details:
www.ethiofolk.com/en/video/1005
Ft 0559 I
In June, 1965, two young researchers arrived in Addis Ababa at the invitation of Emperor Haile Selassie. The purpose of György Martin (folk dance researcher) and Bálint Sárosi’s (folk music researcher) journey was to examine and explore traditional Ethiopian folklore. They were members of the Folk Music Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, whose head was Kodály at that time. From their home institution they had received internationally renowned knowledge and expertise in folk music research, thus they wished to be among the first to explore Ethiopian folklore. Thus, one of the most exciting and productive expeditions of Hungarian folklore research to Africa began.
As virtually nothing was available about Ethiopian folklore in Hungary at that time, their journey amounted to an academic leap of faith. At the beginning they had no idea of the richness of the archaic dance and music culture that they would encounter. Without any knowledge of the place and the material that awaited them in Ethiopia, their only support were the 70 years of experience crystalized in the methodology of Hungarian folk music research and the tools of contemporary documentation. While, some cultural exchange between the two countries followed their journey to Ethiopia for a few years, the collection’s material slowly became forgotten.
During their journey, apart from keeping detailed notes and records, they made audio and video recordings, photographs, and bought instruments. They returned home all together with approximately 3200 meters of video recordings, 30 strips of audio tape and 1100 photographs.
Processing the Ethiopian collection meant a new challenge for the team, since the collection itself took place more than five decades ago. We had to learn and understand a methodology that relied on the technology of the time and transfer it to a modern software environment. After digitalization we created a data structure and based on the available records and notes we made a full-scale collection reconstruction, fine-tuning the data and creating cross-references. Thus, we got a meta-data structure that could be placed to the software environment, developed by the Polyphony Project, which is capable of fulfilling online publication purposes as well as assisting research. Behind the scenes of a website that is accessible to everybody, there is a diverse database system that complies with the most rigorous of scientific standards and handles significantly more considerations that what is visible from the displayed elements.
Looking back at György Martin and Bálint Sárosi’s journey, it becomes clear that the tools and knowledge they had, constituted a truly internationally unique combination. This made possible a valuable review of Ethiopia’s musical heritage and the collection of such a vast material in a couple of weeks that still requires and inspires research today. It is with great honour that we continue the work started by Sárosi and Martin, and contribute to the growing knowledge and experience of folk music and dance research in both countries in collaboration with our Ethiopian colleagues.