Intangible Heritage

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UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music of the World

The UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music of the World included more than a hundred pioneering audio recordings of the world’s traditional music published from 1961 to 2003 on a number of different recording labels. The series was launched in 1961 in collaboration with ethnomusicologist Alain Daniélou (1907-1994) and the International Music Council (created by UNESCO in 1949).

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Some elements of the UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music of the World
© UNESCO

The UNESCO Collection was composed of several subseries of recordings published on LP vinyl records and produced, published and distributed by different labels and companies:

The recordings in the Collection are mostly field recordings made in situ, in their original context. Each recording was accompanied by scholarly annotations and photographs. Together, these disks are a reflection of the immense variety of music making and of the position music holds within cultures around the globe.

From the beginning of the 1990s, most of these recordings were reissued on CD by the label Auvidis, which later became Naïve. Until 2003, a total of 115 CD titles were released. These reissues, new issues and compilations were made available under five new series:

In 2005, the collaboration with Naïve ended, and the titles are currently not available for purchase. However, a new partnership is in preparation in order to make the titles of the Collection available again to the general public. In addition to the previously released issues, some 15 unpublished titles will finally be released. More information will be posted on this internet page when it becomes available.