News & Press
February 4th, 2010
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On Episode #19 - It Came from Canada - Now Available on Podcast
February 1st, 2010
Los Texmaniacs Win GRAMMY Award For Best Tejano Album
Congratulations to Los Texmaniacs for winning the 2009 GRAMMY award for Best Tejano Album for Borders y Bailes. This is the group's first GRAMMY win. The Texas-Mexican conjunto band, armed "with an assortment of Tex-Mex beats infectious enough to get even the most sedentary crowd moving" (Washington Post), produced an album that breathes new life into the century-old music of the Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Los Texmaniacs, whose members Max Baca and David Farias have each previously been awarded a GRAMMY with other groups, recorded Borders Y Bailes in San Antonio, Texas after appearing at the 2008 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington D.C. "Oh, my God. We did it," said bandleader Max Baca about the win, "This is hip music that everybody in the world can relate to, with the traditional conjunto elements.
This is the fifth GRAMMY award for Smithsonian Folkways, and the second year in a row the nonprofit record label has won an award after Nati Cano's Mariachi Los Camperos earned the 2008 Best Regional Mexican Album award. The Tradiciones/Traditions Series of Latino Music from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (of which Borders y Bailes is a part), now numbers 30 albums and has earned two GRAMMY awards, a 2007 LATIN GRAMMY, and seven GRAMMY and LATIN GRAMMY award nominations.
Overall, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has received 20 GRAMMY award nominations (including award winners) since 1997, including 14 nominations since 2004. In addition, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings artists Pete Seeger, Ella Jenkins, and Doc Watson have been awarded GRAMMY Association Lifetime Acheivement Awards, and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings contributed to the 1998 GRAMMY-winning album Folkways -- A Vision Shared: A Tribute To Woody Guthrie & Leadbelly and the 1993 GRAMMY-nominated album Roots of Rhythm and Blues: A Tribute to the Robert Johnson Era.
Click here for a list of awards and nominations earned by Smithsonian Folkways' artists.
January 26th, 2010
Two Smithsonian Folkways Albums Win an Independent Music Award
For the second consecutive year, two Smithsonian Folkways albums have won an Independent Music Award as selected by a panel of judges. ¡Y Que Viva Venezuela! Maestros del Joropo Oriental, an all-star recording by Venezuela’s masters of a rediscovered musical tradition, earned the Best Latin Album award and Blodeugerdd: Song of the Flowers - An Anthology of Welsh Music and Song, a beautiful collection of contemporary Welsh folk music, earned the Best Traditional World album.
Eleven additional Smithsonian Folkways albums or songs were finalists, and both winners and finalists are eligible for the Vox Populi awards as determined by fan voting. Voting is open through June 25th, 2010. Click here to submit your votes. The complete list of Smithsonian Folkways Album/Song Finalists (*indicates IMA Award Winner):
- 50 Years: Where Do You Come From Where Do You Go, The New Lost City Ramblers (Best Americana Album)
- Richmond Blues, Cephas & Wiggins (Best Blues Album)
- Classic Piano Blues, Various Artists (Best Blues Album)
- Honk-Hiss-Tweet-GGGGGGGGG and Other Children's Favorites, Tom Glazer (Best Children's Music Album)
- Borders y Bailes, Los Texmaniacs (Best Latin Album)
- ¡Y Que Viva Venezuela! Maestros del Joropo Oriental, Various Artists (Best Latin Album)*
- Son de Mi Tierra, Son de Madera (Best Latin Album)
- Maitei American: Harps of Paraguay, Various Artists (Best Latin Album)
- Irish Pirate Ballads, Dan Milner (Best World Traditional Album)
- Blodeugerdd Song of the Flowers: An Anthology of Welsh Music and Song, Various Artists (Best World Traditional Album)*
- "La Bamba", Son De Madera (Best Cover Song)
- "Las Poblanas", Son De Madera (Best Latin Song)
- "Ten Thousand Miles Away", Dan Milner (Best World Traditional Song)
In addition, two Smithsonian Folkways projects won design awards. American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 1-5, a box-set of Pete Seeger’s recordings for Folkways Records, won the Best Album Packaging award and a poster of Lead Belly designed by Matt Kelly from the firm One Lucky Guitar won the Best Band/Venue Poster award.
January 25th, 2010
The Music of Haiti
Smithsonian Folkways would like to echo the call to support the relief efforts in Haiti. Please visit www.haiti.org for a list of ways you can help.
Through Smithsonian Folkways recordings ranging from the 1940s to the 1990s and a 2004 Smithsonian Folklife Festival program, we have learned that despite (and often in response to) the challenges they continue to face, Haitians create powerful artistic expressions in music, painting, crafts, sculpture, and architecture. Haiti is one of the richest nations in terms of its culture and its people. We invite you to listen to a one-hour playlist of Haitian music in the Smithsonian Folkways collection.
January 22nd, 2010
Go Vinyl with Go Waggaloo
Go Waggaloo, the new children's album from Sarah Lee Guthrie and Family, has earned critical acclaim from the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Montreal Gazette among dozens of other outlets.
- See Sarah Lee Guthrie and Family on tour with Arlo Guthrie this Spring and a special Valentine's Day benefit concert for Haiti in Pittsfield, MA.
- Save 20% off retail price through January 31 on the limited-edition vinyl version of Go Waggaloo, which includes a coupon for the full-album download, at folkways.si.edu with code GOWAGVINYL.
January 21st, 2010
Smithsonian Folkways Magazine: Winter 2010, featuring Roberto Martínez, Sam Gesser, and Uganda
Read about Roberto Martínez, co-founder of the group Los Reyes del Alburquerque and founder of M.O.R.E. (Minority Owned Record Enterprises), a record label dedicated to preserving the violin-driven Nuevo Mexicano-styled mariachi he and his family championed. We are proud to announce that the M.O.R.E. recordings are now part of the Smithsonian Folkways collection, with three albums available for purchase and more to come.
The Winter edition of the online-only, multi-media Smithsonian Folkways Magazine also includes:
January 20th, 2010
Three concerts to celebrate Tom Wisner
Three concerts in Maryland will celebrate the life and work of Tom Wisner, "The Bard of the Chesapeake", who recorded two albums of original songs for Folkways Records.
The concerts are a CD-release party for "Follow On The Water: A Celebration of the Bay’s Life in Story and Song" and will be held at the Calvert Marine Museum on Friday, January 29 (sold out), at the Annapolis Maritime Museum on Saturday, January 30, and at The Avalon Theatre in Easton, MD on Sunday, January 31. Tom, who has battled lung cancer for the past year, has dedicated his life to chronicling the rich traditions of the regional Maryland waterways and will be joined on stage by Frank Schwartz, Teresa Whitaker, Mac Walter, and John Cronin.
January 14th, 2010
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On Episode #18 - Jazz - Now Available on Podcast
January 12th, 2010
Ella Jenkins and Rahim AlHaj Receive United States Artists Fellowships
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings artists Ella Jenkins, the ‘First Lady of Children's Music,' and Rahim AlHaj, "one of the top oud players in the world" (SF Chronicle), were recently awarded two of the 50 prestigious USA Fellowships presented by United States Artists, the respected public charity and grant-making organization dedicated to arts advocacy, and support and funding of America's finest living artists.
"The United States Artists Fellowship is one of the most prestigious awards in the world of the arts," says Smithsonian Folkways curator and director Daniel Sheehy. "It is fitting indeed that the ‘First Lady of Children's Music' Ella Jenkins and American-based Iraqi oud player, composer and cultural ambassador extraordinaire Rahim AlHaj figure prominently among this year's honorees. Our hats go off to Ella and Rahim as well as to all the 2009 USA Fellows."
Jenkins first began creating songs for children as a volunteer at a recreation center and in subsequent education jobs. She also was one of the first to record on Moe Asch's Folkways Records, which later became Smithsonian Folkways, and has recorded 29 albums since 1959. She has received numerous awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2004 GRAMMYs. Jenkins said she is "very surprised and pleased about the USA Fellowship. It was great to meet the other recipients and also very nice to see an appreciation of children's music."
AlHaj, a virtuoso oud (a pear-shaped string instrument) player, combines Iraqi musical traditions with contemporary influences. Raised in Baghdad, AlHaj graduated from the Institute of Music there in 1990. He became involved in revolutionary activities and was imprisoned twice by the Baathist regime. In 1991, he escaped to Jordan and then Syria, and, in 2000, he emigrated to the U.S. AlHaj has released several recordings and has worked with diverse musicians, including USA Rasmuson Fellow Bill Frisell, Kronos Quartet, and classical Indian musicians. He was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2008 for his Smithsonian Folkways album ‘When the Soul Is Settled: Music of Iraq.' His March 2009 release, Ancient Sounds (UR Music), a duet recording with Amjad Ali Khan, was nominated for a 2010 GRAMMY in the Best Traditional World Music Recording category.
Jenkins is the USA Collins Fellow, while AlHaj is the USA Ford Fellow.
This is not the first time a Smithsonian Folkways artist has won a USA Fellowship. Nati Cano, a driving force in North American mariachi for more than 40 years with his standout group Los Camperos, won a fellowship in 2006. He has recorded three albums for Smithsonian Folkways, with his most recent album ‘Amor, Dolor y Lágrimas: Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano' nominated for the Best Regional Mexican Album GRAMMY in 2009. Preeminent Cajun musician Michael Doucet, who released his solo album ‘From Now On' on Smithsonian Folkways in 2008, won a fellowship in 2007.
United States Artists (USA) is a grant-making, artist-advocacy organization dedicated to supporting America's finest artists working across diverse disciplines. In an act of unprecedented private investment in individual artists and the creative potential of America, USA launched in September 2005 with $22 million in seed funding provided by a coalition of leading foundations - Ford, Rockefeller, Prudential, and Rasmuson. This initial investment enables the organization to pilot the USA Fellows program, awarding unrestricted $50,000 grants to 50 artists each year.
December 27th, 2009
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On Episode #17 - The Letter J - Now Available on Podcast
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On, the 26-part radio series hosted by Michael Asch, son of Folkways founder Moses Asch, features the original recordings of Folkways Records' vast catalogue. Listen to Program #17 - The Letter J and subscribe to the podcast here. Shortly before he died in 1987, Moses Asch was interviewed by the Today Show on NBC. At that time, he justified his policy of never withdrawing a record title from the complete two thousand plus collection by saying: "would you take the letter J out of the dictionary merely because it is used less frequently than the letter S?" This program covers songs, music from countries, artists, instruments and sounds which all begin with the letter J.
December 15th, 2009
Smithsonian Folkways Electronic Gift Certificates Now Available
Can't decide which album to give as a gift this year? Give a Smithsonian Folkways electronic gift certificate and let your friend or family member decide.
As a reminder, all retail orders of $50 or more at Folkways.si.edu automatically qualify for free standard first-class shipping (U.S. only) through December 16th.
December 10th, 2009
Thirteen Albums and Songs Named Independent Music Award Finalists
Thirteen Smithsonian Folkways albums and songs were selected as Finalists for the 9th Independent Music Awards. Click here to listen to and vote for your favorite albums on the Independent Music Awards website
- 50 Years: Where Do You Come From Where Do You Go, The New Lost City Ramblers (Best Americana Album)
- Richmond Blues, Cephas & Wiggins (Best Blues Album)
- Classic Piano Blues, Various Artists (Best Blues Album)
- Honk-Hiss-Tweet-GGGGGGGGG and Other Children's Favorites, Tom Glazer (Best Children's Music Album)
- Borders y Bailes, Los Texmaniacs (Best Latin Album)
- ¡Y Que Viva Venezuela! Maestros del Joropo Oriental, Various Artists (Best Latin Album)
- Son de Mi Tierra, Son de Madera (Best Latin Album)
- Maitei American: Harps of Paraguay, Various Artists (Best Latin Album)
- Irish Pirate Ballads, Dan Milner (Best World Traditional Album)
- Blodeugerdd Song of the Flowers: An Anthology of Welsh Music and Song, Various Artists (Best World Traditional Album)
- "La Bamba", Son De Madera (Best Cover Song)
- "Las Poblanas", Son De Madera (Best Latin Song)
- "Ten Thousand Miles Away", Dan Milner (Best World Traditional Song)
December 10th, 2009
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On Episode #16 - Work Songs Now Available on Podcast
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On, the 26-part radio series hosted by Michael Asch, son of Folkways founder Moses Asch, features the original recordings of Folkways Records' vast catalogue. Listen to Program #16 - Work Songs and subscribe to the podcast here. Harold Courlander is an important figure in the history of Folkways as the early guiding spirit for what he and Folkways Records founder Moses Asch called the "Ethnic Series", which is the vast catalogue of what we now call world music. This episode featuresthe album Courlander put together in 1956 that documents the sensibilities he brought to this work in the immediate post-War period.
December 2nd, 2009
Borders y Bailes by Los Texmaniacs Nominated for a Grammy Award!
Congratulations to Los Texmaniacs for their 2009 Grammy nomination for Best Tejano Album for the album Borders y Bailes.
December 2nd, 2009
Happy Birthday, Moe Asch! - Free Song Download
December 2nd, 2009 would have been the 104th birthday of Folkways Records founder Moses Asch, and 2009 marks the 70th anniversary of his first foray into the record business.
Please join us in wishing Moe a happy birthday, and enjoy as our gift a free download of one of Moses Asch's first recordings as well as a free stream of the Worlds of Sound Sampler, a 26-track companion to the book Worlds of Sound: The Story of Smithsonian Folkways. The download and stream will be available through Thursday, December 3rd only!
December 1st, 2009
Free Shipping On Orders $50 or More Through Dec. 16th
Retail orders from Folkways.SI.EDU of $50 or more will automatically qualify for free shipping for customers that select United States Postal Service First Class Mail through December 16th. This offer applies to domestic orders only.
Recommended Cutoff Dates for Holiday Delivery by 12/24
USPS International Air Mail—December 4
FedEx Int'l Economy—December 11
USPS Domestic 1st Class—December 16
FedEx Express Saver—December 21
Fedex Overnight—December 23
November 30th, 2009
The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and Smithsonian Folkways remember Bess Lomax Hawes (1921-2009)
"I have always had the unshakable belief that every single human being has some knowledge of important elements of beauty and substance, whether everybody else knows them or not."
- Bess Lomax Hawes, from her autobiography Sing It Pretty
Bess Lomax Hawes, a leader in the establishment of public folklore programs throughout the United States, died Friday, November 27th in Portland, Oregon, at the age of 88. Ms. Hawes was born in 1921 in Austin, Texas, and was the youngest child of American folklorist John A. Lomax. She joined her father and brother Alan as a researcher at the Library of Congress, where they directed the Archive of American Folk Song from 1935 to 1948. From 1941 to 1952 she was a singer and instrumentalist with the Almanac Singers, a pioneering group in the Folk Revival. Folkways Records released their album Talking Union, and Ms. Hawes is also featured on Folkways Records' Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs and Songs of the Spanish Civil War Vol. 1. During this period she also became known for co-writing the song "Charlie on the MTA," notably recorded by the Kingston Trio.
In 1975 Ms. Hawes relocated from California to Washington, DC, to work on the 1976 Bicentennial Festival of American Folklife. Additionally, she was a key collaborator with Ralph Rinzler in shaping the Smithsonian's Folklife Festival. In 1977, she became Director of the Folk Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts, where she remained until retiring in 1992. During her tenure she helped found the National Heritage Fellowship awards in 1982. While at the NEA, Ms. Hawes also helped create state-based folklore programs across the country. In 2000, the NEA began giving the Bess Lomax Hawes Award to recognize a person who has worked towards the preservation of folklore.
Following her retirement, Ms. Hawes was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton and has continued to speak and consult internationally on issues of folklore, public policy, and cultural continuity. Bess is survived by her three children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
— Read more about Bess Lomax Hawes, a Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Legacy Honoree
— Watch a 2007 interview with Bess Lomax Hawes
November 24th, 2009
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On Episode #15 - Time Now Available on Podcast
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On, the 26-part radio series hosted by Michael Asch, son of Folkways founder Moses Asch, features the original recordings of Folkways Records' vast catalogue. Listen to Program #15 - Time and subscribe to the podcast here. This episode mines the Smithsonian Folkways catalogue for songs about clocks and time, at least Western conceptions of time. Starting with a little bluegrass reflection on clocks and then moving onto all sorts of songs with references to time or time keeping, it's a timely program.
November 13th, 2009
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On Episode #14 - Talking About the Blues Now Available on Podcast
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On, the 26-part radio series hosted by Michael Asch, son of Folkways founder Moses Asch, features the original recordings of Folkways Records' vast catalogue. Listen to Program #14 - Talking About the Blues and subscribe to the podcast here. The idea comes from the Folkways album "This is the Blues." It features Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGhee. The album was built around a radio show produced by the great Studs Terkel of Chicago's WFMT and was recorded on May 7th, 1957.
November 2nd, 2009
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On Episode #13 - Sacco and Vanzetti Now Available on Podcast
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On, the 26-part radio series hosted by Michael Asch, son of Folkways founder Moses Asch, features the original recordings of Folkways Records' vast catalogue. Listen to Program #13 - Sacco and Vanzetti and subscribe to the podcast here. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian anarchists, were executed unjustly in 1927 for armed robbery and murder of two pay-clerks in Massachusetts. The case caused quite a stir at the time as for many the conviction was not for murder, but for being anarchists and immigrants. They were pardoned in 1977 by Governor Michael Dukakis. In 1947, twenty years after the execution, Moses Asch commissioned an album of original songs penned and sung by Woody Guthrie about the trial, an album Woody himself believed was his most important work.
October 30th, 2009
Celebrate Halloween with Smithsonian Folkways
Get in the Halloween spirit with spooky song suggestions from Smithsonian Folkways and Around the Mall: Scenes and Sightings from the Smithsonian Museums and Beyond . Featuring music about witches, skeletons, and other Halloween characters these albums are sure to provide sounds of the season. Read about the albums here.
October 26th, 2009
Listen to Go Waggaloo Free until November 3rd!
In addition to a free download of the song "'Cuz We're Cousins", you can now stream Go Waggaloo, the new family album from Sarah Lee Guthrie & Family, in its entirety free until November 3rd. The album features original songs, traditional favorites, and three songs written by Sarah Lee's grandfather Woody Guthrie put to music for the first time.
What does Go Waggaloo mean anyway? Visit the Smithsonian Folkways Facebook page to find out!
October 26th, 2009
Smithsonian Folkways Documentary Playing Now on Smithsonian Channel
Worlds of Sound: The Ballad of Folkways is a new one-hour documentary about Moses Asch and the 60-year history of Smithsonian Folkways. Tune your TV to Smithsonian Channel to watch or record for later.
From Smithsonian Channel:
"His name was Moses Asch, and he set out to catalog the sounds of the world. In the process, he changed the way people thought of folk music, and modern life in general. This is the story of his iconoclastic Folkways Records, America's most influential grassroots record label."
October 13th, 2009
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On Episode #12 - Days of the Week Now Available on Podcast
September 30th, 2009
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On Episode #11 - Black and White Now Available on Podcast
September 28th, 2009
Go Waggaloo, the new album from Sarah Lee Guthrie & Family now available from www.folkways.si.edu
September 28th, 2009
Folkways Magazine Fall 2009: Songs By and For Children
The fall issue of Folkways Magazine explores the history and variety of children's music, a profile of The New Lost City Ramblers, a field report from the Dominican Republic, and a profile of the Woody Guthrie Papers.
Email newsletter subscribers automatically receive notification of new editions of Folkways Magazine, the online, multimedia magazine from Smithsonian Folkways. To receive our newsletter, just enter your email address where indicated to "Join Our Email List" on the left-hand side of the page.
September 28th, 2009
Watch Trailer for Smithsonian Folkways Documentary on Smithsonian Channel
Mark your calendar: Worlds of Sound: The Ballad of Folkways, a new one-hour documentary about the unique story of Smithsonian Folkways, will premiere on Smithsonian Channel HD starting Sunday, October 25th, at 11 p.m. with repeat showings every day for a week at various times.
- Watch the trailer
- Where to watch Smithsonian Channel
September 15th, 2009
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On Episode #10 - Tony Schwartz Now Available on Podcast
August 31st, 2009
Smithsonian Global Sound® web site re-directs to www.folkways.si.edu
Starting August 31st, all of the content and features of Smithsonian Global Sound (www.smithsonianglobalsound.org), an educational initiative launched by Smithsonian Folkways in 2005, will be available at the Smithsonian Folkways website (www.folkways.si.edu), and the Smithsonian Global Sound website will re-direct to www.folkways.si.edu. This change best serves the users of both websites so that the recordings are available for sample and purchase (on CD or digital download) from a single online destination. Users of www.smithsonianglobalsound.org can use the same login and password at www.folkways.si.edu.
In addition to offering recordings from Smithsonian Folkways and partner archives, the Smithsonian Folkways website also features all the educational tools, videos, radio streams and podcasts, and feature articles previously found on the Smithsonian Global Sound website. New features are added frequently, most notably in the new online multimedia Smithsonian Folkways Magazine.
Going forward, Smithsonian Folkways continues to partner with archives worldwide to increase global, digital access. In addition, universities and other institutions may subscribe (via Alexander Street Press) to Music Online/Smithsonian Global Sound® for Libraries for unlimited, full-length streaming of the entire Smithsonian Folkways collection. Please click here for more information.
August 31st, 2009
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On Episode #9 - Going to the Dogs Now Available on Podcast
August 21st, 2009
Go Waggaloo by Sarah Lee Guthrie & Family Coming This Fall
"It's no small feat to create a record that will hold the attention of someone who is not used to listening to records. If you do it right, it's a treasure. This is that."
- Arlo Guthrie
On October 27, Smithsonian Folkways will release Go Waggaloo, a 13-track disc of children's music from Sarah Lee Guthrie & Family featuring her husband Johnny Irion, their two daughters, and a host of other family and friends including her father Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Pete's grandson Tao Rodriguez Seeger.
FULL LENGTH STREAM
Please enjoy this free preview from
Go Waggaloo.
Guthrie presents thoughtful yet playful recordings of traditional songs and new compositions, including three songs featuring lyrics by her grandfather Woody Guthrie from the Smithsonian Folkways archives never before put to music and eight songs written by Sarah Lee and family. This is Sarah Lee Guthrie's first children's recording and her first recording for Smithsonian Folkways, home of 42 albums featuring Woody Guthrie and more than 200 children's recordings by Pete Seeger, Ella Jenkins, Lead Belly and many others.
Go Waggaloo continues the Guthrie family chain of song-making first forged by Sarah's grandfather, Woody Guthrie (whose drawings are featured on the album cover and booklet). With song notes written by Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion, a touching introduction from Arlo Guthrie, and notes from children's music expert Stefan Shepherd, Go Waggaloo bridges generations of music lovers by combining traditional folk music with contemporary lyrics and instrumentation. Listening to Go Waggaloo one can hear a drum machine, songs about Xboxes© and DVDs, and a spur of the moment song recorded on a cell phone by the Guthrie family on a road trip.
A special pre-order for visitors to www.folkways.si.edu will be available in September. Please subscribe to the monthly Smithsonian Folkways email newsletter to receive information about the special pre-order, other Smithsonian Folkways news, free downloads, trivia contests, and other special discounts.
August 14th, 2009
New Box Set From Influential Folk Revival Pioneers The New Lost City Ramblers Available August 25th
On August 25, 2009 Smithsonian Folkways will release the New Lost City Ramblers' '50 Years: Where Do You Come From? Where Do You Go?,' a 3-disc box set from a trio whose reverence for and dedication to the geniuses of the American folk music tradition put them at the vanguard of the burgeoning folk revival movement in America during the late 1950s. The box set will be available in independent record shops, online retailers, digital download providers, and in both physical format and digital download format from www.folkways.si.edu.
The New York area-born members of the Ramblers - Mike Seeger, John Cohen and Tom Paley, who was eventually replaced by Tracy Schwarz - have a longstanding relationship with Smithsonian Folkways. Two of the albums in ‘50 Years' were previously released Ramblers albums, and the third is a newly compiled disc of Ramblers tracks and field recordings of traditional Southern and Appalachian musicians whose work the Ramblers set out to preserve, promote and emulate in both underground and popular forums across America.
Volume I, "The Early Years," features recordings from 1958 to 1962; Volume II, "Out Standing in Their Field," features recordings from 1963 to 1973 and Volume III, "Where Do You Come From? Where Do You Go?," is a new compilation that provides an in-depth look at the Ramblers' impressive career over the course of several decades.
Featuring artists including Dock Boggs, Roscoe Holcomb, Elizabeth Cotten, Reverend Gary Davis, Tom Ashley and many others, '50 Years: Where Do You Come From? Where Do You Go?' is a celebration of the New Lost City Ramblers' 50th anniversary and their landmark field recordings and stellar renditions of classic folk tunes.
'50 Years: Where Do You Come From? Where Do You Go?' contains three and a half hours of music, 81 songs, including six previously unreleased tracks, 88 pages of booklet liner notes from folk music writers Jon Pankake and Ray Allen, Professor of Music and director of the American Studies program at Brooklyn College. As the album title implies, these recordings embody the Ramblers' mission to not only learn as much as possible about American folk music, but to help define its place in American music history. '50 Years' can be listened to as a classic folk story within a folk story. Equipped with reel-to-reel tape recorders, these men led a grassroots campaign to catalog the music immortalized in this box set.
On August 7th, Mike Seeger, traditional music advocate and founding member of the New Lost City Ramblers, passed away at the age of 75. Please click here for a profile of Mike Seeger, including video and audio samples.
August 12th, 2009
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On Episode #8 Now Available on Podcast
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On, the 26-part radio series hosted by Michael Asch, son of Folkways founder Moses Asch, features the original recordings of Folkways Records' vast catalogue. Episode #8 features Broadside Magazine - click here to download or subscribe to the podcast.
August 8th, 2009
Smithsonian Folkways remembers traditional music preserver, performer, and teacher Mike Seeger (1933-2009)
"Old-time rural music remains at the center of my life. It's a tactile, emotional, aural pleasure — the words are my Shakespeare and my mysteries, the music is my Bach, my pastime, and it makes me want to dance...Classic, timeless qualities in this music endure. For me, there ain't no way out but nature, and I'll make the most of it."
-Mike Seeger (from the liner notes to the 1997 album There Ain't No Way Out by The New Lost City Ramblers)
Mike Seeger, who devoted his life to documenting, teaching, keeping alive, and carrying forth the sounds of traditional music of the American South, died from cancer August 7th at the age of 75. A self-taught multi-instrumentalist and singer, Seeger's 50-plus-year career included recordings as a solo performer, as a founding member of the influential group The New Lost City Ramblers, and as a documenter of many of the finest 20th-century performers of the genre including Dock Boggs, Elizabeth Cotten, and Kilby Snow.
We invite all fans of Mike to share thoughts, memories, and stories on the Smithsonian Folkways official Facebook page or email them to SmithsonianFolkways@SI.EDU. Selected submissions will be posted on www.folkways.si.edu
Seeger's career highlights include producing the first long-playing bluegrass album, American Banjo: Three-Finger and Scruggs Style, earning six GRAMMY nominations (including nominations for Smithsonian Folkways albums Southern Banjo Sounds and 1997's There Ain't No Way Out with The New Lost City Ramblers), and earning the 2009 Bess Lomax Hawes Award from the National Endowment for the Arts among many other awards and grants. In all, Mike Seeger contributed to 75 Smithsonian Folkways albums, most recently a box set available August 25th, 2009 celebrating the 50th anniversary of The New Lost City Ramblers, and numerous Smithsonian Folklife Festivals as a researcher, presenter, and performer, including the first-ever festival in 1967. Mike Seeger will be remembered as tireless preserver, performer, and teacher of traditional music.
Please click here for a profile of Mike Seeger, including video and audio samples.
July 30th, 2009
Smithsonian Folkways T-Shirts Now Available
By popular request, Smithsonian Folkways T-shirts are now available at
folkways.si.edu!
Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger fans should consider the most popular shirt at the 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which features Woody's guitar on the front and Pete's banjo on the back.
In addition, the 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival program Las Américas: Un Mundo Musical inspired two shirts — "¡Oye!" and "Mi Música".
T-shirt purchases support the nonprofit mission of Smithsonian Folkways and help spread the word when you wear them.
July 27th, 2009
Nine Smithsonian Folkways songs named to 100 Most Essential Folk Songs list
Nine tracks from the Smithsonian Folkways collection were recently featured on Folk Alley's "100 Most Essential Folk Songs" list, including songs from Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Elizabeth Cotten. Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" was awarded the list's top spot. The list also includes twenty three songs from Smithsonian Folkways collection that are performed by other artists, such as "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" by Pete Seeger (as performed by the Kingston Trio) and "Goodnight Irene" by Lead Belly (as performed by the Weavers).
Smithsonian Folkways Songs on Folk Alley's list of 100 Most Essential Folk Songs:
01."This Land Is Your Land" - Woody Guthrie
04. "If I Had a Hammer" - Pete Seeger
08. "We Shall Overcome" - Pete Seeger
30. "Pastures of Plenty" - Woody Guthrie
36. "Freight Train" - Elizabeth Cotton
41. "Changes" - Phil Ochs
45. "Little Boxes" - Malvina Reynolds
64. "Deportee" - Woody Guthrie
68. "The Crucifixion" - Phil Ochs
93. "Hobo's Lullaby" - Woody Guthrie
July 17th, 2009
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On Episode #7 Now Available on Podcast
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On, the 26-part radio series hosted by Michael Asch, son of Folkways founder Moses Asch, features the original recordings of Folkways Records' vast catalogue. Episode #7 features the Songs of Animals - click here to download or subscribe to the podcast.
June 23rd, 2009
Read about the expanding universe of Música Latina and more in Folkways Magazine - Summer 2009
Explore the second edition of Folkways Magazine, which examines the expanding universe of Música Latina, profiles new Smithsonian Folkways artist Los Texmaniacs, re-discovers an album of Welsh music from 1954, and much more.
June 23rd, 2009
Borders y Bailes from Los Texmaniacs now available with free stream
June 23rd, 2009
¡Y Que Viva Venezuela! Maestros del Joropo Oriental now available with free stream
June 23rd, 2009
Blodeugerdd: Song of the Flowers - An Anthology of Welsh Music and Song now available with free stream
Blodeugerdd: Song of the Flowers - An Anthology of Welsh Music and Song highlights music from a country as ancient as it is forward-looking. Recorded in a 15th-century building, the album features a garland of intimate musical interpretations by leading keepers of Welsh music today (including six featured performers at the 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival).
June 23rd, 2009
A Voice Ringing O'er the Gale! The Oratory of Frederick Douglass Read by Ossie Davis now available with free download
June 9th, 2009
Upcoming Releases as Part of 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
In conjunction with the 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, held June 24th - July 5th on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Folkways will release four albums:
A Voice Ringing O'er the Gale! The Oratory of Frederick Douglass Read by Ossie Davis as part of the Giving Voice: The Power of Words in African American Culture Festival program.
Borders y Bailes from Los Texmaniacs and ¡Y Que Viva Venezuela! Maestros del Joropo Oriental as part of the Las Américas: Un Mundo Musical Festival program.
Blodeugerdd - Song of the Flowers: An Anthology of Welsh Music and Song as part of the Wales Smithsonian Cymru Festival program.
Join the monthly Smithsonian Folkways mailing list for more information on these albums when they are available, and we'll see you at the Folklife Festival!
June 9th, 2009
Sounds to Grow On Podcast Now Available
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On, the 26-part radio program hosted by Michael Asch, is now available as a podcast on iTunes and via www.folkways.si.edu. Click here to access the podcast, which will be updated twice per month.
June 5th, 2009
¡Ayombe! The Heart of Colombia's Música Vallenata wins an Independent Music Fan Award
May 28th, 2009
Videos Featuring Master Paraguayan Harpists, Now Available
Watch two videos featuring master Paraguayan harpists. Marcelo Rojas and Martin Portillo perform a "dueling harp" version of the classic "Pájaro campana" and Oscar Maldonado discusses harp construction while Marcelo Rojas and Nicolás Caballero perform.
May 28th, 2009
Mike Seeger to Receive 2009 NEA Award
Mike Seeger, who has performed on, produced, or recorded 74 Smithsonian Folkways albums, will receive the 2009 Bess Lomax Hawes Award for significant contributions to the preservation and awareness of cultural heritage from the National Endowment of the Arts. Congratulations Mike!
May 19th, 2009
Maiteí América: Harps of Paraguay, the Newest Album in the Tradiciones/Traditions Series, Now Available
May 5th, 2009
Sing Along With Pete!
"Sometimes the most eloquent song I can sing is 'Wimoweh', with no words at all. Just melody, rhythm, and great bass harmony."
- Pete Seeger
Click here to sing along with Pete and access two free downloads from the new American Favorite Ballads: Vol. 1-5 Box Set!
April 21, 2009
Smithsonian Folkways Launches New Website and Online Magazine
Smithsonian Folkways, the non-profit record label of the U.S. national museum, has upgraded www.folkways.si.edu and has launched Folkways Magazine™, a quarterly, multimedia online magazine bringing you the people and stories behind the recordings of Smithsonian Folkways.
The new website includes:
• Improved navigation and search
• Single-click downloads including album artwork and liner notes
• Your choice of 256K MP3 or lossless FLAC format
The premiere edition of Folkways Magazine includes a feature article on Pete Seeger, still standing tall at age 90, an interview with Grammy-award winning Nati Cano from Los Camperos de Nati Cano, and much more.
We hope you are enjoying the continued improvements of www.folkways.si.edu - stay in touch by joining our monthly newsletter and find us on Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube.
April 21, 2009
Pete Seeger: American Favorite Ballads Vol. 1-5 Box Set Now Available With Two Free Downloads and Two Bonus Tracks
Pete Seeger's life, music, and legacy encapsulate nearly a century of American history and culture. He has immersed himself in folk music and used it, like Johnny Appleseed, to "plant the seeds of a better tomorrow in the homes across our land."
This box set contains 139 songs for nearly 6 hours of music across 5 CDs, each with its own booklet of extensive notes. The digital download version includes two additional, previously unreleased bonus songs. Two free digital downloads, "Buffalo Gals" and "Oh Mary Don't You Weep", are available for a limited time. Click here for more information.
April 21, 2009
Son de Mi Tierra, the New Son Jarocho Album by Son De Madera Now Available
Son JarochoThe improvisatory, string-driven music of Veracruz, Mexico has enjoyed several decades of major resurgence. This "back-to-the-future" recording allies elder farmer and rancher musicians with the next generation of forward-looking innovators who comprise the group Son de Madera. Click here for more information.
April 16, 2009
Pete Seeger: American Favorite Ballads Vol. 1-5 Box Set Will Be Released April 21st
Pete Seeger: American Favorite Ballads Vol. 1-5 Box Set, a collection of nearly 6 hours of classic songs, will be released on April 21st at www.folkways.si.edu and other retail outlets. Check back soon for a special announcement including free downloads, but in the meantime, please enjoy this previously unreleased video of music performance and interviews with Pete Seeger.
Other News (click for details)
March 24, 2009
Classic Protest Songs from Smithsonian Folkways is now available on CD and DRM-free Digital Download
War, social injustice, personal plaints, and calls for action have long fueled musical creation and performance. In Classic Protest Songs, Mark Gustafson and Jeff Place tap the historic Smithsonian audio collections to compile 22 songs favored by leaders of antiwar, civil rights, industrial labor, farm worker, and other struggles to air their grievances. Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Janis Ian, Big Bill Broonzy, Pete Seeger, Barbara Dane, Guy Carawan, Phil Ochs, and other marquee artists let their voices ring out with calls for peace and justice.
March 17, 2009
John Cephas Memorial
Family, friends, musical colleagues and admirers of bluesman John Cephas will gather in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, March 29, 2009 to honor the memory of the Piedmont blues master through a sharing of remembrances and a musical tribute. The memorial gathering will take place from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's Baird Auditorium, located at 10th and Constitution, NW, Washington, D.C., 20506.
March 5, 2009
John Cephas, 1930-2009
Piedmont blues guitarist and vocalist John Cephas passed away March 4th at his home in Woodford, Virginia. Cephas, a 1989 National Heritage Fellowship Award recipient, recorded the album Richmond Blues in 2008 with his longtime musical partner Phil Wiggins as part of the African American Legacy Recording Series.
Cephas & Wiggins teamed up in 1977 after meeting at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and were named W.C Handy Blues Entertainers of the Year in 1987. Cephas, who once said "blues music is truth", served on the Executive Committee of the National Council for the Traditional Arts and was a founder of the Washington D.C. Blues Society. Click here to watch a video of Cephas & Wiggins discussing the Piedmont Blues style and click here to watch them perform in the 2007 Smithsonian Folklife festival Ralph Rinzler Memorial Concert.
- February 19, 2009
Snooks Eaglin, 1936-2009
Singer and guitarist Snooks Eaglin passed away February 18th in New Orleans. His Smithsonian Folkways album New Orleans Street Singer was originally released in 1959 and reissued in 2005 with 7 previously unreleased tracks. Recorded by folklorist Harry Oster after he heard Eaglin performing on the streets of the French Quarter, New Orleans Street Singer was selected for the book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.
Eaglin, also known as "the human jukebox" for his wide and varied repertoire including electric blues, rock, jazz, and country, lost his sight as a child before teaching himself to play guitar. He went on to play and record with many other New Orleans musicians, including Professor Longhair, the Wild Magnolias, and Alan Toussaint. In recent years he was a regular performer at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
- February 9, 2009
Mariachi Los Camperos De Nati Cano Wins Grammy Award
Mariachi's Los Camperos de Nati Cano won a Grammy Award February 8th, 2009 in the Best Regional Mexican Album category for Amor, Dolor y Lágrimas: Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano. This is the first Grammy Award for Los Camperos de Nati Cano (though Nati Cano performed on Linda Ronstadt's grammy-winning recordings Canciones de Mi Padre and Mas Canciones) and the third Grammy Award for a Smithsonian Folkways album, joining 2005's cELLAbration! A Tribute to Ella Jenkins and 1997's Anthology of American Folk Music™.
Congratulations as well to Michael Doucet who won for Best Zydeco or Cajun Album for Live at the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival: BeauSoleil & Michael Doucet. Michael Doucet's Smithsonian Folkways album From Now On was nominated in the same category. Pete Seeger also won for Best Traditional Folk album for At 89 and Tom Paxton, who appears on five Smithsonian Folkways recordings, received a lifetime achievement award.
- January 27, 2009
Congratulations to IMA Winners Tony Trischka and the Paschall Brothers
Two Smithsonian Folkways releases were named winners at the 8th Annual Independent Music Awards. Tony Trischka's Territory won for Best Americana Album and the Paschall Brothers' On the Right Road Now won for Best Gospel Album.
- January 15, 2009
Irish Pirate Ballads and Other Songs of the Sea Now Available
Irish Pirate Ballads and Other Songs of the Sea an exceptional collection of authentic maritime songs sung by celebrated vocalist and author Dan Milner, is now available from Smithsonian Folkways. Featuring an impressive array of guest musicians and singers, including Joanie Madden of Cherish the Ladies, John Doyle of Solas, Tim Collins of the renowned Kilfenora Ceili Band, All-Ireland champion fiddler Brian Conway, Robbie O'Connell and Susan McKeown, Irish Pirate Ballads captures centuries of tradition and the revelry, mischief, tales of love and caution that characterize nautical life. Click here to learn more.
- January 12, 2009
White House Workers: Traditions and Memories DVD Now Available
White House Workers: Traditions and Memories explores the dedication, skills, and sacrifices of residence staff whose extraordinary service has helped the White House fulfill its multiple roles as a family residence, seat of government, ceremonial center, historic building, and museum. Features the 32-minute film Workers at the White House for the first time on DVD, plus more than 2 hours of additional material. Please click here for more information.
- December 16, 2008
Grammy Nominations and Independent Music Award Finalists
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings received two 2008 Grammy nominations, with Mariachi's Los Camperos de Nati Cano's Amor, Dolor y Lágrimas: Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano nominated for the Best Regional Mexican Album and Michael Doucet's From Now On nominated for the Best Zydeco Or Cajun Music Album. This is the fifth time in six years the label has been nominated for multiple Grammy Awards in a single year, with a total of thirteen nominations in the last five years. The award show takes place February 9th, 2009.
In addition, five Smithsonian Folkways were selected as Finalists for the 8th Independent Music Awards. Click here to listen to and vote for your favorite albums on the Independent Music Awards website
- December 2, 2008
Happy Birthday Moe! Free Song Download on December 2nd
Download for free On My Way to See Moe Asch by Champion Jack Dupree as a happy birthday wish to Folkways founder Moses Asch, who would have turned 103 today!
- November 18, 2008
Listen to Worlds of Sound™ author Richard Carlin on three archived radio programs
Richard Carlin recently appeared on three radio programs (NPR's Talk of the Nation (also featuring Mike Seeger), WNYC's Sound Check, and WYPR's Tapestry of the Times) to discuss the new book Worlds of Sound™: the Story of Smithsonian Folkways and sample-cuts from the Worlds of Sound™ Sampler CD that comes with every copy ordered from Smithsonian Folkways. Each show is archived for future listening, and you can post your own "Folkways moment" on the website for each show. Click here for more information.
- November 14, 2008
Nine Smithsonian Folkways Albums Named to "Recordings to Hear Before You Die" List
Nine Smithsonian Folkways albums were selected in the new book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die, a Listener's Life List released in August by Workman Publishing. Written by frequent National Public Radio contributor Tom Moon, 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die features music from all genres, and the Smithsonian Folkways selections (just under one percent of the total!) are equally as diverse:
- Dock Boggs: His Folkway Years, 1963-68, Dock Boggs (Folk)
- ¡Viva el Mariachi!, Nati Cano's Mariachi los Camperos (World/Mexico)
- New Orleans Street Singer, Snooks Eaglin (R&B)
- The High Lonesome Sound, Roscoe Holcomb (Folk)
- Lightnin' Hopkins, Lightnin' Hopkins (Blues)
- The Original James P. Johnson 1942-1945, James P. Johnson (Jazz)
- Where Did You Sleep Last Night: Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 1, Lead Belly (Folk/Blues)
- The Anthology of American Folk Music™, Various Artists (Folk)
- Zodiac Suite, Mary Lou Williams (Jazz)
Smithsonian Folkways recording artists Big Bill Broonzy, Ella Fitzgerald, Woody Guthrie, Dave Van Ronk, and Pete Seeger were also selected for albums they released on other labels. Please visit www.1000recordings.com to submit comments about the Smithsonian Folkways selections, as the albums with the most comments will be featured on the site!- October 21, 2008
"Honk-Hiss-Tweet-GGGGGGGGGG and Other Children's Favorites by Tom Glazer now available.
Tom Glazer's uncanny ability to "speak to children as saints speak to birds," as touted by the New York Times, rings loud and clear in this signature collection of live performances by this legendary children's artist. His own delightfully silly "On Top of Spaghetti" and "Honk-Hiss-Tweet-GGGGGGGGGG" stand as eternal favorites alongside "The Bus Song," "This Old Man," "Jimmy Crack Corn," and many more of these two dozen newly compiled and remastered classic tracks. Please click here for more information.
- October 14, 2008
Worlds Of Sound: The Story Of Smithsonian Folkways is Available Now With a Free Music Sampler CD
Worlds of Sound™: The Story of Smithsonian Folkways, a behind-the-scenes look at the "little label that could", is now available nationwide. If you order directly from folkways.si.edu, you will also receive an exclusive 26-track Worlds of Sound™ Sampler CD free for a limited time while supplies last. Please click here for more information.
- October 9, 2008
Nobel Voices for Disarmament: 1901?2001 free for a limited time, download free lesson plan.
Introduced and narrated by Academy Award-winning actor, producer and United Nations Messenger of Peace Michael Douglas, Nobel Voices honors the achievements of the last century's Nobel Peace Prize winners in disarmament and arms control and those who have been inspired by their work. Click here to stream the album free and download a free lesson plan.
- September 25, 2008
Worlds Of Sound: The Story Of Smithsonian Folkways is Available now for Pre-Order With a Free Music Sampler Cd
Worlds of Sound™: The Story of Smithsonian Folkways, a behind-the-scenes look at the "little label that could", is now available for pre-order and each order will include an exclusive 26-track Worlds of Sound™ Sampler CD free for a limited time while supplies last. Please click here for more information.
- September 23, 2008
¡Que Viva el Canto! Songs of Chile released
Veteran musician Rafael Manríquez, paired with an array of Chilean musician notables, crafts a stunning portrait of Chilean folk music and captures the stylistic evolution of the genre from the mid-20th century to the present. Influenced by the extraordinary work of performer-researchers Margot Loyola, Violeta Parra and Gabriela Pizarro, who documented the musical traditions of the Chilean countryside during the 1960s, Manríquez pays tribute to his homeland with songs that epitomize its rich, albeit tumultuous, cultural heritage. Ultimately, ¡Que Viva el Canto! aims to offer a new rendition of Chilean folk music that bridges the past and the present.
- September 12, 2008
Worlds of Sound™: the Story of Smithsonian Folkways, Available October 14th 2008, is a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the "Little Label That Could"
Thanks to the indefatigable efforts of Moses Asch, who founded Folkways Records in 1949. Worlds of Sound™: The Story of Smithsonian Folkways will be available for purchase from this website soon, and will include an exclusive 26-track Worlds of Sound™ Music Sampler free for a limited time. Please sign-up to our monthly newsletter to find out when it will be available and click here for more information.
- September 8, 2008
Blues Routes: Heroes and Tricksters On Sale in September
This compilation of live blues performances in a variety of styles is just $9.99 on CD format and $5.99 as a digital download through September, 2008. Blues Routes features 17 tracks from a wide range of artists, including Cephas & Wiggins, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, Willie "Pinetop" Perkins, Etta Baker, the Georgia Sea Island Singers, and more. Click here to purchase the album.
- September 5, 2008
Cephas & Wiggins in Billboard, Wall Street Journal
Richmond Blues, the new Smithsonian Folkways album by Cephas & Wiggins, entered the Billboard Blues Chart last week at #14 and was the subject of a Wall Street Journal article on the Piedmont blues style. Click here to read the article and click here for more information on Richmond Blues.
- August 26, 2008
Nobel Voices for Disarmament: 1901–2001 Released
Alfred Nobel created the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 to honor such advocacy. In this collection of archival and new spoken word recordings, Nobel laureates and other proponents of peace remind us of their profound efforts on behalf of world peace. Click here for more information.
- August 6, 2008
Rahim Alhaj Profiled on CNN
Grammy-nominated oud master Rahim Alhaj was the subject of a feature video on CNN in conjunction with his July 31st, 2008 performance at the Smithsonian Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Alhaj, with percussionist Souhail Kaspar, released When the Soul is Settled: Music of Iraq on Smithsonian Folkways and earned a 2008 Grammy nomination in the traditional world music category. Click here to watch the CNN profile, featuring both interview and performance footage.
- June 24, 2008
Música Del Pueblo: A Virtual Exhibition of Latino Roots Music and Culture in the United States and Latin America
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage has partnered with Smithsonian Folkways and the Smithsonian Latino Center to create a Flash-based virtual exhibition featuring a diverse range of Latin American and Latino musics. Música del Pueblo draws its content from many sources: research and documentation from the Nuestra Música: Music in Latino Culture programs from the Smithsonian Folklife Festival; research and recordings from the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Tradiciones/Traditions series of música latina CDs; and new documentation of music done partnering with community organizations and researchers around the United States. The exhibition includes twenty four high-quality video features arranged by thematic categories. Content includes Puerto Rican bomba, plena, and jíbaro music, South Texas conjunto, Mexican mariachi music, Mexican huasteco, jarocho, and Michoacán Tierra Caliente son, Afro Cuban sacred music, Colombian vallenato, Dominican merengue típico, Salvadoran chanchona music, corridos, Guatemalan marimba music, Chilean nueva canción, and Latino hip-hop. These videos are accompanied by brief essays and links to related content in other sections of the Música del Pueblo website and on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.
- June 8, 2008
Smithsonian Folkways Launches New Web Site
We hope you are enjoying the new Smithsonian Folkways website, which is an effort to provide greater access to the more than 3,000 recordings that make up the collection. Browse our new releases, staff picks, best sellers, or the more than 40 genres represented. Try our enhanced advanced search, listen to song samples, and when you find recordings you'd like to purchase, you can choose between CD or Digital Download format.
- May 30th, 2008
Discover Música Vallenata in Free Film Screening and in Smithsonian Magazine
Join the Smithsonian Latino Center, the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, Smithsonian Channel and the Embassy of Colombia for a free screening of The Accordion Kings, a new documentary film about vallenato, the soulful music of Colombia's Caribbean coast. Following a brief discussion of the film, José Vásquez, Pangue Maestre, Ivo Díaz, and Daniel Castilla will perform a special concert of música vallenata featured in the film and on the new recording ¡Ayombe!:The Heart of Colombia's Música Vallenata, available now from Smithsonian Folkways. The event will begin at 6pm on Friday, June 6th, at the Baird Auditorium in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Click here for more information.
In addition, June's edition of Smithsonian Magazine features a profile of vallenato, video clips from The Accordion Kings, and an audio stream of "Matilde Lina", one of the songs from ¡Ayombe!:The Heart of Colombia's Música Vallenata. Click here for the profile and video clips, and click here for the audio stream of "Matilde Lina".
- May 14, 2008
Two Folkways Records Added to the National Recording Registry
Two recordings from the Folkways collections were included in the 2007 National Recording Registry: You'll Sing a Song and I'll Sing a Song recorded by legendary children's music artist Ella Jenkins in 1966 and Freight Train recorded by folk songwriter and guitarist Elizabeth Cotten in 1959 (reissued in 1989). The National Recording Registry was established in 2000 in the Library of Congress to maintain and preserve sound recordings and collections of sound recordings that are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. Read more about the Registry and these Folkways artists here.
- May 7, 2008
Smithsonian and University of Alberta Join to Conserve Folkways' Cover Material
When the Smithsonian Institution acquired Folkways Records from the estate of its founder, Moses Asch, in 1987, it received all of the company's business papers and files in addition to a complete catalog of its recordings. Among these materials were more than 2,000 envelope files, called "job bags," containing photographs, artwork, cover text and other production materials for each of Folkways' distinctive album covers.
Now, researchers from the University of Alberta in Canada are collaborating with Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage archivists and Smithsonian Folkways staff to document and preserve the contents of these job bags. Smithsonian Folkways recordings are available for digital download from Smithsonian Global Sound. Read more here.
- April 1, 2008
In Memory of Sam Gesser (1930-2008)
We learned from a friend at the Jewish Public Library in Montreal that Sam Gesser passed away this morning in Montreal General Hospital, Quebec, Canada. Sam visited Folkways founder Moses Asch in 1951 and asked why there was no Canadian material in the Folkways Records catalogue. Asch said he was waiting for Gesser to provide it. Between 1951 and 1963 Gesser produced nearly 100 records of Canadian music traditions, introduced many others to Asch and became the first Folkways distributor for Canada. He is a member of the Order of Canada, has been honored with other awards, including a 2005 certificate from Smithsonian, a 2007 lifetime achievement award from the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and late last year the very first Resonance Award, established by the Canadian Museum of Civilization to honour outstanding lifetime contributions to Canada's musical heritage. More about Sam Gesser.
- March 31, 2008
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Announces Availability of Digitized Artifacts From Yahoo! Time Capsule
On Wednesday, March 26, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings will obtain access to a Yahoo! Time Capsule of more than 150,000 digitized artifacts from Yahoo! and may make it available for future study by the academic community under an agreement with Yahoo!. Beginning today, the Yahoo! Time Capsule will be accessible to scholars and others associated with Smithsonian Folkways Recordings by appointment from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
- March 29, 2008
La India Canela in the NPR Studio
Dominican accordionist La India Canela visits the USA and NPR to discuss her new Smithsonian Folkways album, Merengue Típico from the Dominican Repbulic and to perform in the studios. Listen here.
- January 18, 2008
Classic African American Gospel on NPR Weekend Edition
Kip Lornell, compiler of Classic African American Gospel from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (to be released on January 29, 2008), discusses this history of African American gospel and plays music from the upcoming release. Listen here.
- December 8, 2007
Two Grammy Nominations for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
When the Soul is Settled: Music of Iraq by Rahim Alhaj and Singing for Life: Songs of Hope, Healing, and HIV/AIDS in Uganda both nominated for Best Traditional World Music Album.
- November 13, 2007
2007 Latin Grammy Win for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Congratulations to Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto from Colombia for winning a 2007 Latin GRAMMY for Best Folk album for Un Fuego de Sangre Pura. With Un Fuego de Sangre Pura (A Fire of Pure Blood), the roots of the cumbia thrive in the music of Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto from Colombia's violence-torn Caribbean hinterlands. The sounds of long-tubed gaita flutes, unique drums, and maraca stoke the fire of the cumbia and of other regional dances-the fast-paced puya and porro, the cadential gaita corrida, and the bullerengue. Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, the senior statesmen of their tradition, are an animated emblem of Colombian nationhood and a resilient fountainhead for some of Latin America's favorite dance rhythms.
- June 25, 2007
Help Document the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
For the first time in Smithsonian history, the Smithsonian Photography Initiative and the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage have invited visitors to add to the rich history of photo documentation of the Festival. To see a selection of these photos alongside photos taken by Smithsonian volunteers and staff, click on the link below. Upload your photos for inclusion in the exhibiton.
View slideshows of photos by Smithsonian staff, volunteers, and visitors
Upload your photos
- March 14, 2007
Ella Jenkins Celebrates 50 Years as a Folkways Artist, Catalogue Now Available Digitally
The First Lady of Children's Music, Ella Jenkins, recorded her first album, Call and Response, for Folkways Records in 1957. For the past 50 years, she has been an integral part of the Folkways and Smithsonian Folkways catalogue and mission.
Today, three and sometimes four generations of fans still sing along with Miss Ella. And a whole new generation of children can learn the groundbreaking songs of Ella Jenkins on Smithsonian Global Sound, where, for the first time, the entire catalogue of Ella Jenkins's songs is available for digital downloading.
- February 26, 2007
Folkways Artist Mark Spoelstra Passes Away
Mark Spoelstra (1940-2007) was a major figure in the folk music scenes in Greenwich Village and Cambridge, Massachusetts during the 1960s. He recorded a live record at Cambridge's Club 47 in 1963.
Born in Kansas City, Spoelstra was raised in California. He remembered moving to New York, where he started out playing for tips in coffee houses, playing at various clubs as a duo with Bob Dylan. On one such occasion, Gil Turner saw him playing with Dylan and brought him to the attention of Broadside Magazine, which began to publish his songs. Folkways Records subsequently released Mark's first two albums, Songs of Mark Spoelstra and the Live at Club 47 album. Folkways also released a rare 45 single of Mark (accompanied by the Two Timers). He went on to record for Elektra, Fantasy, Columbia and Origin Jazz Library. Among his well known compositions were "White Winged Dove" and "5 and 20 Questions."
Mark moved back to California in the late 1960s and joined the band Frontier Constabulary with Mitch Greenhill. In the early 1970s, he moved to Palo Alto, California and began to study the bible and from 1974-1979, Mark used his music as part of a music ministry. He continued to perform both religious and secular music. His last album was released in 2001. His final years were spent living with his family in the Sierra Mountains.
- February 2, 2007
Eric Von Schmidt Dies at Age 75
Erik von Schmidt was an American singer-songwriter associated with the folk and blues revival of the 1960s. He was a prominent figure in the East Coast folk scene, influencing heavily the work of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and many others. He recorded Rolf Cahn and Erik von Schmidt for Folkways Records with his friend Rolf Cahn in 1961 and won a 1997 GRAMMY Award for his work on the liner notes to the Smithsonian Folkways reissue of The Anthology of American Folk Music™. Smithsonian Folkways honors his passion for American folk and blues and his comitment to sharing the music with others.
- December 5, 2006
Music of Central Asia Nominated for a 2007 Grammy Award for Best Traditional World Music
Smithsonian Folkways recording Music of Central Asia vol. 2: Invisible Face of the Beloved: Classical Music of the Tajiks and Uzbeks, by Academy of Maqam was nominated for a 2007 GRAMMY Award in the Best Traditional World Music category. Amid the mosques and minarets of Samarkand and Bukhara, generations of vocalists set the mystical, Sufi-inspired verse of Hafiz and other classical poets to lyrical melodies, creating a spiritual art music of great refinement and sublime beauty called Shashmaqâm, confirming its important place among the great art music traditions of Euasia. Music of Central Asia is a co-production of the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia, a program of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, and the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. The aim of the series is to present leading exponents of Central Asia's rich and diverse musical heritage to listeners outside the region.