by Sandy Hirsh

SLIS student Jonathan Ward has been nominated for a Grammy in the category of best historical album for his album: Opika Pende: Africa At 78 RPM.  The Grammy Award Ceremony is February 10, 2013.  He has stiff competition, but it is amazing to be nominated. On behalf of SLIS and CASA, we want to congratulate Mr. Ward on his Grammy nomination.

Mr. Ward is quoted as saying, “It is truly astonishing to consider the tremendous variety of music that was pressed to shellac discs on the continent of Africa. Popular songs, topical songs, work songs, comic songs, songs of worship, ritual, dance, and praise—the sheer range of musical styles resists any easy categorization. Further, African geography itself resists boundaries. The boundaries of cultures and languages are often far more complex than political boundaries. Complicating things further, entire countries seem to have been skipped over by both commercial 78 rpm record companies and ethnographers during the 78 rpm era. No doubt it was the same with many cultures. But that doesn’t mean that 78s weren’t everywhere, even in remote parts of the continent. By the mid-1960s, 78s were still a popular if not preferred medium in much of Africa, as a significant amount of the population still used wind-up gramophone players.”

A link to the album and music can be found here: http://www.dust-digital.com/africa/