GBC Gramophone Library

The “Gram Library”, as it is known, of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation is the largest collection of recorded music in Ghana and one of the largest archival collections in Africa.

It contains thousands of gramophone records from local, foreign, and international recording companies, dating back to the 1940s, as well as vinyl records, cassettes, and CDs. Apart from music, it also holds sound recordings (acetate records) of political speeches from the time prior and after Ghana’s Independence.

The “Project to Digitize, Archive, and Safeguard the Gramophone Library of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation” was started In October 2008, and has been ongoing since. It is a joint project between the G.B.C. and The Center for World Music at the University of Hildesheim/Germany, and led by Dr. Markus Coester from the The Center for World Music. 

The funding was granted by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ programme for the preservation of cultural heritage. In 2008 the library was fully renovated and equipped with current archiving and digitizing technology. An SQL database has been created that contains all the songs that have been digitized as well as discographical research information. 

Additionally databases are being worked on for the Gram Library's CD and cassette collection (so far about 2000 CDs have been captured on a song basis) as well as the over 1000 audio cassettes.

Source : GBC website