July—August, 2008 Newsletter

Dear Supporter,

This summer Smithsonian Folkways adds two stellar new albums to the extensive Blues and Spoken Word collections: Richmond Blues from respected traditional Piedmont blues artists Cephas & Wiggins, and Nobel Voices for Disarmament, a stirring compilation of recordings by the most prominent advocates for world peace. These albums, like the entire collection, are available in both CD and Digital Download format from the Smithsonian Folkways Web site.

Also make sure to visit the new 2008 Folklife Festival Webcasts, the Música del Pueblo virtual exhibition, and three new Sound Sessions radio programs!

Please read on for more details. Smithsonian Folkways is a nonprofit endeavor, and your purchases sustain both the mission and the music. Thank you for your support.

NEW RELEASE: AFRICAN AMERICAN LEGACY SERIES, VOL. 3: RICHMOND BLUES
Drawing on roots of ragtime, ballads, country, old-time string band, rhythm and blues, and more, Cephas & Wiggins’ Richmond Blues is a musical roadmap of the Virginia Piedmont tradition. Their sound is at the same time distinctly modern, a kind of “urban acoustic blues.” Richmond Blues is the third volume of the African American Legacy Series, a collaboration with the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

NEW RELEASE: NOBEL VOICES FOR DISARMAMENT
In this collection of archival and new spoken word recordings produced in collaboration with the United Nations and the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center, Nobel laureates and other luminaries remind us of their profound efforts on behalf of world peace. Hosted by Michael Douglas, with speeches by John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan, and others. In stores Aug. 26th, but available now via the Smithsonian Folkways Web site.

VIDEO WEBCASTS FROM THE 2008 SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL
Experience the Folklife Festival from home with full-length concerts by Guy Clark, Marcia Ball, Los Texmaniacs, CJ Chenier, and more artists from Texas, as well as our guests from Bhutan performing music and dance from the Land of the Thunder Dragon.

DISCOVER LATINO ROOTS MUSIC AND CULTURE
The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Latino Center and with the support of the Paul Allen Family Foundation, has created a Flash-based virtual exhibition featuring a diverse range of Latin American and Latino musics. Música del Pueblo presents twenty-four high-quality video features arranged by thematic categories.

THREE NEW EPISODES OF SOUND SESSIONS RADIO PROGRAM
Join host Sam Litzinger, archivist Jeff Place, and special guests as they comb the stacks for music and stories from Smithsonian Folkways. New episodes feature Jean Ritchie, music from the Silk Road, and oud music. Download each show in MP3, or listen monthly on Sunday evenings at 6 p.m. on WAMU 88.5 in Washington, D.C.

SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS TRIVIA!
Each month we’ll ask a trivia question; email your answer with the subject "July Trivia" to smithsonianfolkways_at_si_dot_edu by Friday, August 1st, 2008, and a randomly chosen entrant with the correct answer will win a free CD of their choice!

July Question: Featured on more than 25 Smithsonian Folkways recordings, the oud is a fretless, stringed instrument of Middle Eastern origins most closely associated with what other stringed instrument?

NEW AND NOTABLE

CURATOR PICKS

NEWS AND NOTES

• We remember Tony Schwartz (1923—2008), sound archivist and advertising creator who was involved in thirteen Folkways recordings.
• Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant credits Smithsonian Folkways artist Roscoe Holcomb as an influence in a Rolling Stone magazine interview
• On MySpace? Visit the Smithsonian Folkways MySpace profile. The first ten comments on every blog become a "top friend"!
• This October, Harper Collins will publish Worlds of Sound: The Story of Smithsonian Folkways, a new book written by Richard Carlin. Stay tuned for more information, including a special offer from Smithsonian Folkways.

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