ARTS: The age of innocence; Archive recordings are all the rage, as a host of musical styles fills the record shops. By MICHAEL CHURCH.(Features) From: The Independent (London, England) | Date: April 23, 2003| Author: | COPYRIGHT 2003 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Even without the recent war, swooping round the globe to catch qawwali in Pakistan and nose-flutes in Tonga had begun to look like a pampered Nineties luxury, as swathes of the world turned hostile to Western gawpers. Moreover, the world's musical languages are under threat, and when a language dies, resuscitation is impossible. All this makes archive recordings of supreme importance, so it's nice to find them increasingly filling the shops.

The Rounder label now offers 20 CDs from the vast archive collected by world music's founding father, Alan Lomax, whose Mississippi ...