Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University of the West of England, Bristol
(SAP) Song Archive Project
SAP (Song Archive Project) (2011) is a collection of essays co-edited by Buchheim and Iain Biggs, former Director of PLaCE, responding to a selection of videoed performances by amateur singers. These were selected from over 900 songs that make up the Song Archive Project (http://www.song-archive.org) filmed, compiled and curated by Buchheim. The project addressed Herder’s theory that the cultural identity of a people is reflected in their song tradition, exploring whether this contention can still be applied in contemporary societies in an era of globalised popular culture. Buchheim produced the photo-essay ‘Who, What, When’ which opens the book and co-wrote the concluding discussion between herself and Biggs acting as interlocutor.
The overarching aim of the book was to begin the process of making the Song Archive Project an open research resource rather than a closed archive by exploring the physical and conceptual potential of the material. Buchheim invited international specialists from a wide range of disciplines and academic institutions to collaborate by selecting 21 performances to analyse and reflect upon from within their own fields of expertise. Contributors comprised Dr Oliver Sacks, Columbia Medical Center (neurology); Professor Jens Asendorpf, Head of Psychology, Humboldt University, Berlin and President of the European Association for Personality Psychology and editor of the European Journal of Personality (behavioural psychology); Dr Alinka Greasley, University of Leeds (musical psychology); Dr Liam Devlin, Goldsmiths, University of London (philosophy) and Dr Sean Ashton, independent art critic (fiction).
The publication was launched at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff (November 2011) as part of a new event, Übersong, consisting of open mic sessions, which translated the book into a live script. Buchheim presented the research questions and findings at the 10th Congress of the International Society for Ethnology and Folk Life (SIEF) in Lisbon, (April 2011).
