For this first title of the Endangered Music Project, Mickey Hart explored the vast repositories of the Library of Congress' American Folklife Center, sorting through hundreds of hours of tapes representing rainforest cultures of the New World. The album, originally released in 1993, represents musics of seven tribal cultures: the Garifune of Belize; the Choco Indians of Panama and Colombia; the Shipibo and the Ashaninka, both of Peru; the Aluku of French Guiana; the Wayana of Suriname, and the Maroons of Jamaica. The music is integrally connected to settings where healing, spiritual forces, and practical knowledge of the forest converge. The Spirit Cries: Music from the Rainforests of South America & the Caribbean was issued in 1993 as part of “THE WORLD” series (now part of the Mickey Hart Collection made available by Smithsonian Folkways).

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