Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

Two men wearing traditional feathered headdresses stand in front of two microphones, singing and playing hand drums.

Dennis Zotigh Is a Man of Many Talents, Many Tribes

“As Native people, we have to learn to balance two different worlds.”

A row of people lines up playing flutes. Most are young students, and in the middle is an older man with a long gray braid.

A Lesson About North American Indigenous Flute and Authenticity

Several men and women dressed in all black, standing in formation with a towering stone mountain behind them.

A Catalan Choir Reinterprets Musician Raimon’s Anti-Fascist Lyrics

(Photo courtesy of Sandra Chandler)

A Folkways Challenge Reveals a Love for Sacred Harp Singing in Georgia

(Photo courtesy of Masatsu “Masa” Kawamoto collection, Division of Work and Industry, Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History)

Cowboys in the Tropics: A History of the Hawaiian Paniolo

(Photo courtesy of Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles)

The Quarter-Century Reign of Mariachi Reyna

Barbara Dane with the Chambers Brothers at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. (Photo by Diana Davies, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives)

How Barbara Dane Carries a Proud Tradition of Singing Truth to Power

Black Banjo Reclamation Project founders Hannah Mayree and Carlton “Seemore Love” Dorsey, with banjos made by Brooks Masten of Brooks Banjos in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Avé-Ameenah Long)

A Quest to Return the Banjo to Its African Roots

Admas. From left, clockwise: Abegasu Shiota, Henock Temesgen, Tewodros Aklilu, and Yousef Tesfaye. (Photo courtesy of Frederiksberg Records)

Sons of Ethiopia: A Snapshot of Admas and D.C. Music in the 1980s

After composing and transcribing music for my wedding day, Red Baraat was born. Dave Sharma leads the baraat (wedding procession) on dhol, as I walk with my mother, family, and friends. August 27, 2005. (Photo courtesy of Sunny Jain)

The Tradition of Now: Jainism, Jazz, and the Punjabi Dhol Drum

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Warming to Tradition: The Culture of Vocal Exercise

The Little-Known Story of Drag Kings in Gun Barrel City, Texas

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