133 - African Skeins

133 - African Skeins

From Slumberland by Slumberland Productions

March 20, 2026 · 18 min · Season 10 · Episode 133

About this episode

The episode features an oral history recounting the adventures of Noah Dahl, a globetrotting archaeologist and music collector, as told by his former assistant, Whit Pistil.

Slumberland's Oral History Project receives new material relating to the life and times of Noah Dahl, a man equal parts globetrotting archaeologist and musical instrument fanatic. He once traveled across Africa collecting folk music recordings (and also getting into trouble). That tale is told here by his former assistant, Whit Pistil. More about Slumberland at this link. Whit Pistil performed by Heidi Fischer. Dive into Heidi's performance work here, including the podcast Your Local Time Travelers. This story is dedicated to the life and memory of Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds. The song "Native Sun" by Agent-X from the album Rituals. The sound design in this episode owes thanks to Freesound Project contributors: soundmary, barrgusey, rtb45, felix-blume, knova, swiftoid, barcelonetasonora, giddster, ev-dawg, craigsmith, Jovica, migfus, greaetsoundstube, kyles, fedor_ogon, imaginarydusty, gregorquendel, jormac326, themindorchestra, and richwise. Thank YOU for listening to Slumberland!

People in this episode

Guest: Whit Pistil

Topics covered

  • oral history
  • archaeology
  • music
  • Africa
  • storytelling

Keywords

  • Noah Dahl
  • Whit Pistil
  • African music
  • oral history
  • archaeology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Slumberland Productions, Agent-X

Products: Native Sun

Books & works: Your Local Time Travelers

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