We celebrate the tenth and final release of the award-winning "Music of Central Asia" series with the groundbreaking CD/DVD set Borderlands: Wu Man and Master Musicians from the Silk Route. In these exuberant recordings, pipa master Wu Man and her Uyghur, Tajik, and Hui collaborators explore connections between the musical worlds of China and Central Asia.

- Watch a mini-documentary about the making of Borderlands.

- Free Download: "Shadiana (Celebration)"

Subscriber Discount! - Enter code SFBORDERLANDS and save 20% off retail price on this CD/DVD or album download through June 30.

The Spring 2012 issue of Smithsonian Folkways Magazine delves into "the look of the listen," the album cover artwork that is a vital part of the collection.

Cover Story: The Look of the Listen: The Cover Art of Folkways Records (a new virtual exhibition)

Artist Spotlight: Transparency as Authenticity? Ronald Clyne and His Cover Art for Folkways

Archive Spotlight: Covering the Revolution: Paredon Records
Album Art

Tools for Teaching: “The Look of the Listen” Lesson Plan

Video Spotlight: Elizabeth Cotten performs “Freight Train”

Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection will be available in stores on July 10, but you can pre-order a special package, including an instant album download, limited-edition poster, and T-shirt. Read more.

Watch a new mini-documentary about the making of Woody at 100.

Each month we’ll ask a trivia question; e-mail your answer, name, and address with the subject "June Trivia" to SmithsonianFolkways@si.edu by June 30, and a randomly selected entrant with the correct answer will win a free CD of his or her choice!

June Question: Woody Guthrie was named after which New Jersey governor?

Congratulations to last month's winner, Tevor from Columbia, MO, who correctly answered “Satchmo” (short for “Satchelmouth”) and “Pops” to the question, “Louis Armstrong was such a major figure that he had two nicknames! What are they?” We also accepted “Dippermouth.” 

• We remember influential and inspirational folk singer and guitarist Arthel Lane
  “Doc” Watson (1923-2012), who has four albums in the Smithsonian Folkways collection.

• We remember Richard Meyer (1952-2012), folk singer/songwriter and co-editor of
  Fast Folk Musical Magazine.

• Listen to a sneak preview of ¡Parranda! Venezuelan Carnival Music by La Sardina de Naiguatá, available June 19.

• Listen to a sneak preview of Little Seed: Songs for Children by Woody Guthrie, sung by Elizabeth Mitchell, available July 10.

• For the fourth consecutive year, Smithsonian Folkways won multiple Independent Music Awards including Best Compilation and Best Merchandise for JAZZ: The Smithsonian Anthology and Best Latin Album for ¡Cimarrón! Joropo Music from the Plains of Colombia. Make sure to login and vote for us in the Vox Populi awards as well!

• Smithsonian Folkways is a finalist for the inaugural A2IM Libera Awards for Independent Label of the Year (with six or more employees).

• Mark your calendars for these two free Smithsonian Folkways concerts at the 2012 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, DC:
  June 29 - Quetzal (East LA Chicano rock) and La Sardina de Naiguatá (Venezuelan carnival dance music)
  July 6 - Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano