Welcome to the Cultures of Sound Network!
We are an international alliance of cultural institutions dedicated to developing exciting new projects around music and sound.
Visit this site (often!) to find out about how we’re delving into sound ~ historical and contemporary ~ through our projects, internships, and other initiatives.
What’s Going On at the CSN?
March 24, 2025
Sound Studies Institute, University of Alberta
Online, Via Zoom
CSN Online Roundtable: Creating Archives of Historical Recordings From Legacy Media
In an age where digital audio is the norm, countless historical recordings remain locked away in outdated formats. How do we preserve these valuable sounds for future generations? This special roundtable discussion, chaired by Dr. Scott Smallwood, will explore the challenges and solutions of digitizing and preserving legacy media the technical tools needed, and what happens after digitization—including cultural ownership, copyright, and best practices for housing archives.
The expert panel will include:
Tom Merklinger (Sound Studies Institute, UofA), Spencer Crewe (Digital Audio Studio Coordinator, MMap), Jonathan Wise (Canadian Museum of History Archives), Jane Arnold (Archive at CBU) & Marcia Ostashewski (Centre for Sound Communities, CBU), and Graham Marshall (Partnering, Engagement & Communications Officer, Parks Canada).
This is a must-attend for anyone interested in preserving audio history! Sign up now!
February, 2025
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Washington, DC
Sons of Membertou at Smithsonian Folklife Festival by Sonya Pencheva.
Sons of Membertou Album Release
The Sound Communities recording series—a collaboration between the Centre for Sound Communities at Cape Breton University and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings—is excited to announce the re-release of Wapna'kik: The People of the Dawn by the Mi'kmaw music group Sons of Membertou.
This release is the first album in Smithsonian Folkways’ new Sound Communities series, produced in collaboration with the Centre for Sound Communities at Cape Breton University. The series will highlight underrepresented voices and communities residing in Turtle Island, focusing on the territories also known as Canada.
November, 2024
Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Montreal
Laurianne Sylvester, Marcia Osteshewski, David Dingwall, and Shauna MacDonald.
Dr. Marcia Ostashewski given the Impact Award from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
Dr. Marcia Ostashewski, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology and Director of the Centre for Sound Communities at Cape Breton University, has been awarded the prestigious 2024 SSHRC Impact Award. The award recognizes her interdisciplinary and collaborative work advancing decolonization within the music industry and her efforts to develop a framework for recording the music and cultures of underrepresented groups. The award ceremony in Ottawa featured a performance by the noted Mi'kmaw music group, the Sons of Membertou.
Congratulations to Dr. Ostashewski on this prestigious honour!
March, 2024
Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media and Place
Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland
Dr. Harris Berger re-awarded Tier One Canada Research Chair in Ethnomusicology
The Canada Research Chair’s Program (CRCP) has awarded Harris M. Berger a second seven-year term as Tier One Canada Research Chair in Ethnomusicology at Memorial University of Newfoundland. (The CRCP is a funding body administered by the government of Canada’s Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat.) Berger holds appointments in both the School of Music and the Department of Folklore and directs Memorial’s Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media, and Place (MMaP), which was founded in 2003 by Memorial’s first CRC in Ethnomusicology, Beverley Diamond. “I am honored to receive this appointment,” Berger said, “and look forward to continuing to lead the work of the Centre.”
October, 2023
Canadian Museum of History
Gatineau, Quebec
Darrell Bernard and Graham Marshall discuss the role of archives and the importance of song in reclaiming Mi’kmaq language and culture.
CSN Round Table on Archives and Access in Ethnomusicology
Members of the Cultures of Sound Network participated in the pre-conference symposium at the 2024 Society for Ethnomusicology conference held in Ottawa, Ontario. The symposium was held at the Canadian Museum of History, across the river in Gatineau, Quebec. The CSN members discussed examples of cross-institution and cross-border collaboration, exploring three projects related to archival access, technological affordance, production, dissemination, creativity, and community engagement.
Marcia Ostashewski (Centre for Sound Communities) and Maureen Loughran (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings) highlighted the SFR rerelease of the Sons of Membertou album and a related SFR online lesson, featuring Mi’kmaw music, with words from Sons of Membertou members Darrell Bernard and Graham Marshall. Harry Berger (MMaP) discussed the album Doughboys and Molasses, Oh!, a collaborative project between the Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media, and Place and the Canadian Museum of History, which is a collection of songs from the Anglophone settler folk music traditions of the outports on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland. And Michael Frishkopf discussed the Extended Reality project Sounding the Garden, which seeks an innovative mode of engaging audiences with Sufi music and poetry from the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Music of Central Asia series.
September, 2023
Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media and Place
Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland
The Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media, and Place at Memorial University, which is a Cultures of Sound Network member, is pleased to announce that an updated version of the Neighbours St. John’s phone app is now available.
A free application for iOS and Android phones, Neighbours: St. John’s presents stories from the diverse cultural communities of the city of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The app offers users a map of downtown St. John’s with markers indicating culturally significant sites in the city. Using GPS technology, the app allows users to create their own walking tour of St. John’s and learn about its history and cultures. Due to technical issues, the app had been removed from the iOS and Google Play app stores, but it is now available once again. The new version offers a cleaner interface and revised information. The iOS version can be downloaded here, and the Android version can be downloaded here. If you had the first version of the app, the new version may already be on your phone. To make sure that your app has the latest data, tap on the three dots at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, tap on “Settings,” and tap on “Check for updated content.”
June, 2023
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Washington, District of Columbia
Smithsonian Folkways Celebrates 75 Years of Folkways Records in 2023
May 2023 marks 75 years since the iconic independent label Folkways Records was founded by Moses Asch and Marian Distler in New York City. In that time, it has become one of the world’s most iconic collections of music and sound, spanning thousands of albums from foundational American folk music to the sounds of everyday life around the world. To celebrate, Smithsonian Folkways will be partnering with the Brooklyn Folk Festival and Smithsonian Folklife Festival for live music performances featuring luminaries such as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Alice Gerrard as well as members of a new generation of innovators like Jake Blount and No-No Boy. The label will also be reissuing classic albums from their storied catalog on LP, including the well-loved Sounds of North American Frogs. Finally, Smithsonian Folkways will be launching a new program called Friends of Folkways which will allow supporters to stream the entire collection for a minimum monthly donation of $5, with details to be announced soon.
Banner images: Woody Guthrie: This Land Is Your Land, The Asch Recordings, Vol. 1, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings; Hardanger Fiddle, Canadian Museum of History, 65-2, CD1994-756-012; Lassana Diabaté: Bala, Centre for Sound Communities, Cape Breton University; Doughboys and Molasses, Oh!, Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media & Place, Memorial University; The Moses Asch LP Collection, Sound Studies Institute, University of Alberta.
