African Music Archives
The African Music Archives (AMA) is dedicated to collect modern African music from all sub-Saharan countries. Founded in 1991, it today consists of roughly 14.000 shellacs and vinyl-records, audio- and videotapes, CDs and DVDs. In order to facilitate research, all items can be reviewed in the OPAC online catalogue of the JGU Library. Large parts of the collection are already digitized, but, due to copyright reasons, cannot be made available online. For any information concerning the archive and its collection, feel free to contact the archives’ director Hauke Dorsch.
>> LINK OPAC
>> LINK Virtual Tour of the AMA
>> LINK OPAC
>> LINK Virtual Tour of the AMA
Events / News
December 5, 2022
The workshop brings together archivists, scholars, lawmakers, lawyers, business people and musicians. Participants will focus on the tensions between increasing the accessibility of collections and respecting copyright laws, on digital restitution or repatriation and more.
November 24, 2020
Schon seit einiger Zeit erfährt Musik aus den Ländern des afrikanischen Kontinents eine erhöhte Aufmerksamkeit auf dem globalen Musikmarkt. Wie werden Sie dort wahrgenommen, wie repräsentieren sie sich und sind die Nord-Süd-Beziehungen im Musikbusiness fair?
June 10, 2020
Konzert und Künstlergespräch mit Gyedu-Blay Ambolley und Markus Coester. Gyedu-Bley Ambolley, dessen Musikstil auf einzigartige Weise Highlife, Funk, Soul und RnB kombiniert, verspricht eine schweißreiche Nacht im November.
AMA Relistened
October 1, 2020
“Can't you pronounce 'makossa' like everyone else? You stutter: 'mamako mamasa.' You think they're going to accept that in Yaoundé?” (Dibango 1994:83) This was according to Manu Dibango his father’s reaction when listening to “Soul Makossa” for the first time.
September 1, 2020
In 2004, the independent label No Format! recorded the first album of the friends Gérald Toto, Richard Bona, and Lokua Kanza, and the pan-African band project TotoBonaLokua was born. This is their second album, an easy and playful jazz record of three great vocalists, each being a master at their respective instrument, underlined with smooth atmospheric sounds by the producer and label founder Laurent Bizot.
August 1, 2020
„Twice As Tall“ (2020) is Burna Boy’s fifth album, and the third one to be marketed to international audiences. Whereas „Outside“ (2018) was a respectable kick-off, „African Giant“ (2019) managed to fulfill the claim of its title with a Grammy nomination, Coachella performance and large popularity among critics and fans, both within Nigeria and abroad. It is thus no surprise that „Twice As Tall“ offers plenty of continuities.