Dinka Songs from South Sudan (British Library)

The songs in this collection were recorded by researchers from the University of Edinburgh and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London for a project conducted between 2009 and 2012 . The collection was done in collaboration with Dinka researchers in South Sudan. Housed at the British Library, London, in the U.K., the music archive is a collection of field recordings made in South Sudan which document Dinka song culture.

The academic aims of the project were, first, to understand the interplay between Dinka song structures and the Dinka language (which distinguishes words not just by different consonants and vowels but also by means of vowel duration, pitch and voice quality), and, second, to learn more about the song tradition and the ways it has responded to the intense disruptions caused by protracted civil war.

Funding for the project was provided by the ‘Beyond Text’ programme of the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. Project participants included Bob Ladd, Angela Impey, Bert Remijsen, Elizabeth Achol Ajuet Deng, Peter Malek, Miriam Meyerhoff and Simon Yak Deng Yak.