Lost Sounds, Written Sources

Field Research and the Archive Grooves Artistic Testbed on Written and Digital Music Sources

Introduction 

This webpage presents the outcomes of the Research Meets Art in Residence (RAiR) 2025 project Lost Sounds, Written Sources. 

The project examines written and digital sources about music in the Netherlands. Its focus is not on sound recordings themselves, but on the writing through which music is discussed, interpreted and historicised. Reviews, interviews, specialist magazines, zines, blogs, web publications and scene-based platforms document how music is understood, debated and situated within specific communities and historical moments. 

Music plays a visible and active role in Dutch society. Yet within national heritage infrastructures, music-related documentation often remains structurally underexposed. This is not due to a lack of material. Rather, much of this writing circulates across dispersed institutions, private collections and digital environments, and does not easily align with established collection frameworks. 

The central question guiding the research is: 

How are written and digital sources about music recognised, organised and sustained within the national library? 

By examining music-related writing as a case, the project clarifies broader mechanisms of selection, fragmentation and recognition within heritage practice. 

Research approach 

The project consists of two complementary components. 

A. Field research 

The analytical core of the study is based on more than sixty semi-structured interviews and focus groups with researchers, archivists, librarians, journalists, programmers, policymakers and digital practitioners. 

The findings reveal recurring structural patterns: 

→ Documentation exists in abundance, but is dispersed and unevenly connected. 

→ Digital music-related sources are particularly vulnerable to disappearance. 

→ Domain-specific knowledge is essential for long-term interpretability. 

→ Visibility within institutional systems shapes cultural recognition. 

The central issue is therefore not scarcity, but fragmentation. 

B. Archive Grooves - artistic testbed 

Alongside the field research, the project developed Archive Grooves in collaboration with Thunderboom Records and live coder and computational artist Timo Hoogland. 

In this testbed, written music texts from KB collections, including materials from Delpher and newly digitised scans of magazines, were assembled, analysed and translated into sound through data analysis and live coding. The project demonstrates how artistic and computational approaches can open alternative modes of engagement with archival material. At the same time, it makes visible and audible the assumptions embedded in heritage infrastructures when textual structures are translated into algorithmic systems. 

Considerations 

Written and digital sources about music are already present within the KB across catalogues, digitised newspapers and web archives. However, they rarely appear as a connected domain. 

This study highlights the importance of: 

• Clarifying existing holdings 
• Making structural gaps transparent 
• Strengthening domain-specific expertise 
• Improving thematic orientation and entry points 
• Supporting coordination across institutions and communities 

Music is not treated as exceptional. Rather, it functions as a lens through which structural limits within heritage practice become visible. 

Acknowledgements 

This research was carried out within the Research Meets Art in Residence (RAiR) programme at the KB, National Library of the Netherlands, on behalf of the Dutch Jazz Archive. 

Dutch Jazz Archive 

• Ruud Visschedijk – Institutional support 
• Jan Brouwer – Expertise and ongoing involvement 

KB – Residency and research support 

• Rosemarie van der Veen-Oei – Enabling the residency 
• Willem Jan Faber – Ongoing dialogue and project development 

KB - Web and digital expertise 

• Steven Claeyssens – Curator of Digital Collections, KB 
• Sophie Ham – Web preservation 
• Celonie Rozema – Digital research support 
• Mirjam Raaphorst – Digital research support 
• Iris Geldermans – Digital research support 
• Marg van der Burgh – Heritage Network Manager, KB 

KB - Imaging and technical support 

• Ruben Vlijm – Imaging, digitisation and photography
• Jacqueline van der Kort – Imaging, digitisation and photography
• Mirjam Cuper – OCR 

KB  - Public programming 

• Luuk de Jong – Public programming 
• Matthijs van der Meulen – Public programming 
• Rianne Koning – Public programming 

KB - Additional support and feedback

• Martijn Kleppe 
• Wilma van Wezenbeek 
• Angélique de Meijer – Bibliographic Metadata Specialist, KB 
• Olaf Janssen 
• Anne-Katelijne Rotteveel 
• Michel de Gruijter 
• Erik Boekesteijn 
• Kimberly Brinkhuis – Audio version of Points of View 

Archive Grooves – Artistic collaboration 

• Timo Hoogland – Live coding and computational art 
• Ruben Verkuylen – Design and sound 
• Max Tiel – Thunderboom Records 
• Joost de Boo – Thunderboom Records 
• Lotte Ottevanger – Public presentation (Museum Night 2025) 

Field research : Interviewees 

Researchers and academic experts 

• Prof. Dr. Geert Buelens – Professor of Dutch Literature, Utrecht University 
• Dr. Laurens Ham – Assistant Professor of Modern Dutch Literature, Utrecht University 
• Kim Dankoor – Media literacy specialist and hip hop researcher, Utrecht University 
• Josephine Zwaan – Researcher, Erasmus School of Philosophy; artist 
• Dr. Aafje de Roest – Assistant Professor of Literary Cultures, University of Amsterdam 
• Dastan Abdali – Researcher in hip hop and society, Leiden University 
• Dr. Renée Vulto – Assistant Professor of Intangible Heritage and Song Studies, Utrecht University 
• Prof. Dr. Mykaell Riley – Director Black Music Research Unit, University of Westminster 
• Sophie de Jong – Research advisor, PON & Telos 
• Prof. Dr. Huib Schippers – Director International Centre for Cultural Sustainability; Distinguished Changjiang Professor, Zhaoqing University 
• Mark van Bergen – Writer, lecturer and researcher in electronic dance music culture, Tilburg University 

Archivists, library professionals, heritage and policy experts 

• Brent Reidy – Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Research Libraries, New York Public Library 
• Marie-Claire Dangerfield – Information Management Specialist, Rotterdam City Archives 
• Ingmar Vroomen – Information Management Specialist, Rotterdam City Archives 
• Tiarra Simon – Acquisitions and Community Archives Officer, Amsterdam City Archives 
• Judith Kadee – Exhibitions Project Lead, The Hague Historical Museum 
• Ditmer Weertman – Curator of Music Collections, Allard Pierson 
• Wytze Koppelman – Curator of Culture and Entertainment, Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision 
• Martine de Bruin – Researcher in song culture, Meertens Institute 
• Sandy Tzagkaraki – Archivist, Netherlands Music Institute 
• Joost Beijaard – Muziekbank Enschede 
• Ben Pikula – Muziekbank Enschede 
• Lisanne Louise Bedaux – Senior Advisor for Culture and Heritage, Dutch UNESCO Commission 
• Noor Sloterdijk – Advisor for Diversity & Inclusion, LKCA 
• Saskia Leefsma – Library professional and specialist in art and collection data management, ARTdata 

Music journalists, writers and community representatives 

• Ewoud Kieft – Writer, historian and musician 
• Hester Carvalho – Music journalist (NRC) and writer 
• Saul van Stapele – Hip hop journalist (NRC) and writer 
• Thomas Heerma van Voss – Writer and journalist 
• Erik van den Berg – Music journalist and writer 
• Leendert van der Valk – Writer and journalist 
• Elly de Waard – Music journalist, poet and writer 
• Rinus van der Heijden – Jazz journalist; co-founder of JazzNu 
• Hans van Deelen – Editor, New Folk Sounds 
• Dick Hovenga – Music journalist and editor, Written in Music 
• Edwin Hofman – Writer and music journalist, Written in Music 
• Holly Dicker – Dance music journalist and writer 
• Peter Schong – Music journalist 
• Danny Veekens – Music journalist 
• Oscar Smit – Music journalist (Vinyl); punk historian 
• Veronica Simmelink – Music journalist (OOR), editor, Ons Limburgs Museum 

Practitioners, programmers and digital practitioners 

• Rosita Leeflang – Researcher of kaseko music, Stichting K.A.S.E.K.O. 
• Mahesvari Autar – Music programmer and founder of DesiYUP 
• Tim Cator – Assistant project coordinator, Diaspora in Beweging 
• Jaïr Tchong – Artistic coordinator, Kaap Arts Centre, Ostend