Lecture by Dmytro Nikolaienko “Working with Musical Archives”

With the renaissance of the vinyl format in the last decade, the archive / reissue label phenomenon has emerged. Soundtracks marked “first time on vinyl” or “never heard before”, rare library music, works of unknown music amateurs and so-called “bedroom producers” – all this today finds a new breath in the music world.

In the early 10s, a group of enthusiasts asked themselves: Why is there no label in Ukraine that deals with local musical archeology? In response, after six years of preparation, the ‘Shukai’ Archive Record Label was founded in 2018. It focuses on the revival of tapes made by outsider composers between 1960 and 1991, also for films and television, but which were forgotten or have not even been heard by anyone. The lecturer seeks to lift the veil over the process of working with archives, not least by formulating problems that hinder its implementation. It is also proposed to consider why preserving the musical heritage of Soviet Ukraine is important.

The event will take place on December 5 at 12:00 live, the video broadcast will be available on the Facebook page of Visual Culture Research Center.

Dmytro Nikolaienko is a Ukrainian sound-artist currently based in Tallinn, Estonia. Nikolaienko works mainly with outdated musical gear which he uses to produce tape and cassette loops as a base material for his sound collages. At the same time, Dmytro is also a founder of Muscut and Shukai labels which focus on pseudo and practical audio archaeology.

Organized by Cashmere Radio (Berlin, Germany) and Visual Culture Research Center (Kyiv, Ukraine).

The lecture will take place as part of the second part of the residency of electronic music “Nachtkultur/Нічна культура”. The project was implemented within the “MEET UP! German-Ukrainian Youth Encounters” programme with support from the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” (EVZ). The opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of the Foundation EVZ. The author is solely responsible for the content.