Sample Bar

Sample Bar is a Swedish innovation that aims to safeguard music cultural heritage on the brink of extinction. New and old generations can learn, play, create and remix together by moving and twisting tactile wooden blocks on a glass surface. With optical tracking the blocks become sensitive controllers that allow endless musical possibilities. Music almost lost in history is brought back for new generations to be inspired.

 We live in a time where cultural heritage is being lost all over the World. Urbanisation, globalisation and digitalisation makes us more curious of future possibilities rather than our history. In some cases when the last person dies, that know the old songs, dances, traditions, stories or craftmanships, that knowledge will be gone forever. In wealthy countries there are resources from institutions and scienctists to safeguard these values, but in developing countries there is no funding for these purposes.

Heritage is the imprint made on us through thousands of years of civilization and culture - and can sometimes be a bit abstract. It's no doubt an important part of the human construction, but we are often not even aware of it's importance to who we are, our values, our principals and our self esteem.

Comparing the challenges that developing countries face, cultural heritage might seem like the smallest problem. But in a longer perspective, if these values are lost, it might not only deprave future generations of their sense of belonging but it might also be the cultural heritage that will attract future tourists to these destinations. If the city of Rome would have decided to tear down Colosseum and build a shopping mall instead, tourists might not have come to Rome at all. So safeguarding cultural heritage on the brink of extinction might be more important than we can imagine today.