Join audio engineer and preservationist Kurt Riemann for a discussion about Alaska’s rich music history and the need to conserve and make available irreplaceable historical and cultural audio resources. Learn about the mechanics of preservation, sample audio from incredible performances, and hear a few wild stories lifted from the recordings and the accompanying program material.

The mission of the nonprofit Alaska Music Archives (AkMA) is to collect, digitize, document, and catalog historical and new music, as well as record under-represented Alaskan Artists. The collection houses the only extant copy of many rare master recordings. Every type of Alaskan music is represented dating back to the 1940s including Native Alaskan music, folk, rock, and classical. The 10,000 original recordings to date include reel-to-reels, cassette tapes, CDs, and one-of-a-kind vinyl pressings.

This is the opening lecture in the Cook Inlet Historical Society’s 2022-2023 Lecture Series.

Life-long Alaskan audio engineer and musical artist Kurt Riemann has recorded over 800 albums at his Surreal Studios and countless live performances throughout Southcentral Alaska. He is the Project Director at the Alaska Music Archives, and he produces the Alaska Music Podcast.

Photo Credit: Digitizing a rare 1954 test pressing of theAnchorage Community Chorus Springtime Concert directed by Mary Hale (founder of Anchorage Festival of Music). Courtesy of Alaska Music Archives.

Cook Inlet Historical Society Lecture Series: The Alaska Music Archives- Connections to the Past, Directions for the Future