In Search of Lost Sounds

Description

Podcast featuring the 'Songs of Caves' recordings by Rupert Till.

Are the sounds of the past lost forever? In the 1960s, an enigmatic American engineer proposed that sound could have been recorded into clay pots, paintings, and other ancient objects as they were made. This episode explores his legacy - and the science behind resurrecting the sounds of the past. Music and sound: "Goodnight Irene", written by H. Ledbetter and J. Lomax, performed by the Weavers (1950), 78 r.p.m. shellac disc recorded using IRENE The early recordings of Alexander Graham Bell are from the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History Volta Laboratory collection and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The songs of Ishi, one of the last surviving members of the Northern California Yahi tribe, are held by the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology in Berkeley, CA. The musicians involved in the 'Songs of the caves' recordings were Rupert Till, Simon Wyatt, Carlos Garcia, and Raquel Jimenez. The bone flute was played by Anna Friederike in Isturitz Cave, France.