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24 October, 2019Print
A Look Back at Smithsonian Folkways' 2019
From the American South to Rural Bulgaria, From the 20th Century to Today2019 was a banner year for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings: Guided by its mission to explore contemporary issues through the lenses of history and tradition, it consistently highlighted new, living-and breathing musicians who turned to storied recordings and often overlooked cultural remnants to uncover new truths about our present world.
This year featured a robust collection of intellectual, historically minded yet forward-thinking new releases. January saw the release of the acclaimed folk trio Lula Wiles' politically-charged undoing of patriarchal folk conventions 'What Will We Do,’ The Boston Globe saying it “closes the space between traditional and today.” In February, the label released 'Songs of Our Native Daughters,' a subversive, empowered retelling of New World slave narratives and historical tales crucial to black life in America by an ensemble of African American banjo players led by Rhiannon Giddens. Most recently, 'Songs from the Bardo' sees iconic artist and musician Laurie Anderson, Tibetan multi-instrumentalist Tenzin Choegyal, and composer/activist Jesse Paris Smith guide listeners on a musical journey through the 'Tibetan Book of the Dead,’ a guide to transitioning from this life to the next.
The releases of older music, too, were curated with Folkways' commitment to contemporary culture and issues in mind. 'The Social Power of Music,' a collection of songs historically used to unite people for and against causes (i.e. a song sung in protest against the murder of a pro-busing, anti-segregation Freedom Rider in 1961), resonated widely in today's fractured climate. 'Jazz Fest: The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival,' released to celebrate fifty years of the iconic festival, paid homage to the indigenous influences of Creole and jazz music from the festival's origins to today, and 'Sound Portraits from Bulgaria: A Journey to a Vanished World,' out November 1st, profiles a rural Bulgarian music culture that has been lost to industrialization, political propaganda, and forced migration - conditions reflected in and fought against today in regions as diverse as the Rust Belt, Syria, and Central America.
Here’s a look back at this year’s highlights:
Lula Wiles - What Will We Do
January 25, 2019
On ‘What Will We Do,’ vintage-folk trio Lula Wiles flip “notions about American folk on its head" (NPR), embracing the spirit of traditional American music, yet unflinchingly calling into question the virtues of the culture that produces it— country songs that shine a light on a country’s crimes; love songs about being alone; murder ballads that challenge the standards of morality - with traditional-sounding folk music written from a place of radical politics and female solidarity.
“Lula Wiles are provocateurs of the best kind, rabble-rousers with the purest intentions … hellbent on stirring up country conventions for the better.” - Paste
"three women seeking to bring to light the injustices of the world and confront them with their powerful voices." - No Depression
"Closes the space between traditional and today.” - Boston Globe
The Social Power of Music -
February 22, 2019
From parties to protests to prayer, music is a powerful catalyst for celebration, for change, and for a sense of community. 'The Social Power of Music' chronicles the vivid, impassioned, and myriad ways in which music binds, incites, memorializes, and moves groups of people. This richly illustrated 124-page book, with 80+ songs of struggle, devotion, celebration, and migration, on 4 CDs, invites listeners into musical practices, episodes, and movements throughout the U.S. and beyond.
"People music. It's the sound of being human together: the rough spots, the rituals, the rockin' out." - Mojo Magazine
"a vivid snapshot of an international brother- and sisterhood unified by the insistent rhythms and melodies of song" - Acoustic Guitar Magazine
Our Native Daughters - Songs of Our Native Daughters - February 22, 2019
Drawing on early minstrelsy and banjo music, the Native Daughters – Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla and Allison Russell – reclaim, recast and spotlight the often unheard and untold history of their ancestors, whose stories remain vital and alive today. Initially conceived and co-produced by Giddens, these songs, written and sung in various combinations, are inspired by New World slave narratives; discrimination and how it has shaped our American experience; and musicians including Haitian troubadour Althiery Dorval and Mississippi Hill Country string player Sid Hemphill.
A testament to the resonance and musical need for narratives of black experience in folk/Americana music as much as it is to the power of talented, smart women, eight months later, ‘Songs of Our Native Daughters’ has become a a key work in the Folkways catalog, and in that of folk music, more generally.
“An artistic mission to supplant the portrayals of slavery as an abstract, ancient sin with the imaginative, immersive contemplation of its individual human impact and aftermath” - NPR
“A record of great importance and exceptional beauty, its darker moments countered by points of bright wonder” - The Guardian (5 star review)
“A crucial pronouncement in folk music” – Rolling Stone
Pete Seeger – The Smithsonian Folkways Collection - May 3, 2019
Featuring classic recordings, 20 previously unreleased tracks, historic live performances, and special collaborations, this set encompasses over 60 years of Pete Seeger’s Folkways catalog, released on the occasion of his 100th birthday. This collection features a large-format 200-page book with hundreds of pages of essays, commentary, photographs, history, and liner notes.
"His work lives on, inspiring artists to create music that urges people to make the world a better place.” - The Recording Academy
"Very few people in American history have lived more authentic and morally radical lives." - Jacobin
Jazz Fest: The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival - Apr 26, 2019 - May 5, 2019
With 50 tracks recorded live, Jazz Fest captures the sounds of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Ever since its inception a half century ago, Jazz Fest has expressed the unique confluence in New Orleans of Native American, African, Caribbean, European, Hispanic, and Asian communities, all captured on this set. Featuring essays and annotations by Keith Spera, Karen Celestan, Robert Cataliotti, Jeff Place, Rachel Lyons, and Jon Pareles, plus photos spanning the last 50 years, the collection traces the history of the festival from Allen Toussaint to Big Freedia, placing special emphasis on the contributions of indigenous performers.
"But if you've never experienced the Jazz & Heritage Festival, this rollicking, spirited celebration of living, breathing music history shows exactly what you've been missing." - NPR All Things Considered
"the most impressive creation detailing the history of Jazz Fest that has ever been produced." "It needs to be in every New Orleans music lover’s collection as well as in the collection of anyone who appreciates any form of art in which love is the main ingredient. Big, big kudos to the many creators and contributors." - The Vinyl District
Mariachi Los Camperos – De Ayer para Siempre - August 23, 2019
Grammy-winning Mariachi Los Camperos’s new album, De Ayer para Siempre (From Yesterday to Forever), revitalizes classic sones, rancheras, and boleros with unparalleled artistry and spirited ingenuity. Founded by late mariachi legend Nati Cano, Mariachi Los Camperos is now fronted by bandleader Jesús “Chuy” Guzman, who continues to promote Cano’s legacy. As a result, the group is not only one of the most popular and influential mariachi ensembles in the world, but also is emblematic of the social status and artistic recognition that mariachi has finally attained.
“Mariachi is deservedly Mexico’s signature sound, and De Ayer Para Siempre has the range of styles, personalities, geographical specificities, and hard-blowing, emotionally drenched performances to prove it.” - Bandcamp
A Living Tradition: Selections from Folk-Legacy Records - August 9, 2019
Folk-Legacy Records was founded in 1961 by Sandy Paton, Caroline Paton, and Lee Haggerty, all major players in the flourishing 60s folk revival, as a family-run record label dedicated to documenting the rich, authentic sounds of traditional music and promoting emerging artists in the field. ‘A Living Tradition: Selections from Folk-Legacy Records,’ a celebration of the label’s impact and output, collects iconic songs by old-time banjo player Frank Proffitt, singer-songwriter Gordon Bok, folk revivalist Hedy West, and more.
Comprised of “people’s music-” songs and stories that have been passed down from generation to generation within a community- Sandy Paton said in a 1991 Sing Out! Interview, "It isn't that the songs are good because they're traditional; they are traditional because they are good. They were preserved by generations of traditional singers because they reflected real feelings.”
“The label sets the bar for archiving standards while acquiring niche collections and releasing new music that broadens the definition of “folk” - Rolling Stone
Just Around the Bend: Survival and Revival in Southern Banjo Sounds - September 20, 2019
Mike Seeger, along with his wife Alexia Smith and filmmaker Yasha Aginsky, trekked through the Appalachian Mountains in 2009 to produce this extraordinary glimpse of the vigor and diversity of the region’s old-time banjo artistry. When Seeger passed away later that same year, the became a tribute to this renowned musician, folklorist, and documentarian of the people. Just Around the Bend: Survival and Revival in Southern Banjo Sounds captures many banjo lineages, styles, and techniques—performed by 19 virtuosic banjo players—in a package of two CDs compiled by Bob Carlin and a DVD by Aginsky. 110 minutes of music in 2 CDs; 80-page book with extensive notes, 110 minute DVD.
#1 on Billboard Bluegrass
“An excellent tribute to a man who gave his life to mountain music.” - Bluegrass Today
Laurie Anderson, Tenzin Choegyal, Jesse Paris Smith – Songs from the Bardo - September 27, 2019
The collaboration between avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson, Tibetan multi-instrumentalist Tenzin Choegyal, and composer/activist Jesse Paris Smith, 'Songs from the Bardo' is a sonic and spoken word journey through the visionary text of the Tibetan Book of the Dead (a guide to entering the next stage of consciousness after death).
“An album about life; a salve as much as a guide" (8.4 score) - Pitchfork
"Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream” - The AV Club
"Surprising, and ultimately life-affirming. This is no small thing." - The Vinyl District
Sound Portraits from Bulgaria: A Journey to a Vanished World - November 1, 2019
From 1966 - 1979, Balkan researcher Martin Koenig traveled to Bulgaria at the recommendations of revered recordist Alan Lomax and anthropologist Margaret Mead to record the folk music and dances of rural Bulgaria. In the years since, industrialization, the cultural enforcements of communism, and population movement have essentially erased this folk culture - these nonmetrical, droned out, deeply human recordings are in some cases all that remains.