
Recovery of Lost Indigenous Languages by Optical Scanning of Old Wax Cylinders - porsupah
http://www.openculture.com/2018/06/optical-scanning-technology-lets-researchers-recover-lost-indigenous-languages-old-wax-cylinder-recordings.html
======
Aloha
"Due to the culturally sensitive material of the content on these cylinders,
and out of respect for the contemporary descendants of many of the performers
on the recordings, access to the majority of the audio being digitized is
currently restricted."

I'd like to learn more about the cultures of the peoples in this country who
came before me - but I am apparently not 'enlightened' enough to experience
their words.

~~~
Gargoyle
I had a Native American friend who asked me for help with digitizing cassette
tapes of certain ceremonies. I transferred them, cleaned them up a bit, and
burned audio cds for him.

I then deleted all my own copies as he requested. He asked that since the
ceremonies were for his people that I not keep them for myself, and I
respected that.

~~~
GauntletWizard
"As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of
information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people
whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with
freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on
public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who
would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your
master." \- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY57ErBkFFE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY57ErBkFFE))

What was contained in those cermonies that you were not to know? What offense
would he do to his people by sharing their wisdom with you? What didn't they
want you to know?

The answer is "Probably nothing". But in that vast empty space, there's a few
corners where someone is hiding something, and those corners are really
terrible. Look at cults like Children of God [1] - These cults are still
really common.

I'm certain you would have reported if you'd heard anything dangerous on those
tapes. I'm certain that your friends motive for keeping them private were not
threatening and entirely pure. Societal standards - Like rituals and
ceremonies - Aren't private, though, and should never be subject to secrecy.
They should be held up and celebrated. And if they shouldn't be held up and
celebrated, they should probably be left in the past, and remembered as
mistakes.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_International#The_F...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_International#The_Family_of_Love_\(1978%E2%80%931981\))

~~~
yongjik
Given the context, doesn't it feel a bit... tactless to talk about how
Europeans in America used freedom of information to defeat other Europeans and
succeeded in taking the continent for themselves?

------
partycoder
It is sad that so much indigenous knowledge was lost.

One of the most infamous events in the Americas was when Roman Catholic Bishop
Diego de Landa (1524 - 1579) burned thousands of Mayan codices, an event
comparable to the destruction of the Library of Alexandria. The motivation was
the extermination of Mayan culture.

To put things in perspective, how would you feel if all works written in the
English language were piled up and burned? One thing is to disagree with the
content of whatever document, another thing is to permanently suppress it.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_de_Landa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_de_Landa)

Likewise, a lot of artifacts from the first civilizations like Sumer were lost
over the last couple of decades because of wars in the middle east resulting
in museum sackings. The artifacts that were not destroyed, are probably now
contaminated and proving their authenticity will be very hard.

Some people do not support the presence of ancient artifacts museums in
foreign museums, but in retrospective, the more distributed and safer those
artifacts are, the better.

------
8bitsrule
I was disappointed not to hear any audio from their proto-example, the 148
cylinders of Ishi's speech (in the Yahi language).

OTOH, the article did expand Ishi's story for me, if sadly, by pointing out
that he was of mixed Indian blood - and so was not the last _Yahi_.

Maybe the most famous indian recordist was Frances Densmore, who made 2500
recordings of 'Chippewa' music. Today I searched in vain for 15 minutes to
find a collection (more than a handful) of some of those recordings.

Once again, a glaring lack of appreciation for our own history. Which will
probably be rewarded karmicly when our own, 'who cares' history is forgotten.

------
gumby
Is any package available to do optical scanning of vinyl disk records? I've
heard of it but never seen it done.

My parents have a bunch of rare 78s which I would like to be able to listen
to, but am afraid to poke a needle into.

