Reel 2 Real - Project Partners

Reel to Real Project Partners

The Reel to Real project was made possible by the support and cooperation of a number of institutions and individuals, to whom we extend our thanks:

British Library Sound Archive (project partner) - Janet Topp Fargion, Nigel Bewley, Will Prentice, and Adrian Poole.

Oxford eResearch Centre (project partner) - Marina Jirotka and Grace Eden. Many thanks also to Paul Luff from King's College, London.

SoundCloud generously gave the project an unlimited data account for the website - many thanks to Ben Fawkes and Soundcloud.

Profile Video Ltd., Oxford digitized the reel to reel tapes, audiocassettes and DATs for the project, and did a wonderful job. Many thanks to Geoff Bridges, Paul Skinner, Duncan, and Angela Willson.

The Museums Association administered the funding, and assisted with the project network.

The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation - our funders, many thanks!

To the donors of sound material and their families who we have been in touch with during the project, we extend our thanks. Especially Tandi Clausen-May, the family of Ann Osborn, Richard Saumarez Smith, Patti Langton, Mike Day of Intrepid Cinema, Ana Katarina Hajduk, Audrey Butt Coulson, and Louis Sarno.

About the Project

Sound Galleries

Musical torchlit trails at the Pitt Rivers Museum

On Friday November 23rd 2012, the galleries of the Pitt Rivers Museum were plunged into evening darkness and bathed in Bayaka music and sound from the Central African Republic. Visitors were given torches to explore the galleries that were transformed into a rich forest soundscape with sung fables, snatches of laughter, beautiful variations on harps and flutes, and the stunning polyphonic singing of Bayaka women. Hidden surprises included mini projections from the rainforests and a visualiser designed by Nathaniel Mann, the PRM's Embedded Composer in Residence. The evening was filmed By Mike Day of Intrepid Cinema as part of the Reel to Real project, and complemented the Oxford City-wide Christmas Light Night organised by Oxford Inspires. A four hour playlist of Bayaka music from the PRM's sound collections, originally recorded by Louis Sarno, was curated on the evening by Nathaniel Mann and Dr Noel Lobley. The event was streamed online, and was watched live in the Central African Republic by Louis Sarno and some of the Bayaka community.