This book is an ethnographic study of sound archives and the processes of creative decolonization that form alternative modes of archiving and curating in the 21st century. It explores the histories and afterlives of sound collections and practices at the International Library of African Music. Sound Fragments follows what happens when a colonial sound archive is repurposed and reimagined by local artists in post-apartheid South Africa. The narrative speaks to larger issues in sound studies, curatorial practices, and the reciprocity and ethics of listening to and reclaiming culture. Sound Fragments interrogates how Xhosa arts activism contributes to an expanding notion of what a sound or cultural archive could be, and where it may resonate now and in future.
"Noel Lobley's book Sound Fragments is a 'must read' that provides an exegesis of the author's project which involved taking sound recordings from the International Library of African Music (ILAM) to the Xhosa community... When Lobley takes recordings back into the community, he is engaged in a serious business. After listening to the songs, tales, and any recordings done from their communities so
Perminus Matiure, University of Namibia
"By reimagining the archive as a fluid, responsive space, Sound Fragments challenges the traditional notion of archives as static containers of knowledge. Instead, it presents a vision for archives as sites of collaboration, creativity, and social change."
