In downtown Indianapolis, there is an interactive museum where you’re free to hit, scrape, and strike just about anything you can see. The Rhythm! Discovery Center is an excellent resource for education for anyone with an interest in sound. Matthew Altizer joins us to explore this unique percussion museum that was conceived by the Percussive Arts Society. Find out about unique items in their collection including a World War II-era Ludwig “Victory” drum set, Clair Omar Musser’s one-of-a-kind Celestaphone, and giant wind chimes.

**Update**

You can hear a recording of the celestaphone in Episode #10.5: Celestaphone (Half-isode)

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Aleks Kolkowski is an accomplished musician and sound artist. He is the Sound Artist in Residence at the Science Museum of London. His recent installation, known as Babble Machine, takes its name from a fictional device referenced in The H.G. Wells novel, The Sleeper Awakes, and was made in collaboration with radio researcher Alison Hess and poet and historian Katy Price. We’ll walk you through the installation as it eerily blends sounds of the past and present.

NOTE: The Babble Machine exhibit is now closed, but you can find out more about it here.

Explore:
The Sleeper Awakes by H.G. Wells
The Voice of the Crystal
Hello, Everybody!: The Dawn of American Radio by Anthony Rudel
Listening In: Radio And The American Imagination by Susan Douglas

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Click here for a transcript of this episode.

Craig and Betty Sibongile Dlamini from Indiana University explore the role of language, music, and dance in southern African mines and the positivity that emerged from hardships endured by miners. The history and origins of South African gumboot dancing are explained in this week’s episode.

Audio examples in this week’s show are from a recording by Stephen Bess of LeSole’s Dance Project and UMOJA: The Spirit of Togetherness.

Explore:

Gumboot Guitar – Zulu Street Guitar Music From South Africa
Gumboots: An Explosion of Spirit & Song

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Click here for a transcript of this episode.