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Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

The box set will include a 300-page companion volume featuring never-before-seen photographs, scholarly commentary and rigorous liner notes.

This Ambitious Landmark Hip-Hop and Rap Anthology Was Successfully Funded

Smithsonian’s nonprofit record label launched a Kickstarter for help and got it

Young Aboriginal dancers keeping their tradition alive at the Leura Festival in Australia.

Commentary

How We Can Support the World’s Rich Musical Diversity

Some music thrives, while other musical traditions are on the verge of disappearing

Christylez Bacon at the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

Christylez Bacon on Finding His Voice through Music

The Grammy-nominated artist takes inspiration from weaving together seemingly disparate musical forms

In 1971, Folkways Recordings released the album Raimon: Catalonian Protest Songs, and in the liner notes, Pete Seeger wrote: “Censors, in every corner of this world, tend to be shallow, literal-minded people. Raimon is a poet. There is no need to say more.”

This Catalan Folk Singer Refused to Bow to Oppression

The director of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage recognizes the lifetime work of the singer activist Raimon

A page from fifteenth century Armenian physician Amirdovlat Amasiatsi’s botanical encyclopedia, Useless for the Ignorant, housed in Matanadaran.

Armenia

Why a Modern Cosmetics Company Is Mining Armenia’s Ancient Manuscripts

Armenia’s folk remedies and botanical traditions are getting a new look

“Music is a way of looking at someone in a different way,” says ethnomusicologist Ben Harbert. “You see them as a singer, not a prisoner.”

Finding Music Behind Prison Bars

At the Louisiana State Penitentiary and at a maximum-security prison in Malawi, the benefits of music are far-reaching

On December 17, pilgrims flood the streets of the Cuban town of Rincón, home to a leprosarium and a church dedicated to St. Lazarus.

Cuba’s Fascinating Babalú-Ayé Procession Honors African and Catholic Traditions

On December 17, Cubans perform a ritual pilgrimage for a powerful deity that can bring good health or can take it away

Why the Story of Cinderella Endures and Resonates

A Smithsonian folklorist follows the ancient tale with a particularly American twist

Portrait in New York, in Lead Belly’s final days, 1948-49

The Incomparable Legacy of Lead Belly

This week a new Smithsonian Folkways compilation and a Smithsonian Channel show highlight the seminal blues man of the century

Bearing witness to the historic march and the freedom songs sung along the way, Carl Benkert carried a large tape recorder hidden from the police and angry whites.

Listen to the Freedom Songs Recorded During the March From Selma to Montgomery

When MLK called for people to come to Selma, Detroit’s Carl Benkert arrived with his tape recorder, making the indelible album “Freedom Songs”

Smithsonian Folkways is re-releasing its classic catalog of songs about the Spanish Civil War.

Revisiting the Timeless Tracks of the Spanish Civil War

Smithsonian Folkways is re-releasing its catalog of Spanish Civil War songs

The same week that Ella Jenkins turns 90, Smithsonian Folkways is releasing her 40th album.

At 90, Ella Jenkins, the First Lady of Children’s Music Has a New Album

Celebrate her birthday with her latest, a compilation of children’s songs from around the world

Samba school Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel performs at the sambodromo during the carnival of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 03 March 2014.

World Cup 2014

Samba and Sway to These Brazilian Songs Compiled By Smithsonian Folkways

Take a virtual tour through the country’s diverse musical traditions

Itinerant African American musicians played to so many different audiences that they had to be as versatile as a jukebox.

Before There was the Blues Man, There Was the Songster

A new release from Smithsonian Folkways celebrates the diverse sounds of turn-of-the-century itinerant musicians

The Seldom Scene's album, "Long Time. . . Seldom Scene," the band's first recording since 2007, features a mix of classic fan favorites, a litany of guest stars and one brand-new song.

Seldom Scene, Often Heard: A Bluegrass Band Returns to its Roots With a New Album

The current members of the legendary Washington, D.C.-based bluegrass band celebrate four decades of making music

Conjunto masters Flaco Jiménez and Max Baca team up for an album of duets, "Legends & Legacies," out this month from Smithsonian Folkways

LISTEN: Five-Time Grammy Winner Flaco Jiménez Returns to his Tex-Mex Roots

Virtuoso 12-string bajo sexto player Max Baca talks about his long-time partner Flaco Jiménez

Pete Seeger, 1986.

“All Music Is Folk Music”

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings may soon be coming to a computer near you

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