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Posted by: Douglas D. Peach
This post provides an overview of Hawaiian traditional music collections in the archives of the American Folklife Center.
Posted in: Collection Highlight, Cowboys, Cultural Heritage, ethnomusicologists, Folk Music, Folklorists, Folksong, Hawai'i, Hawaiian Americans, NEA National Heritage Fellowship, Pacific Islander History, Pacific Islands Americans, Storytelling
Posted by: Stephen Winick
The latest post in the Homegrown Plus series features Boots Lupenui and the Kohala Mountain Boys performing heritage songs of the Kohala region of the Big Island of Hawai’i. Led by Boots Lupenui, the Kohala Mountain Boys are committed to uncovering and preserving musical treasures that helped to define the moku of Kohala on Hawai'i Island. In Boots's words, "Old-time Kohala music is soulful, playful, poetic and fierce, the manifold voice of a vibrant and extraordinary people. We want to recover and share the heirloom songs currently known only to a few isolated and precious old voices, their words and tunes unsung for years. The ancient musical essence of our beloved and mystical Kohala may be lost in this generation. Reclaiming our heirloom songs strengthens our ancestral ties to our homeland. It is a source of pride that can be shared by all the families and all the people of Kohala, for generations to come." Lupenui and his team were the recipients of a Community Collections Grant to document songs written by Kohala residents which might otherwise be lost; the collection is online at the Library of Congress website. This concert provides another way to experience these songs. Just like other blogs in the series, this one includes a concert video, a video interview with the musicians, and connections to Library of Congress collections, as well as Boots's finished documentary film about documenting the heirloom songs of Kohala.
Posted in: AFC Events, Community Collections Grants, Hawaiian Americans, Homegrown Concert Series, Homegrown Plus, Pacific Islander History
Posted by: Guha Shankar
The American Folklife Center proudly announces the availability of an online collection of documentary field research created through the Community Collections Grants (CCG) program. Unearthing the Lost Songs of Kohala is an initiative of the research team of Mark Boots Keahi aʻamau pio ʻole i ka poli o Pele Lupenui (project director, interviewer, and musician), Adam Palya (videographer), and Cheryl Lupenui (project manager). Their year-long efforts have resulted in this unique collection of video recordings, song sheets, and photographs that document generations-old “heirloom songs” of the Kohala region in the northwest portion of the island of Hawai’i.
Posted in: Community Collections Grants, Cultural Heritage, Folk Music, Hawaiian Americans, Narratives, Native Americans/indigenous communities, Pacific Islander History, Pacific Islands Americans
Posted by: Michelle Stefano
Folklife Specialist Nancy Groce announces a new American Folklife Center archival collection, the Warp and Weft of Yap’s Outer Islands: Backstrap Weaving in Micronesia, as supported through the Center's Community Collections Grant program.
Posted in: Acquisitions, AFC Awards, Community Collections Grants, Pacific Islander History
Posted by: Lisa Taylor
The following is a guest blog post by Andrew Huber, a liaison specialist for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP). The idea of an event focusing on collecting stories from Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) veterans all stemmed from a simple question asked during a VHP workshop in 2020. I was teaching …
Posted in: Asian American History, Asian Americans, Chinese Americans, Cultural Heritage, Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, Narratives, Oral History, Pacific Islander History, Pacific Islands Americans, Storytelling, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Stephen Winick
We're back with another episode of the Folklife Today podcast! In this episode for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, John Fenn and Steve Winick invite guests to talk about Asian collections in the American Folklife Center. Allina Migoni talks about the earliest known recordings of Korean music, playing segments of a lecture by Robert Provine and a song sung by Ahn Jeong-Sik. Sara Ludewig discusses the Linda LaMacchia collection, including recordings made of Tibetan singers in India. Steve discusses Asian and Pacific Island collections in the Homegrown concert series, and plays a song, a story, and a flute composition by Grammy-nominated Tibetan musician Tenzin Choegyal. Special theme music is provided by ukulele master Herb Ohta, Jr.
Posted in: Asian American History, Pacific Islander History, Podcasts
Posted by: Stephen Winick
On April 27, 2023, the American Folklife Center (AFC) joined four other divisions at the Library of Congress to welcome a delegation from Hawai'i. Attendees included members of two Royal Families, as well as representatives of the 'Ionali Palace in Honolulu and the Daughters of Hawai'i, an organization founded to preserve Hawaiian language, culture, and collective memory. The delegation enjoyed presentations about the Library's Hawaiian collections, and four delegates sang a beautiful version of "Lili'uokalani's Prayer," a composition written by the last monarch and Queen of Hawai'i, Lili'uokalani, who ruled from 1891 to 1893. Read about the visit and about AFC's Hawaiian collections in this guest blog post by Douglas D. Peach.
Posted in: Cowboy and Western Music, Pacific Islander History
Posted by: Michelle Stefano
Below is an excerpt from an interview by Folklife Specialist Guha Shankar with Community Collections Grant recipient Mark Boots Lupenui entitled, “Heirloom Songs” from Kohala, Hawai’i: Documenting a Fragile Musical Legacy, as part of a series on the Library’s Of the People blog featuring the 2022 awardees of the AFC’s Community Collections Grants program. The …
Posted in: AFC Awards, Community Collections Grants, Fieldwork, Folk Music, Hawaiian Americans, Pacific Islander History, Pacific Islands Americans
Posted by: Michelle Stefano
This is an excerpt from a post on the Library’s Of the People blog highlighting the 2022 AFC Community Collections Grant recipient, Habele Outer Island Education Fund and their project, “The Warp and Weft of the Remathau.” Written by AFC Senior Folklife Specialist Nancy Groce, the post is part of the Of the People blog …
Posted in: AFC Awards, Pacific Islander History, Textiles