Citizen DJ

Berthold Laufer China Collection

Berthold Laufer, one of the most respected sinologists of the early 20th century, recorded a wide array of Chinese folk music, Beijing opera, and music to accompany dramas and shadow plays. The Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University holds 400 phonograph cylinders made between 1901 and 1902 throughout China, along with accompanying notes, translations, and references.

View this collection on the Indiana University website

Download files in bulk

A set of 4375 audio samples have been automatically generated from this collection for use in your favorite music production software. It contains 279 audio segments and 4096 one-shot audio clips, ideal for use in samplers.

Rights & access

The works in this collection have been identified to be in the public domain and are free to use and reuse without restriction. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the works, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Attribution is recommended but not required.

Why is this free to use?

Under the Music Modernization Act of 2018 section 1401, all sound recordings published before January 1, 1923 will entered the public domain on January 1, 2022. The sound recordings in this collection were created between 1901 and 1902, thus are in the public domain.

Suggested credit line

Citizen DJ Project, Laufer, Berthold, 1874-1934.; Indiana University, Bloomington. Archives of Traditional Music.; American Museum of Natural History.; Jacob H. Schiff Chinese Expedition (1901-1904)

Browse & preview files

Click the files below to preview the audio segments: