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Category: Folk Music

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Caught My Ear: Dance Tunes in the National Jukebox from Collections by Cecil Sharp

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

Many divisions of the Library of Congress have fascinating collections that are closely related to folklife and that complement collections in the American Folklife Center. The Recorded Sound Section is a part of the Library that works closely with the American Folklife Center in a variety of important ways. Among their holdings are recordings related …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Puertorriqueños de Estados Unidos: Identity, Arts, and Culture

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean. Puerto Rican migration to the mainland United States has largely been driven by economic necessity, whether of individuals’ needs to earn more to support themselves and their families, or large scale economic events such as the Great Depression and other …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Songs for the Easter Season: Polyphonic Singing from the Republic of Georgia

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

Georgian polyphonic singing has a rich and ancient past. It predates Christianity and its pre-Christian roots are alive today in secular songs such as lullabies, harvest, hunting, and wedding songs. The Christian songs survived a dark time while Georgia was part of the Soviet Union, as the tradition was banned from 1921 to 1990. Monks …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Homegrown Plus: Ara Dinkjian & Zulal Concert and Oral History

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

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 a concert and oral history with Ara Dinkjian and the Zulal trio. In May 2015 Ara Dinkjian, a master of the oud, …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Homegrown Plus: Traditional Hindustani Music with Soumya Chakraverty and Devapriya Nayak

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

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 a concert and oral history with Soumya Chakraverty and Devapriya Nayak. This event was cosponsored with the Library of Congress Asian American Association …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Homegrown Plus: Alash Ensemble Performs the Music of Tuva

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

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 a concert and oral history with the Alash Ensemble The Alash Ensemble are masters of techniques for singing multiple pitches at …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Homegrown Plus: Cambodian-American Heritage Dancers with Chum Ngek Ensemble

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

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 a concert and oral history with the Cambodian-American Heritage Dancers with Chum Ngek Ensemble. Update: in September, 2020, Chum Ngek did …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Homegrown Plus: Onnik & Ara Dinkjian: Armenian Song

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

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 a concert and oral history with Armenian American musicians Onnik and Ara Dinkjian. Onnik Dinkjian, 89 years old at the time …