Sound Expeditions’ Greg Simmons has launched a crowdfunding campaign to record and share the endangered music of the Sea Gypsies of Southeast Asia.
After spending most of his spare time over the past 14 years in Asia and the Himalaya recording traditional and tribal music, Simmons noticed that older people were increasingly requesting a copy of the recording to be returned to the village because they have ‘no-one to pass it on to’. He determined that younger generations are being assimilated into the dominant cultures and moving into the towns and cities, and are not interested in taking on traditional roles that require them to remain in the villages - including being ‘music keepers’. As a result, the world is literally one generation away from losing lots of amazing and valuable music because the current music keepers have ‘no one to pass it on to’.
Simmons is starting the project with the endangered music of the Sea Gypsies of Southeast Asia. His crowdfunding campaign offers some great rewards for supporters including high-res downloads, Behind-The-Scenes videos, Mix Critique sessions and more.
‘There’s even room for one person (or couple) to join me on the expedition,’ he says. ‘Please check it out and, if you think it’s worthwhile or interesting, get behind it and make a pledge. It’s the first step in what might turn out to be a much larger project. The video accompanying the crowdfunding page says it all.’
