When I deliver the elevator pitch of A Life’s Work— “a documentary about people engaged in projects they may not see completed in their lifetimes” –I’m usually asked to describe the projects.
Sometimes the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project takes some explaining, and I think I know why: when we think of recorded music (or film, for that matter), we have an idea that somewhere there exists a nice climate controlled room where a pristine, hard, copy of a recording (or print) exists. Maybe it’s in a company vault or a producer’s home, but in our minds it’s there and with little more than a Google search, the master (or negative) can be located. But the reality is very different.
In this clip, Robert Darden of the BGMRP discusses why an estimated 75% of the Black gospel music ever recorded is missing or otherwise unavailable.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxtEO1JGWoQ[/youtube]In a future post, I’ll get into the process of editing this clip. I hope you’ll check it out.
In this clip: Robert Darden and Tony Tadey (in the office), Darryl Stuhr (at the scanner), and Amanda Harlan (at the computer).