4) contains music performed on the thumb piano called ‘Tuaje Grut Tamasheq’. It is a worker's song that was recorded in Tombouctou, Mali. The fifth (1 hour; LWO 5132 reel 6B) features an instrumental ensemble that was recorded in Bamako, Mali.

The sixth tape (1 hour; LWO 5132 reel 7) contains the ‘Wa-ka-na’ song and a piece on the Tamasheq guitar. It was recorded in Tombouctou, Mali.