DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — Fifty years after Tanzania’s independence, an innovative, crowd-funded project is working to preserve the nation’s history and music.

Tanzania was at the cutting edge of Africa’s struggle against colonialism and white minority-rule, and the nation’s music became famous for mixing traditional rhythmns and harmonies with electric guitars.

The radio, part of the state-owned Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation, has more than 100,000 hours of unreleased tapes holding ethnographic recordings, afro-jazz dance music and political speeches used to fuel support for independence movements across Africa, stored on the dusty shelves. The recordings, which chronicle the rise of a nation, have languished for decades, exposed to the heat, humidity and natural decay.

That is all about to change.

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