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Category: Hispanic American History

Photo of a coastline and the sea.

Navigating AFC Collections Geographically: Pacific Region States

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

Staff at the American Folklife Center continue to use new digital tools to support remote discovery and access for our resources by users of all kinds. Whether you are a community scholar, a teacher, an academic researcher, a creative artist, or a curious consumer of local culture we hope that our geographically-oriented research guides offer …

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

Jennifer Lopez, Plus Pete Seeger, Bernie Sanders, Sea Shanties, and More at No Depression

Posted by: Stephen Winick

Over at No Depression, read my musings about the 2021 inauguration, including Jennifer Lopez's rendition of "This Land is Your Land" and the song's journey from its author Woody Guthrie to its performances at the Obama and Biden inaugurations. You'll read about the song's appearance at the 2009 inauguration, where it was led by Bruce Springsteen, Pete Seeger, and Tao Rodriguez-Seeger. We'll also revisit a classic rendition of "This Land" by Senator Bernie Sanders. Embedded throughout the piece you'll find some video treasures from the AFC archive: three versions of "This Land is Your Land" sung entirely or partially in Spanish. We'll also take a side trip into the January 2021 sea shanty craze on social media, and hear Springsteen's version of the classic shanty "Pay Me My Money Down," as well as the Alan Lomax field recording of the Georgia Sea Island Singers.

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

Live! In the Archive: an Interview with Lone Piñon

Posted by: Michelle Stefano

On January 29th, the AFC launched the Live! In the Archive concert series, where artists are invited to perform selections from the Center’s collections live in its reading room. The first artists featured in this new concert series were Lone Piñon. The video of their Live! In the Archive concert is embedded in this blog post, which also contains an interview with Jordan Wax and Tanya Nuñez of Lone Piñon.

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

Getting Inspired from Home on the Folklife Today Podcast!

Posted by: Stephen Winick

Episode eighteen of the Folklife Today Podcast (or Season 2, Episode 6) is ready for listening! Find it at this page on the Library’s website, or on Stitcher, iTunes, or your usual podcatcher. It's the first episode of the podcast that we've created from our homes, while unable to return to our offices or studio in the Library of Congress due to the social distancing measures imposed by Covid-19.  In the episode, John Fenn and I talk to three AFC staff members, Allina Migoni, Michelle Stefano, and Maya Lerman, about folklife collections and items that have been inspiring to them in this strange and difficult time.  We also talk about some of the materials that have been inspiring us. As usual, there are lots of audio excerpts from tunes, songs, and interviews in AFC collections.

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

Homegrown Plus: Grupo Rebolú’s Afro-Colombian Music

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 Grupo Rebolú. Grupo Rebolú is an Afro-Colombian musical ensemble that includes some of the finest Colombian …

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

Which One Do You Love Most?

Posted by: Lisa Taylor

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 …

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

Songs from Cuban Americans in Florida, 1939-1940

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

A team of folklorists made recordings of Cuban folk and dance hall music as part of projects to document Florida arts for the WPA (Works Progress Administration).  Found online in the presentation Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1938-1942, these recordings occurred at a time when old songs from rural Cuba could still be found, …