The Tailenders
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On July 25 PBS will air a documentary entitled The Tailenders, featuring the missionary organization Global Recordings:
"The Tailenders explores the history, techniques and philosophy of a remarkable organization that has recorded Bible stories in over 5,500 of the world’s 8,000-plus languages and dialects, and made those recordings available in the most remote regions through inventive, ultra-low technology. The company has reached out to the 'tailenders'—those who are among the last to see missionaries and whose languages and ways of life are disappearing under globalization’s sweep.... This dedication to amplifying Christian proselytizing with technology has led to signal achievements, including an archive of over 5,400 spoken languages and dialects—the worlds’ largest—many of them extinct or on the verge of extinction, and some of them perhaps preserved nowhere else. The inspired amateur 'techs' of Global Recordings also tackled the problem of bringing the recorded voice to backward regions with delightful ingenuity and artistry, creating a museum’s worth of cheap, durable, hand-powered record and tape players and transistor radios. Archival photos and footage show GRN missionaries astounding native listeners with the boxes that tell stories in their own dialects."
(HT: World Mag Blog)
"The Tailenders explores the history, techniques and philosophy of a remarkable organization that has recorded Bible stories in over 5,500 of the world’s 8,000-plus languages and dialects, and made those recordings available in the most remote regions through inventive, ultra-low technology. The company has reached out to the 'tailenders'—those who are among the last to see missionaries and whose languages and ways of life are disappearing under globalization’s sweep.... This dedication to amplifying Christian proselytizing with technology has led to signal achievements, including an archive of over 5,400 spoken languages and dialects—the worlds’ largest—many of them extinct or on the verge of extinction, and some of them perhaps preserved nowhere else. The inspired amateur 'techs' of Global Recordings also tackled the problem of bringing the recorded voice to backward regions with delightful ingenuity and artistry, creating a museum’s worth of cheap, durable, hand-powered record and tape players and transistor radios. Archival photos and footage show GRN missionaries astounding native listeners with the boxes that tell stories in their own dialects."
(HT: World Mag Blog)
posted by JT at Tuesday, July 18, 2006
4 Comments:
Justin,
Thanks for posting about "The Tailenders." My wife and I will definitely be watching that next week (if I can get our antenna to work). I appreciate how you keep your readers up-to-date on what's going on. I honestly can't keep up most of the time. Your blog is helpful and insightful, and I thank God for it.
Britt
Justin,
I am sorry I didn't mention this post in particular when I linked to your blog this morning. I didn't recognize the name change from Gospel recordings. Of course, I grew up in Toronto and was very familiar with this work.
This is just the kind of mission work initiated by women that I was trying to describe to you several months ago. That women must be free to act for God and be intiators themselves, like Joy Ridderhof, without having to complement a man all the time!
In any case, I have only good things to say about your blog.
Britt and Suzanne:
Thank you both for the kind words.
JT
Hi, Justin. We saw your site's coverage of the POV/PBS film "The Tailenders" and thought you would be interested in our companion website for the film
- http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2006/tailenders/ -
that will feature interviews with filmmaker Adele Horne as well as with Larry Eskridge, the associate director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals, and Dr. Peter Ladefoged, one of the world’s foremost experts on endangered and disappearing languages. Our companion website also links to other websites and resources on evangelism and endangered languages.
We hope that you will consider linking back to our site and promoting the P.O.V. broadcast of “The Tailenders” on Tuesday, July 25th at 10 PM (check local listings) on most PBS stations.
Thank you so much for your time and attention. If you have any questions, please consult our online pressroom (for photos and press releases, at www.pbs.org/pov/pressroom) and feel free to contact Ruiyan Xu at P.O.V. Interactive at xu@pov.org or 212-590-0580.
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