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Africa





La Drivers Union Por Por Group demonstrate their unique honk horn music
The La Drivers Union Por Por Group is an organization of truck drivers in Ghana who lobby for drivers’ rights and practice a form of music using honk horns and other vehicle parts. This video is composed of several songs that demonstrate the instruments and themes important to por por musicians. "Trotro Tour of Ghana" begins with an a cappella fragment of the Ghanaian national anthem, demonstrating the intense national pride of the La Drivers Union Por Por Group. "Shidaa" is a song about the history of por por and the original importance of the horns for truck drivers to scare wild animals on dark roads in the hinterland. It ends with praise for all the elders, union leaders, and workers who created and maintain the por por tradition. Find more por por music here.








La Drivers Union Por Por Group perform "M.V. Labadi"
Por por (pronounced paaw paaw) is the name of honking, squeeze-bulb horn music which is unique to the La Drivers Union of Ghana, and which is principally performed at union drivers’ funerals. Por por music is played with truck horns, tire pumps, and other everyday objects a truck driver uses. The sound is rooted in Ghanaian tradition and a broad range of musical influences from New Orleans jazz to Highlife. The song performed here honors and praises past drivers. The group then breaks into a jam session. The performance was filmed in Accra, Ghana, during ethnomusicologist Steven Feld’s 2006 recording session for Por Por: Honk Horn Music of Ghana, which can be found here.








Music of the African Diaspora
In the past three decades, the USA has seen an influx of over one million African immigrants. Like Africans from earlier diasporas and like immigrants from elsewhere, they have brought their artistic skills, values, knowledge, and experience and created dynamic, often powerful new cultural forms that give definition to their communities in the USA. Highlights from the African Immigrant Program at the 1997 Smithsonian Folklife Festival illustrate the musical diversity and richness of the new African diaspora in the USA. Read more about African music in the USA here.








Hasan Gure performs a Somali freedom song
Hasan Gure is a musician, social worker, community scholar, and Somali immigrant dedicated to preserving Somali culture and traditions in the USA. Here, he performs a Somali freedom song celebrating Somali independence proclaimed from Britain and Italy on June 26, 1960. He plays the oud and is accompanied by Ghanaian immigrants Kwame Ansah Brew and Kofi Emmanuel Dennis on percussion. Find more Somali music here.








Music of the Maroons
Maroons are Africans who escaped captivity and formed autonomous communities throughout the Americas between the 15th and 19th centuries. Today, communities of Maroons survive in Jamaica, Suriname, French Guiana, Colombia, Mexico, and the USA. The music of the Maroons is a unique blend of African, Native American, and European musical traditions. In this quick look at four modern Maroon communities, notice the shared reliance on complex rhythms and call-and-response singing. The group performances encourage community building while providing opportunities for personal expression. Learn more about Maroons and their history here.








Ghanaian durbar ceremony
On July 5, 1997, Asanteman Kuo, a Ghanaian immigrant organization in the Washington, D.C., region, held a durbar (inaugural celebration) to install and honor their newly elected leaders. This reenactment of traditional ceremonies is an example of how communities of African immigrants adapt traditions to life in the USA. The music and dance used in the ceremony are explained here. Find other traditional dances and drumming from Ghana here.




American Indian





National Museum of the American Indian Opening Ceremonies
In September 2004, the National Museum of the American Indian opened on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Representatives and performers from indigenous groups across the Americas gathered to celebrate their cultures and embrace their shared heritage. Music plays a central role in American Indian culture and is evidence of both differences and similarities across a hemisphere of Native peoples. Watch clips of performances by Buffy St. Marie, Inuit dancers, and Pueblo drummers, as well as interviews with other participants and audience members. Find more music and stories of American Indians here.








Ulali perform "Mother"
Ulali is a group of First Nations women who combine drums, rattles, and other percussion instruments with their powerful voices to create a potent blend of traditional Native American roots music and contemporary styles. Pura Fé, Jennifer Kreisberg, and Soni Moreno formed the a capella trio in 1987 and have performed around the world, including work with the Indigo Girls and in the movie Smoke Signals. This performance of "Mother" exhibits the group’s range and captivating talent. Find more music from American Indian women here.








The National Cherokee Youth Choir perform "Orphan Child"
"Orphan Child" is a song of unknown origins but is believed to have been created on the Trail of Tears in the 1830s, when the Cherokee people were forcibly removed to the American West. The song has come to represent a source of comfort to the Cherokee. The National Cherokee Youth Choir, formed in 2000, is based in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and is composed of around 40 youth in grade five to eight from across the Cherokee Nation. Find more music from the Cherokee here.








Inuit throat-singing demonstration
Inuit women of northern Canada developed a unique, guttural vocal style that involves short, sharp, rhythmic inhalations and exhalations of breath. It was traditionally used to sing babies to sleep or in games women played during the long winter nights while the men were away hunting. Inuit sisters Karin and Kathy Kettler, of northern Quebec, Canada, explain the history of the vocal style and illustrate the technique. Learn more about throat-singing traditions here.








Members of the Cochiti Pueblo perform an Eagle dance
American Indian Pueblo cultural expressions invoke many animal personas. The eagle is revered as a symbol of wisdom, strength of vision and heart, and higher consciousness. Like other animals, the eagle is honored through a variety of intricately choreographed dances. The dances use sound and movement to tell stories communicating themes common to the human experience: creation, migration and survival, plantings and harvests, births and deaths, the changing of seasons, the movement of constellations. This Eagle Dance, accompanied by drumming, is performed by members of the Cochiti Pueblo from the banks of the Rio Grande River, between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Find more music of Pueblo nations here.








Sissy Goodhouse discusses drumming among the Lakota people
Among the Lakota people the drum occupies a position of great cultural and symbolic power. Regarded as a living entity, the drum is viewed simultaneously as a spiritual guardian and a musical instrument, a living tradition and a reference to a past way of life. Sissy Goodhouse of the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota calls the drum the heartbeat of their nation and their oral history. This performance is played on a drum envisioned by Eagle Tail Woman, an ancestor who dreamed of unity among tribes. Find more music of Lakota and Dakota peoples here.








Mary Youngblood performs the Plains-style flute
Achugash Aleut and Seminole, Mary Youngblood was raised in Seattle and now lives in Sacramento, California. She is active in the American Indian community there, working with the Urban Indian Health Project and the American Indian Women’s Talking Circle. Trained in guitar, piano, voice, and flute, she is also a songwriter and poet; music has played a pivotal role in her life. She began playing the Plains-style cedar and redwood flute in 1993, taking up an instrument played until the last several years primarily by men. Here she performs "Tears for Kientepoos" at a 1998 concert honoring American Indian women. Find more music from American Indian women here.








Laura Wallace and family (Salish) perform "The Bone Game Song"
Bone games are popular among American Indians across the northwestern United States of America. Two teams compete to guess where players are hiding carved animal bones. The game is accompanied by exuberant singing, drumming, or rattles. Bone game songs are very lively and fast paced, and are sung with full voices. The players hiding the bones often gesture expressively in time with the music. In earlier times, it was usually men who competed, but nowadays women and youth participate, too. Laura Wallace and her family perform "The Bone Game Song" with percussive accompaniment and animated gestures. Find more American Indian game songs here.




Asia and the Pacific





Dong-wan Kim demonstrates the Korean changgo
Dong-wan Kim, of the Silk Road Ensemble, is a master of the traditional Korean changgo. The changgo is an hourglass drum that is the most widely played of all Korean instruments. This drum produces two sounds--one low, one high--symbolizing the harmonious conjoining of male and female aspects. In folk performances called p'ungmul nori, a thin bamboo stick is used to strike the chaepyon (the right side), while the gungpyon (left side) is struck with a round-headed wooden mallet. Some rhythms in p'ungmul nori call for the performer to cross hands and use the wooden mallet to hit the opposite side. Find more recordings of changgo here.








N. Sengedorj of Mongolia demonstrates khöömei throat-singing
Throat-singing, a guttural style of singing or chanting, is one of the world’s oldest forms of music. It is predominantly practiced in rural areas of Central Asia, where it is called khöömei. The herder/hunter lifestyle in rural Central Asia, with its reliance on the natural world and deeply felt connection to the landscape, is reflected in this vocal tradition. Throat-singers often imitate sounds of the natural surroundings--animals, mountains, streams, and the harsh winds of the steppe. Find recordings of this incredible vocal technique here.








An ethnomusicologist gives a throat-singing lesson
For those who think the human voice can produce only one note at a time, the resonant harmonies of throat-singing are surprising. In throat-singing, a singer can produce two or more notes simultaneously through a specialized vocalization technique taking advantage of the throat’s resonance characteristics. Singers use a form of circular breathing which allows them to sustain multiple notes for long periods of time. Young Tuvan singers are trained from childhood through a sort of apprentice system to use the folds of the throat as reverberation chambers. Mark van Tongeren, an ethnomusicologist specializing in khöömei throat-singing, teaches the technique. Learn more about throat-singing in different cultures here.








Performance of a pakarena, an Indonesian court dance
Pakarena is a traditional court dance of the Makassar region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. In the 20th century, the dance moved out of the court to became a popular form of entertainment. It is now still occasionally performed at a variety of ceremonies including marriages, curing rituals, and circumcisions. In pakarena, energetic, even frenetic drumming accompanies the extremely slow and graceful dance movements of young women. In this pakarena, two-headed drums (gandrang) and a double-reed oboe (puik-puik) accompany two dancers. Learn more about Indonesian music from Smithsonian Folkways 20-volume series, Music of Indonesia, here.








Hula performance by The Halau 'O Kekuhi hula ensemble from the Big Island of Hawai'i
Hula, a dance that tells a story, has always been a focal point of Hawaiian culture. It is performed to mele (chants) accompanied by percussion instruments. Mele and hula were used to record thousands of years of ancient Polynesian and Hawaiian history. Chants and dances also recorded the daily life of the Hawaiian people, their love of the land, humor or tragedy, and the heroic character of their leaders. The Halau 'O Kekuhi hula ensemble draws many of its dances from the mele of the Big Island, particularly chants to Pele, the volcano goddess. They are led by Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele and Nalani Kanaka'ole, sisters of the highly respected Kanaka'ole family of chanters and dancers from Hilo. Find more music from Hawai’i here.








Tibetan Skeleton Dance
In this form of Cham or Tibetan sacred dance two Dharmapalas (Protectors of Truth) appear on stage gyrating with slow, modulated movements. The dancers are monks who take on the persona of these Dharmapalas, deities whose role is to protect the cemetery grounds. Their presence also reminds the audience of the ephemeral nature of this world and of their own mortality. Although the dancers are at first frightening in appearance, Tibetan audiences will recognize symbols indicating they are teachers. Find more Tibetan music here.




Canada





Asani perform a unique version of the Canadian national anthem
Many cultures, ethnic identities, and languages flourish in Canada. French, English, Scottish, and Irish immigrants have maintained their cultural heritage across generations, as have Aboriginal peoples fiercely determined to preserve their ways of life in the wake of oppressive colonialism and its injustices. Recent American, Eastern and Northern European, and Asian immigrants also contribute to the cultural mosaic. "O, Canada," the Canadian national anthem, was originally written in French in 1880, and the English version was chosen as the country's official anthem in 1980. Here Asani, an Aboriginal women’s a cappella group from Edmonton, Alberta, present a stirring rendition of "O, Canada," re-imagined to reflect the myriad peoples who call Canada their homeland. Find more Canadian music here.








Allez Ouest perform a Francophone tune
Approximately 30% of Canadians speak French, and these Francophone (French-speaking) Canadians are found across the country. One-quarter of Canada's population are of French-Canadian decent, and many of them can trace their ancestry to the earliest French settlers who colonized parts of Canada in the 1600s. Francophone communities often maintain strong ties to French language and culture, including French music. Allez Ouest is a supergroup of four of the most talented singer-songwriters from Alberta’s Francophone community. Here they perform an original love song in the French tradition. Find French-Canadian music here.




The Caribbean





La India Canela discusses her passion for the accordion and demonstrates its role in Dominican merengue típico
Lidia María Hernández López, “La India Canela,” is a celebrated accordion player from the Dominican Republic. She has recorded several albums and won two Casandras. (The Casandra is the Dominican Republic’s highest prize in the arts.) However, she says, “the best prize that one can win is the sentiment of the public, the people who appreciate and admire you.” La India is also happy that, in turn, she has influenced a younger generation of female accordionists: “It has been a great satisfaction for me that some of the young women have come up to me and said that they have seen in me an example to follow.” Here she demonstrates her dynamic ability during recording sessions for Smithsonian Folkways in Santiago, Dominican Republic, in 2007. Find her album, Merengue Típico from the Dominican Republic here.








La India Canela shares how modern musical and cultural influences are changing the traditional merengue típico sound
Merengue is widely recognized as the national music and dance of the Dominican Republic, and one of the country’s most important exports, but it is not a single, unified genre. The traditional style called merengue típico is so important to daily life in the northern Cibao region and among cabaeños abroad that musicians describe it as “soul food” and even, metaphorically, as “family.” Típico sounds quite different from the big-band merengue more commonly heard abroad. It is centered on the accordion (rather than wind instruments), percussion plays a key role, and improvisation is central, while big bands rely on written arrangements. La India Canela, leader of a merengue típico band, discusses how modern influences are changing the traditional sound. Find more merengue music here.








Bahamian Medley
For hundreds of years in the The Bahamas, the human voice has been raised in melodious strains to a rhythmic pulse that is deeply influenced by the African ancestry of most Bahamians. Centuries of colonial domination and the nearness of American and Caribbean cultures have also shaped the character of Bahamian music. As a result of these merging influences, Bahamian music is uniquely rich, reflecting generations of joy, hardship, innovation, and artistry. Here is a sampling of the rich heritage of Bahamian music and dance, illustrated in performances from the 1994 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, including performances by the Bahamian National Children's Choir, a traditional rake 'n scrape band, Andros Island balladeer Israel Forbes, and a gospel group, the Dicey Doh Singers. Find more Bahamian music here.








Bahamian Junkanoo Parade
Junkanoo is a Bahamian street parade featuring colorful and elaborate costumes and floats. Performed every Boxing Day (December 26) and New Year’s Day, Junkanoo is a masquerade tradition that draws on The Bahamas’ West African ancestral roots and is a public celebration of Bahamian identity and artistic expression. These scenes were filmed during the opening procession at the 1994 Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. Master Bahamian drum maker John Chipman explains the role of drums in Junkanoo and drum-making techniques used in The Bahamas. Explore more Bahamian culture here.








Interview with Sons of Andros, Bahamian gospel group
Sons of Andros is a contemporary gospel group from the Bahamian island of Andros. Harington "Zippy" Frazier and four of his sons perform traditional Bahamian gospel, which integrates European hymns, West African dances, and American slave songs. Sons of Andros also showcase flawless four-part harmonies characteristic of Bahamian music. In this interview, members of the group explain the importance of spirituality and family to Bahamian music and culture. Find more gospel music from around the world here.








Viento de Agua perform a traditional bomba
Bomba is percussion-driven music created by enslaved Africans in Puerto Rico during the 17th century. To them, bomba was a source of political and spiritual expression. The lyrics conveyed a sense of anger and sadness about their condition, and songs served as a catalyst for resistance and uprisings. But bomba also moved them to dance and celebrate, helping them create community and identity. The music evolved through contact between slave populations from different Caribbean colonies and regions. As a result, bomba now has sixteen different rhythms to mark the pace of the singing and dance. This Viento de Agua performance demonstrates the gracimá and hoyoemula rhythms. Find more bomba music here.








Los Pleneros de la 21 demonstrate the drums used in the plena
Plena is an Afro-Latino tradition that developed out of bomba music around the beginning of the 20th century in southern Puerto Rico. Plena lyrics are narrative. They convey stories about events, address topical themes, often comment on political protest movements, and offer satirical commentaries. Plena instrumentation has changed greatly over the years, but the one indispensable and defining element is the pandereta, a round hand drum that comes in different sizes. The smallest of them is the requinto, which improvises over the rhythm of the other drums. The members of Los Pleneros de la 21 demonstrate the pandereta and explain its role in plena music. Find more plena music here.








Los Pleneros de la 21 perform "El Testigo"
Los Pleneros de la 21 gelled as a group in 1983, when conservatory-trained percussionist Juan "Juango" Gutiérrez followed his pride in his Puerto Rican culture and assembled a group of street-corner musicians in New York City to perform the signature genres of Afro-Puerto Rican music: bomba and plena. The group took its name from a bus stop in Santurce, Puerto Rico, one that identifies a neighborhood known for its plena musicians. This live performance at the 2005 Smithsonian Folklife Festival presents the rich instrumentation blended with rhythms and melodic lines as well as the festive mood with which this music is usually associated. Find music from their GRAMMY-nominated album Para Todos Ustedes here.








Los Pleneros de la 21 perform "Carmelina"
Los Pleneros de la 21 perform "Carmelina," a traditional plena in tribute to the great plenero Marcial Reyes Arvelo, a founding member of the group and author of the piece. Jose Rivera, in his singing, places himself firmly in the classic school of the plena, referencing pleneros who influenced his musical upbringing. By including this version with panderetas (different sized circular frame drums), and a güiro (gourd rasp) Los Pleneros de la 21 give the listener the opportunity to taste the fresh, simple, and wonderful flavors or the traditional creole plena. Find music from their GRAMMY-nominated album Para Todos Ustedes here.








Tito Matos on teaching younger generations in his Puerto Rican community
In 1994, master Puerto Rican plena drummer Tito Matos emigrated to New York City and encountered there a vibrant Puerto Rican cultural revival occurring in neighborhoods such as the South Bronx. Matos soon became a part of this movement himself, joining Los Pleneros de la 21, a non-profit performance group founded to celebrate Puerto Rican traditions and to increase appreciation of bomba, plena, and other Afro-Puerto Rican artistic genres. In late 2003, Matos returned to Puerto Rico, where he continues to perform and involve himself in the musical traditions of his homeland. Here he discusses the importance of teaching music to younger generations in local communities. Find music from Tito and Los Pleneros de la 21 here.








Tito Matos on keeping musical traditions alive
When Matos was a young man, his grandfather gave him a pandereta, the lead drum and characteristic instrument of the traditional Puerto Rican plena. Matos quickly became known as a uniquely talented and innovative player of the requinto, the smallest pandereta and the one responsible for the constant rhythmic improvisation that lends a dynamic energy to the music. Here he discusses how he and his bands keep Puerto Rican musical traditions alive and popular in the community without big record labels or radio play. Find his master drumming on Viento de Agua Unplugged here.








Ecos de Borinquen demonstrate música jíbara
Música jíbara comes from the mountain regions of Puerto Rico. The style is rooted in music brought to the island by early settlers from Andalusia and Extremadura in southern and western Spain during the 17th century. Through its dynamic sense of poetry and the use of age-old instruments, música jíbara evokes a traditional Spanish heritage. The Puerto Rican group Ecos de Borinquen was founded in 1978 to bring the traditional sounds of jíbaro's past into the present. Their song "El Cuatro" references the importance of the cuatro, an instrument unique to música jíbara and Puerto Rico. Find more of their Grammy-nominated recordings here.








Ecos de Borinquen perform "Mujer Borinqueña"
Traditional Puerto Rican jíbaro music is often improvised, sung poetry. At the core of the traditional song repertoire are the seis (in which the song form is based on six lines) and the aguinaldo (which is based on a decimal, or ten-line stanza). The aguinaldo is well-suited for detailed lyrical narratives of Puerto Rican history and culture and Biblical stories. Here Miquel Santiago-Diaz, founder of Ecos de Borinquen and one-time Puerto Rican national trovador (troubadour, or singer of seis and aguinaldo) demonstrates the aguinaldo style from the town of Orocovis with "Mujer Borinqueña," a song extolling the virtues of a Puerto Rican woman. Find more of their Grammy-nominated recordings here.




Europe





Johnny and Phil Cunningham reunite at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Leading figures in Scottish traditional music, brothers Phil and Johnny Cunningham were founders of the seminal 1970s band Silly Wizard and the 1980s supergroup Relativity. Born in Portobello near Edinburgh, Phil is a legendary accordionist, Johnny an extraordinary fiddler. Both also gained renowned as composers and entertainers--banter and storytelling being as central to their performances as their astounding playing. They hadn’t performed together in eleven years before reuniting for this concert of songs and stories at the 2003 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Sadly, Johnny passed away unexpectedly a few months after the Festival. Find more Scottish music here.








The Wrigley Sisters perform a medley of Orcadian songs
Jennifer and Hazel Wrigley are excellent young fiddle and piano virtuosos from Orkney, a group of islands just off the north coast of Scotland. The twin sisters are preserving Orkney's local musical traditions while at the same time composing important new material. Their Orcadian music is quite distinct, reflecting not only their Scottish heritage but also these islands' strong Norwegian ties. Orkney's geographic isolation has led to a deep sense of self-reliance and independence among its people, who consider themselves Orcadians first and Scots second. Both this independence and pride are happily reflected in Orcadian music. Find music of the Orkney islands here.




Mexico, Central & South America





Leandro Díaz and others share the inspiration behind Colombia’s música vallenata
Música vallenata, music from a small valley region of northeastern Colombia enjoys international popularity. Yet, the lives of many of its finest living practitioners are rooted firmly in their regional way of life, performing a repertoire of landmark compositions, delivered in their own signature style. Here Ivo Díaz’s prodigious voice interprets his father Leandro’s famous paseo. Blind composer Leandro Díaz wrote this piece when he fell in love with a woman named Matilde Lina, who sat next to him on a town plaza bench one Sunday. Leandro commented that the love faded, but the song stayed. It was filmed during recording sessions with Smithsonian Folkways in Valledupar, Cesar, Colombia for ¡Ayombe!: The Heart of Colombia’s Música Vallenata. Find the recording here.








The expressive power of música vallenata
Fabián Corrales is a talented singer, composer, arranger, and producer of música vallenata. His youthful style focuses on the more modern style of paseo, and song lyrics hold special appeal to younger listeners. The instrumentation of accordion, guitar, and guacharaca evokes the suave sound of the serenata, the tradition of serenading one's beloved, with guitar replacing the bass and caja. Here he talks about the serenata and performs his composition "La Consentida." It was filmed during recording sessions with Smithsonian Folkways in Valledupar, Cesar, Colombia for ¡Ayombe!: The Heart of Colombia’s Música Vallenata. Find the recording here.








Arpex demonstrates conjunto de arpa grande
The conjunto de arpa grande (big harp ensemble) is the country cousin of the Mexican mariachi. When the mariachi was transplanted to cities and added trumpets in the mid 20th century, the conjunto de arpa stayed home in the towns and on the ranches of rural Michoacán. Its two violins, two guitars, and harp (that doubles as a drum) play driving sones, sentiment-saturated ranchera songs of love, and farcical valonas (poemic narratives), all with a disarming directness that is the hallmark of one of Mexicos best-kept musical secrets. Watch Arpex perform and demonstrate the unique tamboreo (drumming) method at their home in the San Joaquin Valley town of Atwater, CA. Find their album, ¡Tierra Caliente! Music from the Hotlands of Michoacán here.








Grupo Raíz in performance and conversation about nueva canción
Activist-musicians Rafael Manríquez, Quique Cruz, and Hector Salgado formed Grupo Raíz to affirm and introduce Chilean nueva canción to the USA’s California Bay Area and beyond. As musicians who honed their poetic and musical talents at peñas (or "café concerts") of their native Chile, they established La Peña, a community arts center in Berkeley, California. The goals of the group were twofold: to make known the music and culture of the Latin American people, and to give support through their music to the resistance movement in Chile and to liberation movements in Latin America and throughout the world. Find their albums from Monitor Records here.








Suni Paz sings "Bandera Mía" (Flag of Mine)
Suni Paz deftly combines her message of cultural awareness and personal awakening with an unshakable optimism. As part of the progressive Latin American music movement known as nueva canción, Suni has created music with a conscience out of her commitment to and passion for social justice and education. "Bandera Mía" (Flag of Mine) speaks to the conflicting meanings the Argentinean flag has for those who fled the country’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship. The song is from her 2006 Smithsonian Folkways album Bandera Mía: Songs of Argentina, a musical tribute to her homeland, available here.








Suni Paz sings "Los Vecinos" (The Neighbors), a song for children
Suni Paz is an award-winning performer for children and a pioneer in the use of music to teach Spanish-language curricula. Her songs in Spanish encourage children to have pride in their heritage while respecting all cultures. In 2003, Suni was awarded the Magic Penny Award by the Children’s Music Network. Here, she discusses the importance of singing to children and the impact it has had on her career. She also performs "Los Vecinos" (The Neighbors), an original composition about the beauty of bilingualism. Find her inspiring children’s albums here.








Mariachi Los Camperos perform "México lindo"
Mariachi is an extroverted form of acoustic music that emerged in several western states of Mexico. Ensembles generally employ at least two violins, two trumpets, a five-string rhythm guitar called the vihuela, a large bass guitar called the guitarrón, and a Spanish guitar. Led by Nati Cano, Los Angeles-based Mariachi Los Camperos is one of the most accomplished modern mariachi bands in the world. Find more of their GRAMMY-nominated recordings here.








Nati Cano on what makes a good mariachi
Natividad "Nati" Cano was born in 1933 to a family of day laborers and folk musicians in the small town of Ahuisculco, a rural outpost in the western state of Jalisco, Mexico. A self-taught musician, Nati rose to become the leader of Mariachi Los Camperos, a world-renowned group that has become an emblem of mariachi performance. He is active in the preservation of mariachi traditions and the education of young musicians. Here he discusses the elements of a good mariachi at his Los Angeles restaurant, La Fonda with performance footage from the annual Viva el Mariachi Festival in Fresno, CA. Learn more about Nati’s music and legacy here.








José Gutiérrez and Los Hermanos Ochoa perform "La Bamba"
Son jarocho is the traditional rural music of Veracruz in the Gulf region of Mexico. The son includes coplas or stanzas sung by a "caller" who is accompanied by the hard-driving rhythms of musicians playing unique regional guitars and harp. Jarocho describes the people and culture of southern Veracruz. "La Bamba" is among the best known jarocho songs inside and outside Mexico. The version performed here by José Gutiérrez and Los Hermanos Ochoa showcases a lively harp solo by virtuoso Felipe Ochoa and the rhythmic plucking of the requinto jarocho guitar. It is from their Smithsonian Folkways recording found here.








José Gutiérrez and Los Hermanos Ochoa perform "Balajú"
José Gutiérrez and the Ochoa brothers are among the most celebrated performers of the Mexican son jarocho tradition. Gutiérrez serves as the caller (pregonero), or lead singer, improvising verses in a high, clear, loud voice. Felipe Ochoa masters the arpa jarocha (harp) with an intensity that never lets up, and brother Marcos supplies the driving rhythm of the jarana, adding creative flourishes and abrupt stops that lift the others to a higher plane of performance. The three men have performed together throughout Europe and the Americas for the past two decades. Learn more about them and the lively son jarocho here.








Grupo Cimarrón perform "Y soy llanero" (And I Am a Plainsman)
The lively sounds of traditional joropo music can be found throughout the plains of Colombia and Venezuela. Created by ranching people with a love of cattle, horses, music, and dance, the joropo's driving rhythm and percussive stringed instrument sound draw from centuries-old Spanish, African, and New World musical traditions that contributed to the region's unique mestizo (mixed) culture. The music reflects the pride the plains people have in their history and culture. Here, Grupo Cimarrón, a "supergroup" of Colombia's finest joropo musicians, perform "Y soy llanero" (And I Am a Plainsman), a song that extols and romanticizes the plains and its cattle ranchers. It is from their GRAMMY-nominated CD, Sí, Soy Llanero, available here.








Grupo Cimarrón perform "Zumbaquezumba" (Resound, Resound)
The joropo has two veins: the hard driving golpe, and the slower, more lyrical pasaje. Golpe (from golpear "to hit, to strike") refers to the percussive, strummed cuatro patterns. There are at least eighteen common types of golpe, each with its own name and distinctive sound. Golpes are played by instruments alone, or include singing. Widely dispersed throughout the Colombo-Venezuelan plains, the zumbaquezumba is the favorite golpe for dueling verse improvisation, popular at plains fiestas, festival competitions, and shows. Here, Grupo performs "Zumbaquezumba" (Resound, Resound) featuring Carlos Quintero on the harp. It is from their GRAMMY-nominated CD, Sí, Soy Llanero, available here.








Ana Veydo demonstrates recio-style singing in a pajarillo
While women in música llanera (plains music) have traditionally been encouraged to sing songs with emotional or romantic themes, Ana is one of the few female singers that follow the recio (robust, coarse) style of singing usually associated with the male voice. Considered one of the most archaic forms of the Colombian plains joropo, the pajarillo type of golpe is the archetypical framework for recio-style singing. The lyrics usually allude to the singer’s pride in their culture and homeland and in working with the earth. Learn more about Ana Veydó here.








Ana Veydó discusses how women have changed the face of música llanera
In the plains of eastern Colombia, men have long sung to accompany their tasks of herding and milking cows. Consequently, música llanera (plains music) has a masculine character, and its themes draw from the male-dominated cattle-herding lifestyle. Yet today, one of the most renowned música llanera singers is a woman: Ana Veydó. Veydó is one of the few female singers that follow the recio (robust, coarse) style of joropo singing usually associated with the male voice. Here Veydó discusses the influence of feminine voices in música llanera. Learn more about Ana Veydó here.








Pasito duranguense dance demonstration
Pasito duranguense is a popular Mexican dance style in Chicago, Illinois. Although the music has roots in traditional nineteenth-century banda music from northern Mexico, Mexican immigrants in Chicago created the dance style. Dancers clad in Wranglers, cowboy boots, and embroidered leather belts gather in Chicago's clubs and dance halls to enjoy the friendly atmosphere and dance to the popular, fast-paced music. Watch as Chicago residents Rosa Villanueva and Victor Manuel Ceja describe pasito duranguense's wide appeal and demonstrate a few of the dance steps. Learn more about Latino Chicago here.








Guatemalan and Mexican marimba traditions
The marimba is a large, wooden instrument from West Africa. Enslaved Africans carried the marimba tradition with them to Latin America, where it became an integral part of Latin American music, particularly in Guatemala. Traditional marimba music serves as a link between young Guatemalans living in the U.S.A. and Guatemalan culture. Carlos Mejía, a master marimba player, founded the group Ixchel in Chicago, Illinois, to teach youth about their culture and heritage through music. Katalina Trujillo and Víctor Zacbé Pichardo accompany Mejía as they perform traditional and contemporary marimba songs from Guatemala and Mexico. Find more marimba styles here.








Fandango-Bombazo: A fiesta of Mexican and Puerto Rican music and dance
Bombazos are Puerto Rican jam-sessions where musicians and dancers gather in celebration of music and community; fandangos are their Mexican counterpart. At the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, musicians and dancers from Mexico, Puerto Rico, and other Latino backgrounds came together in an unprecedented, joint fandango-bombazo. Musical groups Son de Madera and Sones de México Ensemble started the party with son jarocho music from the Mexican state of Veracruz. Jarocho dancers were joined by bomba dancers from the Chicago-based group AfriCaribe. AfriCaribe musicians added Afro-Puerto Rican bomba and plena percussion. Chicago hip-hop emcees The Essence helped celebrate the finale of this grand fiesta of dance and music. Find more Latino musical styles here.








Los Camperos de Valles demonstrate the instrumental and vocal techniques of son huasteco
Mexico’s son huasteco music is characterized by its three instruments and falsetto vocal techniques. The huapanguera or guitarra quinta, a deep-bodied guitar with five courses of strings, provides the lower sound that serves as the rhythmic foundation. On top of the huapanguera is the jarana huasteca, a smaller instrument with five strings. Soaring above the interplay of the rhythm section is the unmistakable sound of the Huastecan-style violin, which is responsible for the melody. The seemingly impossible high falsetto voice lends the son huasteco its most distinctive sound and feel. Find Mexican sones huastecos on their album El ave de mi soñar here.








Los Camperos perform "El gusto"
Since the group’s inception in 1974, Los Camperos de Valles have come to represent the best in one of Mexico’s most distinctive and uplifting folk music traditions—the son huasteco. In the son huasteco tradition, poetic lyrics often deal with themes of longing, love, and nature. The melancholy themes often contrast with and yet somehow complement the playful melodies. “El gusto” (The Pleasure) is about lost love and typifies how imagery of rural life is often used to portray this pain and longing in son huasteco. Find the recording and lyric translations of the song here.








Dance forms of Mexico's son huasteco
Soaring, florid poetry memorializing the longing, pleasure, and pain of love, delivered in song with equally soaring high falsetto breaks, marks the classic style of the son huasteco, music created by rural people of the northeastern region of Mexico known as La Huasteca. The son huasteco is typically performed by three musicians on violin and huapanguera and jarana guitars. The music has a vigorous and marked rhythmic sound and is often accompanied by social dancing. Watch Artemio Posades Jiménez, lyricist and dancer with Los Camperos de Valles, demonstrate the dance forms associated with son huasteco music. Find son huasteco music here.




Middle East





Rahim AlHaj, Iraqi oud virtuoso, records "Rast"
The oud, a traditional Middle Eastern string instrument, is over 5,000 years old and the ancestor of many other string instruments. In this video, Rahim AlHaj, Iraqi oud virtuoso and composer plays, accompanied by master percussionist Souhail Kaspar. It is a glimpse into recording sessions for AlHaj's "When the Soul is Settled: Music of Iraq" CD, SFW-CD-45033, released October 2006. AlHaj is one of a very few professional oudists who are actively re-vitalizing and thereby preserving the Iraqi art music tradition. Explore more oud music from around the world here.








Rahim AlHaj discusses the importance of Iraqi music
Rahim AlHaj was born and raised in Baghdad and began studying the oud when he was nine years old. He attended the Baghdad Conservatory of Fine Arts, where he trained under the renowned Munir Bashir, considered by many to be one of the greatest oud players ever. In 1991, after the first Gulf War, AlHaj was forced to leave Iraq because of his political activism against the Saddam Hussein regime. He resides today in Albuquerque, New Mexico. AlHaj’s music delicately combines traditional Iraqi scales with contemporary styling and influence. Here he talks about the importance of music in understanding Iraqi culture. Find his recording When the Soul Is Settled: Music of Iraq here.




United States of America





Banjo great Tony Trischka discusses his early introduction to the instrument
The banjo in American music was traditionally associated with bluegrass and old-time until the early 1970s when Tony Trischka spearheaded a movement to innovate the sound. In his hands, the banjo became a vehicle for greater melodic and harmonic sophistication. Through Trischka, the instrument found its way into many different musical forms from jazz to rock to classical. In his 35 year career Trischka has performed extensively in the USA and Europe as well as touring Australia, South Korea, Japan and New Zealand. He was awarded Banjo Player of the Year in 2007 by the International Bluegrass Music Association. Find his much anticipated solo album, Territory, from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings here.








Cajun fiddler Michael Doucet performs with David Doucet and Mitchell Reed at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Michael Doucet, fiddler, composer, and bandleader, is perhaps the single most important figure in the revitalization of Cajun music in the USA. Cajun is the shorthand name for the French settlers of southwest Louisiana who were expelled from the Acadian region of Canada in the 18th century. During the first half of the 20th century, both the language and music of French Louisiana seemed to be in decline. In 1975, Doucet applied to the National Endowment for the Arts for an apprenticeship grant to study with and document the master fiddlers of his region. As a result of this project, he was able to learn first-hand from the great masters of Cajun and Creole music with links to an earlier era. Find Michael Doucet’s Smithsonian Folkways album, From Now On, here.








The Paschall Brothers perform "God Said He Would Move/On the Right Road Now"
The Tidewater style of a cappella gospel is one of several regional styles that took root in the American South and eastern states after the Civil War. These groups have always been called quartets even though they could have six or more members: The word quartet refers to the fact that the groups sing in four-part harmony. Formed in 1981 under the leadership of Frank Paschall Sr., the Paschall Brothers perform classic Tidewater repertoire along with original compositions. The Paschalls add their own flair to these pieces, expanding harmonic structure and creating distinct arrangements that maintain the integrity of the original while creating a passionate sound that is uniquely theirs. Find their album, On the Right Road Now here.








The Paschall Brothers rehearse the song "I'll Be Satisfied"
Tidewater gospel quartet is a long and proud a cappella tradition, and the Paschall Brothers are among its last tradition-bearers. With a seemingly unbreakable family bond, the Paschall Brothers have followed in the footsteps of their father, Reverend Frank Paschall Sr. (1923–1999), who led them both philosophically and musically by example. Since the 1960s, the Tidewater style of a cappella gospel has all but disappeared. However, with the descendants of Frank Paschall Sr. the tradition continues to fulfill its purpose of bringing the good news to all those who want to hear it. Here the brothers rehearse and discuss their father’s legacy at their Newport, Virginian home. Find their album, On the Right Road Now here.








Mike Seeger performs "Walking Boss" in the Smithsonian Folkways studio
For over fifty years, Mike Seeger has been a musician, documenter, and tireless advocate of American folk and traditional music. As a musician he recorded as a solo artist and member of folk revival ensemble the New Lost City Ramblers. As a collector he has captured and produced sounds by iconic artists such as Elizabeth Cotten and Dock Boggs. And finally, as a historian and preservationist of the music he calls "old time," Mike Seeger gives us the stories behind the music that is such an essential part of American culture. Here he performs and gives the history of "Walking Boss," a tune Thomas Clarence Ashley learned from African American railroad workers at the turn of the 19th century. Find more Mike Seeger recordings here.








Ella Jenkins performs "I Know a City Called Okeechobee"
Ella Jenkins sings her song "I Know a City Called Okeechobee" before a sold out crowd at the Music Center at Strathmore in 2006. The performance was part of a concert event where luminaries in the folk and children's music genre, such as Pete Seeger and Sweet Honey in the Rock, paid tribute to Ella's career and legacy. The concert was inspired by the 2004 GRAMMY winning Smithsonian Folkways recording cELLAbration: A Tribute to Ella Jenkins.








Ella Jenkins in conversation
Ella Jenkins, world-reknowned children's recording artist, released her first 10-inch vinyl album, Call and Response: Rhythm Group Singing, on Moses Asch's original Folkways Records, in 1957. Since then, she has released more than 30 albums containing hundreds of songs. Her universally appealing songs present simple melodies, interesting rhythms, easy-to-understand lyrics, and are usually recorded with youngsters singing along. Ella's playful and captivating songs help children appreciate themselves and understand others. In 2003 she sat down for an interview with Michael Asch (Moses's son) to reflect on her career. Find Ella's recordings here.








Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys perform "Little Birdie"
Ralph Stanley, born in Virginia, USA, in 1927, is an influential and celebrated figure in the history of bluegrass music. He created a unique style of banjo playing, sometimes called "Stanley Style," characterized by incredibly fast "forward rolls" (a technique in banjo playing) led by the index finger. Stanley often played with a capo to use the higher registers of the banjo. This 2003 performance by Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys demonstrates the instrumental solos and breakneck speed that characterize bluegrass music. Find more music of the legendary Ralph Stanley here.








John Cephas and Phil Wiggins discuss the Piedmont blues style
The Piedmont blues is a type of blues music distinguished by a unique finger-picking method on the guitar. The Piedmont blues was born in the Piedmont area on the East Coast of the USA, which stretches from about Richmond, Virginia, to Atlanta, Georgia. Yet Piedmont blues musicians come from surrounding areas as well, such as Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Florida. Renowned Piedmont blues musicians John Cephas and Phil Wiggins met at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in the late 1970s and have been playing Piedmont blues together ever since. Here they discuss the origins of the East Coast Piedmont blues and showcase their style. Find more of their music here.








Elizabeth Cotten performs "Freight Train"
Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (1895-1987) built her musical legacy on a firm foundation of late 19th- and early 20th-century African-American instrumental traditions and fine musicianship. She strung her guitar upside down, the bass notes to the bottom. This meant she would thumb the treble strings while finger-picking the bass notes, creating an almost inimitable sound. Her method was so influential it became known as the "Cotten style." Watch this unique style in a performance of "Freight Train," her best-known song, edited from film taken by Pete and Toshi Seeger at the Seeger family home in 1957. Explore more of Cotten's music here.








Dewey Balfa recalls the lyrics to a Cajun waltz
An impassioned ambassador for Cajun music and culture, fiddler and singer Dewey Balfa (1927-1992) was a driving force in the revival of traditional Cajun music. Raised 125 miles northwest of the great port city of New Orleans, the Balfa family inherited the rich legacy of songs, tunes, tales, and traditions of Louisiana's French-speaking Cajun community. In performance, Balfa introduced the vibrant sound of Cajun music to countless people around the world. Through his role as a musical ambassador, he reawakened a deep and abiding sense of pride in Cajun culture among his fellow Cajuns. Filmed in 1976, Dewey Balfa and the Balfa Brothers perform a Cajun waltz. Listen as Balfa translates the lyrics of love and longing. Read more about Balfa and his music here.








Dewey Balfa in performance and conversation
Cajun music evolved in Louisiana from the 18th and 19th century blends of French, Spanish, Celtic, Native American, and African origins. Despite its long history and popularity, by the 1950s Cajun music, as well as Cajun culture in general, was in serious decline. In the post-WWII era, Americans were urged to discard regional cultures for a more modern, albeit homogenized, national one. Many Cajuns were embarrassed by the regional French they spoke and the "old-fashioned" music still being played in their communities. Dewey Balfa, a musician responsible for the reinvigoration of Cajun music in the 1960s, plays a Cajun fiddle tune and speaks to the importance of regional culture. Find more Cajun music here.








Hazel Dickens performs "West Virginia, My Home"
Hazel Dickens became an accomplished bluegrass performer at a time when the genre was dominated by men. She is also an admired advocate for women’s and worker’s rights. Along with fellow musician and friend Alice Gerrard, she empowered countless female singers and musicians to succeed without sacrificing integrity. In this performance, Dickens, herself the eighth of eleven children born to a West Virginia mining family, pays homage to her home state. Find more music by Hazel Dickens here.








Freedom Singers perform "We Are Soldiers in the Army"
Music was essential to the African-American struggle for civil rights and equality. "We Are Soldiers in the Army" demonstrates how the Black American traditional song repertoire and older styles of singing were used to inspire and organize the Civil Rights Movement. The singers here remind us that the days of open discrimination and bigotry are not far behind us, and that "it's people’s hearts we’re trying to change now." The a cappella quartet features legendary civil rights activists and singers Rutha Harris, Charles Neblett, Bettie Mae Fikes, and Cordell Reagon. Learn more about music in the Civil Rights Movement here.








John Jackson performs "Steamboat Whistle"
The blues became a prominent American musical form at the turn of the 20th century. The style originated in communities of former African slaves, deriving from spirituals, praise songs, field hollers, shouts, and chants. The use of blue notes and the prominence of call-and-response patterns in the music and lyrics can be linked to centuries-old musical styles from West Africa. The blues has been a major influence on American and Western popular music, inspiring ragtime, jazz, bluegrass, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, hip-hop, and country music. Blues legend John Jackson performs "Steamboat Whistle" at a tribute concert to the Anthology of American Folk Music. Explore more blues recordings here.








Joe Glazer discusses the role of music in the American Labor Movement
Since the Industrial Revolution, working people have been organizing and campaigning for better treatment from their employers. The labor movement and its unions struggle for fair wages, safe working conditions, and many other benefits. Music is an important tool in the labor movement to motivate workers and help build solidarity. Joe Glazer (1918-2006), often called "Labor’s Troubadour," was one of America’s noted historians of labor song. Glazer founded Collector Records in 1970 to distribute music of the labor movement, including his original songs. Here he discusses his life’s work and music. Explore Collector Records here.








Pete Seeger sings "English Is Crazy"
Now regarded as the dean of 20th-century folk singers, Pete Seeger started recording for Folkways founder Moses Asch in 1943. Asch continued to record Pete during the 1950s and beyond, with Pete eventually recording over fifty records for him and Folkways Records. Now in his eighties, Pete continues to make an occasional recording and still plays an occasional concert, where his audiences always sing along with him in unison. In 2005 he performed Josh White Jr.’s song "English Is Crazy" at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in Washington, D.C., leading Smithsonian employees in the chorus "English is kuh-ray-zee." Find more from this legendary artist here.








Pete Seeger discusses political songs
Pete Seeger is one of the USA’s foremost protest singers, having lent his voice and energy to causes he believes in for more than sixty years. At a 2005 talk at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in Washington, D.C., Pete spoke on the vital role of songs in political movements. Pete highlights the work of Chicano artist and activist Daniel Valdez of Teatro Campesino, along with the birth of the song "De Colores." Find the song here.




Live Concert Webcasts





Live from the 2008 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Enjoy the music of the 2008 Smithsonian Folklife Festival through live webcasts from Smithsonian Global Sound. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, honors and celebrates traditional cultures and peoples during an annual living exhibition on the National Mall of the USA. At the Festival, people present their culture and speak for themselves. The 2008 Smithsonian Folklife Festival features the Texas, Bhutan, and NASA. More about the Festival.








Live from the 2007 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Enjoy the music of the 2007 Smithsonian Folklife Festival through live webcasts from Smithsonian Global Sound. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, honors and celebrates traditional cultures and peoples during an annual living exhibition on the National Mall of the USA. At the Festival, people present their culture and speak for themselves. The 2007 Smithsonian Folklife Festival features the Mekong River, Northern Ireland, and Roots of Virginia Culture. More about the Festival.








Live from the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Enjoy the music of the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival through live webcasts from Smithsonian Global Sound. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, honors and celebrates traditional cultures and peoples during an annual living exhibition on the National Mall of the USA. At the Festival, people from diverse communities share their heritage with the public. The 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival features the Canadian province of Alberta, Latino Chicago, Native Basketry, and music of New Orleans. More about the Festival..



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©2007 Smithsonian Institution

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