The following is a guest post by Monica Mohindra, Head of Program Communication and Coordination, Veterans History Project. “A Kiss is Just a Kiss.” Or is it, “As Time Goes By?” When the publishers staged a reunion in 1980, they used another crooners’ standard, “It Had to be You” on a placard in the background. But was …
In the Homegrown Plus series, we present Homegrown concerts that also had accompanying oral history interviews, placing both together in an easy-to-find blog post. (Find the whole series here!) We’re continuing the series with NOKA and Mikel Markez. NOKA is a Basque-language singing trio from California composed of Andréa Bidart, Begoña Echeverria, and Cathy Petrissans, the daughters and granddaughters of …
It’s Valentine’s Day. It seems everyone has love on their minds today—at least half of us, anyway. Last year, the National Retail Federation predicted that 54.7% of the United States adult population was planning to celebrate the holiday with their significant others, friends or pets to the tune of nearly $20 billion. Yes, billion with …
The following is a guest post by Will Hubbard, Vice President of Government Affairs, Student Veterans of America. As I sit here in Kabul City, Afghanistan, deployed as a member of the Marine Corps Reserve, I’m reminded of the journey that has taken me here, including my own experience of graduating from American University using …
In the Homegrown Plus series, we present Homegrown concerts that also had accompanying oral history interviews, placing both together in an easy-to-find blog post. (Find the whole series here!) We’re continuing the series with the 2017 Archive Challenge Sampler concert in the Coolidge Auditorium. It’s a little different from the other Homegrown concerts in that it featured …
For some time I have been intrigued by the beautiful voices of four young men, singers in the Holloway High School Quartet, recorded by John W. Work III in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in 1941. To mark African American Heritage Month this year, I thought I would try to find out a little more about them. I have …
In the Homegrown Plus series, we present Homegrown concerts that also had accompanying oral history interviews, placing both together in an easy-to-find blog post. We're continuing the series with Newpoli, an ensemble based in Massachusetts playing folk songs and dance music from southern Italy, mainly from the regions of Campania and Puglia. Newpoli integrates a wide variety of styles such as Tarantella-Pizzica, Tammuriata, Villanella and the Neapolitan Canzone, encompassing music from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. Because Italian folk music, with the exception of a small number of Neapolitan songs, has not received much global attention or recognition, Newpoli concerts are often the first exposure audience members have to these traditions—even among Italians. Newpoli members are careful to highlight the joy and beauty of the music while explaining the rituals behind the dances and the ancient stories described in the lyrics. Most of the members are graduates of the Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory, and are proficient on a wide range of folk and early instruments including bagpipes, flutes, drums, accordions, viols, and lutes.
Today, the Veterans History Project launches a new online exhibit to commemorate the 75th anniversary of a piece of legislation that forever altered the American veteran experience: the GI Bill. In June 1944, Army Corporal John Kuhlman was in training at Fort Crook, Nebraska, and focusing on his eventual transfer overseas. While he anxiously considered …
If you happen to have seen the recent documentary Creative Feds, about federal workers who have musical careers which complement their federal jobs, you might have noticed a familiar face or two. One of the main characters in the film is AFC’s own folklife specialist Jennifer Cutting, who works here as a Research and Programs …