Event Videos
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Film, VideoSwanky Kitchen Band Performance by the Swanky Kitchen Band, which is on an essential quest to revive the traditional music of the Cayman Islands. Set amidst the crystal blue waters of the Caribbean Sea, the three tiny islands are home to kitchen dance music, an infectiously danceable fiddle-driven style. The kitchen dance sound, created through a crossroads of European and African influences, might have disappeared save for…- Contributor: Swanky Kitchen Band
- Date: 2024-07-31
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Film, VideoConversation with Swanky Kitchen Band Jon Lohman, director of the Center for Cultural Vibrancy, sits down with members of the Swanky Kitchen Band. The band is on an essential quest to revive the traditional music of the Cayman Islands. Set amidst the crystal blue waters of the Caribbean Sea, the three tiny islands are home to kitchen dance music, an infectiously danceable fiddle-driven style. The kitchen dance sound, created…- Contributor: Scott, Paula - Johnson, Nicholas - Swanky Kitchen Band - Rose, Samuel - Turner, Karen (Kk Alese) - Lohman, Jon
- Date: 2024-07-31
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Film, VideoCarl Fleischhauer: Folklorist and Visual Documentarian One of America's leading and most influential visual documentarians, Carl Fleischhauer's contributions to the theory and practice of his field and to the image collections of the Library of Congress, particularly those of the American Folklife Center, have been substantial. Since joining the Library in the 1970s, his images, his approaches to fieldwork and his involvement in AFC fieldwork survey projects during the 1970s-1990s…- Contributor: Fleischhauer, Carl
- Date: 2024-07-17
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Film, VideoConversation with Carl Fleischhauer Nancy Groce and Guha Shankar of the American Folklife Center sit down for a conversation with Carl Fleischhauer. One of America's leading and most influential visual documentarians, Fleischhauer's contributions to the theory and practice of his field and to the image collections of the Library of Congress, particularly those of the American Folklife Center, have been substantial. Since joining the Library in the 1970s,…- Contributor: Groce, Nancy - Fleischhauer, Carl - Shankar, Guha
- Date: 2024-07-17
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Film, VideoConversation with Rachel Sumner and Traveling Light Stephen Winick sits down with Rachel Sumner, Kat Wallace and Mike Siegel of Traveling Light to discuss their music. This Boston based acoustic trio come bearing new interpretations of traditional folk songs and lend their deeply rooted bluegrass know-how to tightly crafted original songs written by Lennon-Award-winning songwriter Sumner. In addition to their own songs, the group will performed their own take on songs…- Contributor: Wallace, Kat - Traveling Light - Sumner, Rachel - Winick, Stephen - Siegel, Mike
- Date: 2024-06-26
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Film, VideoRachel Sumner and Traveling Light Lennon-Award-winning songwriter Rachel Sumner sits at the helm of the string band Traveling Light (fiddle, guitar, bass). This Boston based acoustic trio come bearing new interpretations of traditional folk songs and lend their deeply rooted bluegrass know-how to tightly crafted original songs written by Sumner. In addition to some of their own songs, the group performed their own take on songs taken from the…- Contributor: Traveling Light - Sumner, Rachel
- Date: 2024-06-26
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Film, VideoSidney Robertson, Folk Music Collecting and FDR's New Deal The authors of two new books -- Sheryl Kaskowitz, "A Chance to Harmonize" and Catherine Hiebert Kerst, "California Gold" -- return to the Library of Congress to discuss the remarkable New Deal folk song collecting career of Sidney Robertson, whose recordings are held in the American Folklife Center.- Contributor: Kerst, Catherine Hiebert - Kaskowitz, Sheryl
- Date: 2024-06-26
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Film, VideoFamily Sing-Along with Natalie Merchant Natalie Merchant performed a special concert as part of the David M. Rubenstein Treasures Gallery Opening Week festivities, specifically designed for families. The concert included music, items from the Library's collections and sing-alongs.- Contributor: Merchant, Natalie
- Date: 2024-06-15
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Film, VideoNatalie Merchant Celebrates the Treasures of a Nation This celebratory concert featuring Natalie Merchant marks the opening of the David M. Rubenstein Treasures Gallery at the Library of Congress. Enjoy a selection of the artist's favorite works as well as a snapshot of some of the Library's greatest treasures.- Contributor: Merchant, Natalie
- Date: 2024-06-13
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Film, VideoWe Are the Archive: Go-Go, Art and Respect Washington, D.C.-based writer, curator and activist Natalie Hopkinson discusses her work amplifying the voices of Black and Indigenous cultures that face erasure throughout the world. Drawing on her oral history and archival projects that span Washington's go-go music, Guyanese painting and poetry, and African photography, she describes how teams of artists, schools, libraries, civil society organizations, governments and museums are building a world where…- Contributor: Hopkinson, Natalie
- Date: 2024-06-12
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Film, VideoConversation with Istiwanāt Live Arabic Music Ensemble John Fenn sits down with Anne K. Rasmussen, Jared Holton, Albert Agha and Anne Elise Thomas of Istiwanāt Live! Arabic Music Ensemble. The group reinterprets music that was originally performed 100 years ago for a transnational industry of Arab, Arab American and international record labels, and which has recently been released into the public domain. The concert is inspired by the "Archive Challenge," an…- Contributor: Istiwanāt Live - Holton, Jared - Rasmussen, Anne K. - Agha, Albert - Fenn, John - Thomas, Anne Elise
- Date: 2024-06-05
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Film, VideoConversation with Somapa Thai Dance Company Douglas Peach sits down with Suteera Nagavajara, Vorayot Suksaichon and Anant Narkkong to discuss Somapa Thai Dance Company's musical origins. The group is a distinguished Thai dance and music company based in the Washington DC area, featuring an accomplished Thai orchestra. Many of its artists have been trained with highly recognized dance and music masters, including National Artists and others from Chulalongkorn University and…- Contributor: Somapa Thai Dance Company - Suksaichon, Vorayot - Peach, Douglas - Narkkong, Anant - Nagavajara, Suteera
- Date: 2024-05-23
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Film, VideoSomapa Thai Dance Company The Somapa Thai Dance Company will present traditional Thai music and selected Thai dance numbers. The group will showcase newly and innovatively arranged music numbers that are performed on different occasions and for functions in Thai society, including ceremonial music at Buddhist temples, music originating in the old Siamese royal court, and traditional music derived from regional folk tunes and other cultures in the…- Contributor: Somapa Thai Dance Company
- Date: 2024-05-23
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Film, VideoFrom Folk to Baroque: Celtic Music Duo Rakish Rakish is the duo of Violinist Maura Shawn Scanlin and guitarist Conor Hearn. They take their name from the traditional Irish tune Rakish Paddy, an origin that aptly suits the duo and their shared background in traditional Irish and Scottish music. They draw on the music they grew up with and perform it in a way that reflects their shared interest in and love…- Contributor: Rakish - Scanlin, Maura Shawn - Hearn, Conor
- Date: 2024-05-15
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Film, VideoConversation with Rakish Violinist Maura Shawn Scanlin and guitarist Conor Hearn of Rakish sit down with Stephen Winick of the American Folklife Center. Rakish takes their name from the traditional Irish tune Rakish Paddy, an origin that aptly suits the duo and their shared background in traditional Irish and Scottish music. They draw on the music they grew up with and perform it in a way that…- Contributor: Winick, Stephen - Rakish - Scanlin, Maura Shawn - Hearn, Conor
- Date: 2024-05-15
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Film, VideoInstrument of the State: A Century of Music in Louisiana's Angola Prison Benjamin J. Harbert is an ethnomusicologist and author of the book "Instrument of the State: A Century of Music in Louisiana's Angola Prison." The book and his recent documentary on the same topic, "Follow Me Down," were the subjects of his talk. Angola prison is the largest and one of the most notorious prisons in the United States, built into a slave plantation that…- Contributor: Harbert, Benjamin J.
- Date: 2024-04-17
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Film, VideoConversation with Benjamin J. Harbert Nancy Groce and Jesse Hawkin of the American Folklife Center sit down with Benjamin J. Harbert, ethnomusicologist and author of the book "Instrument of the State: A Century of Music in Louisiana's Angola Prison." The book and his recent documentary on the same topic, "Follow Me Down," were the subjects of his talk. Angola prison is the largest and one of the most notorious…- Contributor: Harbert, Benjamin J.
- Date: 2024-04-17
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Film, VideoConversation with Melissa Cooper Nancy Groce and Douglas Peach of the American Folklife Center sit down with Melissa Cooper, associate professor of history at Rutgers University-Newark, discussing her research on the emergence of "the Gullah" in scholarly and popular works beginning in the 1920s and the 1930s. Using Georgia as a case study, Dr. Cooper explores the forces that initially inspired interest in Black southerners' African heritage and…- Contributor: Cooper, Melissa
- Date: 2024-04-10
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Film, VideoCollecting Survivals: Sapelo Island Georgia and the Search for Gullah Folk Historian Melissa Cooper, associate professor of history at Rutgers University-Newark, who specializes in the study of African American cultural and intellectual history and the history of the African Diaspora, discusses her research on the emergence of "the Gullah" in scholarly and popular works beginning in the 1920s and the 1930s. Using Georgia as a case study, Cooper explores the forces that initially inspired interest…- Contributor: Cooper, Melissa
- Date: 2024-04-10
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Film, VideoMúscraí Singing Tradition of County Cork, Ireland Cormac Ó hAodha is the current Lomax Scholar and Lovelace Fellow at the Kluge Center and comes from Cúil Aodha, which is a village in the Múscraí Gaeltacht of County Cork in Ireland. He is conducting extensive research in the Alan Lomax Collection within the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, which includes material Lomax collected some 73 years ago from singers…- Contributor: Ó'haodha, Cormac
- Date: 2024-03-26
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Film, VideoConversation with Northern Resonance The three members of Northern Resonance speak with Stephen Winick of the American Folklife Center. The trio performs traditional and newly composed roots music on a previously untested combination of instruments: viola d'amore, hardanger fiddle and nyckelharpa. Northern Resonance combines Scandinavian music with explosive rhythms and grand chamber-like arrangements, taking folk music in a new direction. The members of Northern Resonance are highly skilled…- Contributor: Northern Resonance - Hans-Ers, Jerker - Hans-Ers, Anna Ekborg - Dillner, Petrus
- Date: 2024-03-07
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Film, VideoNorthern Resonance: Scandinavian Roots Music Northern Resonance is a Scandinavian string trio rooted in traditional folk music. The trio performs traditional and newly composed roots music on a previously untested combination of instruments: viola d'amore, hardanger fiddle and nyckelharpa. Northern Resonance combines Scandinavian music with explosive rhythms and grand chamber-like arrangements, taking folk music in a new direction. The members of Northern Resonance are highly skilled and accomplished musicians…- Contributor: Northern Resonance - Hans-Ers, Jerker - Hans-Ers, Anna Ekborg - Dillner, Petrus
- Date: 2024-03-07
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Film, VideoRev. Robert B. Jones Sr. Concert Rev. Robert B. Jones Sr. is an inspirational musician and storyteller celebrating the history, humor and power of American roots music. His deep love for traditional African American and American music is shared in live performances that interweave timeless stories with original and traditional songs. For more than 30 years, Jones has entertained and educated audiences of all ages in schools, colleges, libraries, union…- Contributor: Jones Sr., Rev. Robert B.
- Date: 2024-02-15
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Film, VideoConversation with Rev. Robert B. Jones Sr. Rev. Robert B. Jones Sr. speaks with Stephen Winick of the American Folklife Center. Jones is an inspirational musician and storyteller celebrating the history, humor and power of American roots music. His deep love for traditional African American and American music is shared in live performances that interweave timeless stories with original and traditional songs. For more than 30 years, Jones has entertained and…- Contributor: Winick, Stephen - Jones Sr., Rev. Robert B.
- Date: 2024-02-15
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Film, VideoPuzzle Pieces of Longevity Science Longevity has turned into a buzzword of late. There are many very wealthy people who tout their ability to defy age by following rigid health regimes that are out of reach for the average person, but longevity can also be accessible to everyone. The goal of this event is to bring specialists from the fields engaging with longevity science to speak on how cognitive…- Contributor: Ireland, Lisa - Kay, Jon - Magsamen, Susan - Fenn, John - O'Brien, Kelly
- Date: 2024-02-07