The Music from Saharan Cellphones Volume 2 is coming to vinyl. Read more
The Music from Saharan Cellphones Volume 2 is coming to vinyl.
About this project
Music from Saharan Cellphones Volume 2 is a compilation of music collected from memory cards of cellular phones in the Saharan desert. And it's coming to vinyl.
In much of West Africa, cellphones are all purpose multimedia devices. In lieu of personal computers and high speed internet, knockoff cellphones house portable music collections, playback songs on tinny built in speakers, and swap files in a very literal peer to peer Bluetooth wireless transfer.
When I lived in Northern Malian town of Kidal I collected these songs. In 2010 I released a selection of cellphone music on cassette mixtapes. After tracking down the artists I launched a Kickstarter and brought the first volume to vinyl. Over the past year, I've continued to find artists using all the tools available. I've scoured Facebook and Youtube and have returned to Northern Mali to meet musicians face to face.
Volume 2 continues in the same vein as the first volume, drawing on the underground network of popular Saharan tunes. They are also songs that tend towards DIY self production - from local Malian village rappers to Autotuned Tuareg guitarists.
Music from Saharan Cellphones has circulated throughout the internet, featured on BBC, the Guardian, Pitchfork, The Wire Magazine, Vice, and lots of other blogs. Bringing it to vinyl will continue with the goals of the first, to get the artists their deserved recognition and proper compensation. The vinyl is accompanied with liner notes featuring a short bio of each artist as well as their photos on the back cover.
The funding makes this release possible by offering pre-orders of the album, covering a portion of production costs, mastering, distribution, and payment for the artists.
for more info:
FAQ
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Seems like an achievable number. But the actual cost is around $8000 with production and licensing, so if I can reach that it would be awesome. The goal is to sell pre-orders - it ends up being cheaper for everyone.
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Shooting for end of October, beginning of November. I'll send out updates along the way.
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Just add on $10 to your pledge for international shipping!
Rewards
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Pledge $3 or more
92 backers
Digital download of the "Music from Saharan Cellphones Volume 2" official release w/ liner notes.
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $6 or more
13 backers
Cassette version of "Music from Saharan Cellphones Volume 2" + Digital Download (+$10 for international shipping)
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Pledge $6 or more
18 backers
MicroSD memory card of "Music from Saharan Cellphones Volume 2" + Digital Download (+$10 for international shipping)
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Pledge $15 or more
74 backers
Vinyl LP of "Music from Saharan Cellphones Volume 2" + Digital Download (+$10 for international shipping)
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Pledge $20 or more
20 backers
Vinyl LP of "Music from Saharan Cellphones Volume 2" + Cassette + Digital Download (+$10 for international shipping)
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Pledge $20 or more
11 backers
Vinyl LP of "Music from Saharan Cellphones Volume 2" + MicroSD release + Digital Download (+$10 for international shipping)
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Pledge $25 or more
15 backers
Vinyl LP of "Music from Saharan Cellphones Volume 2" + Cassette + Digital Download + Glossy 8x10 of one of musicians from compilation (+$10 for international shipping)
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $25 or more
6 backers
Vinyl LP of "Music from Saharan Cellphones Volume 2" + MicroSD release + Digital Download + Glossy 8x10 of one of musicians from compilation (+$10 for international shipping)
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Pledge $50 or more
3 backers
Vinyl LP of "Music from Saharan Cellphones Volume 2" + Cassette + MicroSD release + Digital Download + Glossy 8x10s of all the musicians (+$10 for international shipping)
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Pledge $100 or more
1 backer
A custom, made to order mix tape made from previously unreleased mp3s from the cellphone archives + All of the above (+$10 for international shipping)
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Pledge $100 or more
11 backers
Cellphone from West Africa full of mp3s from the archives + All of the above (+$10 for international shipping)
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Pledge $500 or more
0 backers
I'll come anywhere on the West Coast of the US (WA, OR, or CA) and DJ a party for you with sounds from the archives of mp3s collected from cellphones + All the above
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Pledge $1,000 or more
0 backers
I'll come anywhere in the continental US and DJ a party for you with sounds from the archives of mp3s collected from cellphones + All the above
Estimated delivery:
Funding period
- (30 days)