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Radio Global Sound
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Radio Global Sound
Radio Global Sound streams complete tracks randomly from our site at no charge. Experience the wide variety in our archives and easily discover new music. From Comanche flute music to Maori death chants to the bomba and plena of Puerto Rico to sacred songs of Russia to Caribbean calypso-you never know what you'll hear next! Click the Recording Info button on the radio to purchase the track and access extensive information on the music. Listen to our featured streams below to delve into a specific genre or tradition.








Bluegrass
Bluegrass music is charaterized by its high energy, fast tempo sound and a high-pitched singing style called the "high, lonesome sound." The genre combines American southern string band music, blues, English, Irish, and Scottish traditions, and sacred and country music. Bluegrass music became popular after World War II, but its roots date back to the 1930s. Named after Bill Monroe's legendary band The Blue Grass Boys, its songs often reflect issues important to everyday people. Religion is frequently a prominent theme, and gospel music has influenced the development of the bluegrass sound. The typical bluegrass band includes 5-string banjo, flat-top guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and bass. The instruments are traditionally acoustic with the guitar and bass carrying the downbeat and providing the rhythmic foundation. The Folkways collection contains some of the most influential early American bluegrass recordings and features such giants as Red Allen and Frank Wakefield, Bill Monroe, Doc Watson, the Stanley Brothers, and The Country Gentlemen. Listen here to these influential artists and experience this dynamic American roots tradition.








"White House Blues": Music of the Political Process
The American political process has been intertwined with music as long as there has been a United States of America. From "Follow Washington," one of many songs written in praise of George Washington, to the popular theme songs used by present-day candidates, every election cycle has had its accompanying soundtrack. Before mass media made it possible for candidates to spread the message across the nation simultaneously, campaign songs, often set to other popular melodies, were used to reach broad populations, especially those that could not read newspapers. Natural accompaniments to political campaign songs are political satire and protest songs, and both categories are represented here by folk singer Joe Glazer and civil rights leader Hollis Watkins. Glazer, Oscar Brand, and Peter Janovsky each recorded albums of presidential campaign songs that, along with the other songs presented here, are part of the catalog of Smithsonian Folkways.








Archive Spotlight: ILAM
Founded in 1954 by Hugh Tracey, the International Library of African Music (ILAM) is the greatest repository of African music in the world. A research institution devoted to the study of music and oral arts in Africa, it preserves thousands of historical recordings dating back to 1929 and supports contemporary fieldwork. Smithsonian Global Sound presents over a thousand tracks of music from ILAM, many available digitally for the first time. Most tracks are accompanied by extensive notes and images. Listen here to a sampling of musical treasures from this incredible archive.








Throat Singing
Tuva is a predominately rural region of Russia located northwest of Mongolia. It is home to one of the world's oldest forms of music. In Xöömei, or "throat-singing," a single vocalist simultaneously produces two distinct pitches-a fundamental note and, high above it, a series of articulated harmonies that are sequenced into melodies. The Tuvan herder/hunter lifestyle with its great reliance on the natural world and deeply-felt connection to the landscape is reflected in the Tuvan vocal tradition. With throat-singing Tuvans recreate the sounds of their natural surroundings--animals, mountains, streams, and the harsh winds of the steppe. Examples of this unique and moving vocal tradition are featured here.








Music of Hawai'i
Music has always been an important part of native Hawaiian culture. In early Hawai'i, mele (chant) paid homage to gods and remembered the actions of powerful people with drums and dancing. The small string of islands in the Pacific Ocean has also attracted sailors, explorers, and migrant workers, who all left their marks. Following the arrival of Europeans, Christian hymns and string instruments influenced native music and contributed to the development of new forms. In the mid 20th century, immigrants from Puerto Rico, Spain, Mexico, and Japan brought their own styles of music and singing. Both contemporary and traditional musical styles still thrive in Hawai'i.








Radio Africa
Listen here to the sounds of a continent rich with creativity, power, and enchantment. Radio Africa offers hours of tracks including field recordings from remote villages, voices of political protest, and songs from emerging Afro-pop artists. The music spans the continent, as well as the world, as African immigrants continue the traditions of their homeland in new communities. Radio Africa is a collaboration between Smithsonian Global Sound and the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, the premier museum dedicated to the arts of Africa.








Radio Asia
Listen here to the authentic musical traditions of the planet’s largest continent. From the nomadic and bardic cultures of the steppes to the classical court traditions of the cities, Radio Asia offers hours of music including field recordings from remote villages and performances by classically trained virtuosos. Radio Asia is collaboration between Smithsonian Global Sound and the Smithsonian Freer and Arthur M. Sackler Galleries, home to one of the strongest collections of Asian art in the world.








Radio Latino
Radio Latino draws from the Latino audio holdings of the Folkways Collections-old and new-creating a cultural pastiche of sounds, styles, and cultures that hint at the vast cornucopia of music and cultural expression in the Latino world. It is produced with the Smithsonian Latino Center, which is dedicated to celebrating Latino culture, spirit, and achievement in America. In 2001, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings joined the Smithsonian Latino Center in a collaboration to bring grassroots Latino musicians and music to the fore of Smithsonian programming and American life.



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©2007 Smithsonian Institution

Produced with major support from The Rockefeller Foundation
Full Text Only Catalog

Smithsonian Global Sound

www.smithsonianglobalsound.org

"The ethnographic answer to iTunes" -- New York Times

Smithsonian Global Sound is an unparalleled experience of world music. Download music and sound from acclaimed international archives such as Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the International Library of African Music, the Archives & Research Centre for Ethnomusicology in India, and Central Asian recordings from the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.

Many tracks at www.smithsonianglobalsound.org are rare, newly preserved recordings that are now extensively cataloged and easily accessible around the world. Royalties support artists and archives, honoring and establishing intellectual property rights. By distributing these exciting sounds, Smithsonian Global Sound increases interest in traditional world music and promotes the appreciation of cultural diversity around the world.

Smithsonian Global Sound increases interest in traditional world music and promotes the appreciation of cultural diversity around the world. Royalties support artists and archives, honoring and establishing intellectual property rights. Many tracks are rare, newly preserved recordings that are now extensively cataloged and easily accessible. By distributing these exciting sounds around the world, Smithsonian Global Sound aims to inspire future generations of musicians to continue to promote their cultural heritage.

The Smithsonian Global Sound Experience

Browse, sample, and download thousands of beautiful and culturally significant tracks of music and sound. Don't know where to start? Listen to Radio Global Sound, watch video on Global Sound Live, read fascinating and in depth Artist Profiles, or discover exciting new music through our Musical Journeys from world music celebrities.

Downloads are available in versatile MP3 format or CD quality FLAC files. Our open files allow access through any computer or any portable media player. Smithsonian Global Sound is unique in that it offers a rich store of free material to accompany the audio, including original Folkways liner notes and new contextual information created by archival collaborators.

"Smithsonian Global Sound - the most exciting online music happening in quite some time." -- Salon.com

Enhancing Education via music in the Classroom

Smithsonian Global Sound is an invaluable tool for ethnomusicology, social sciences, and language arts educators. This virtual music library of the future gives teachers, students, and scholars instant access to original recordings and extensive documentation from diverse cultures all over globe. Many libraries from Harvard University to the University of Wisconsin to the Denver Public Library have already enhanced their collections with a subscription from Smithsonian Global Sound.

"The Smithsonian Global Sound site is a fabulous resource of authentic music, and I am looking forward to sharing it with my students." � DeKalb, Illinois
Middle school teacher

Supporting Musicians and Archives of Traditional Music

Royalties earned from the sale of music on the site go to the artists, their communities, the archives that preserve their recordings, and further development of Smithsonian Global Sound. These groundbreaking practices give musicians and artists a chance to maintain their cultures and profit from their work while forging new bonds between local sound archives and the communities whose music they preserve.

If you are an archive or collection interested in joining with Smithsonian Global Sound, please contact smithsonianglobalsound@si.edu.

"When we saw the blossoming of the Internet, we thought, what if we could use this as a device for opening up the archives? People who are not usually heard can project their voices around the planet." - Richard Kurin, Director of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage