The Collection of Father Franz Mayr: Zulu Recordings 1908

In contrast to other historical holdings of the Phonogrammarchiv whose publication has been eagerly awaited by the scientific community, the Zulu recordings made by Father Franz Mayr in the former British colony of Natal (South Africa) have not yet gained such prominence. Clemens Gutl, who a few years ago first drew attention to the Tyrolean priest and his role as a missionary, substantially contributed to the commentary in the present volume, contextualising the collection from a modern perspective and characterising Mayr as an enthusiastic collector and musically interested person. The wide range of informants recorded by Mayr included young school girls, an old "traditional" healer, non-Christian Zulu people, and Zulus who had already accepted Christianity and European customs (at least formally). As August Schmidhofer explains in his contribution, Mayr's collection embraces a wide range of musical styles performed in Southern Africa at the beginning of the 20th century. While the greatest part of his collection represents various autochthonous styles, there are also several examples of European hymns and new compositions employing European musical techniques.