Collection of the Delight of the Companion, Devoted to Discs and Phonograph Cylinders

Edmond Nathan Yafil (Algiers, 1877–1928), a promi-nent figure in the musical spheres of Algiers, became widely celebrated for his monumental compendium of Andalusian poetic repertoires, Majmû’ Yafil. Driven by an early ethnomusicological awareness, he sought to res-cue this heritage from volatile oral transmission-threatened by the passing of the old masters (chioukh)-and transform it into a printed archive, directly challeng-ing the traditional monopolization of musical knowledge. Beyond this classical corpus, Yafil compiled Majmû’ Zahw al-Anîs (1907), a vital anthropological document capturing the late-nineteenth-century urban popular mu-sic of Algiers. The subtitle's reference to tabâsî (disques) and qawâdis (cylindres) marks a pioneering methodolog-ical shift, as Yafil transcribed these vernacular texts di-rectly from early phonographic recordings rather than relying solely on live performance. The volume organiz-es genres like Hawzî, Melhoun, and Qâdiriyya into an aesthetic and sociological taxonomy that reflects the in-terplay between urban (hadarî) and rural (badawî) poetic expressions, mapping out regional circulations that laid the groundwork for the modern Chaâbi genre. Ultimate-ly, this collection serves as a faithful cross-section of the Algerian sonic landscape, cementing Yafil’s legacy as a crucial cultural mediator and archivist.