Nobel Voices for Disarmament: 1901-2001
SFW47005 (2007)
Smithsonian Folkways recently released Nobel Voices for Disarmament: 1901–2001 (SFW47005), a stirring collection of new and archival spoken-word recordings by the most prominent advocates for peace during a century marred by war and bloodshed read more...
Fast Folk: A Community of Singers and Songwriters
SFW40135 (2002)
Folk music wasn't just something that happened in the 1960s. The sound and the scene continued to thrive throughout the 1980s and 1990s, mostly because of the efforts of Fast Folk, a group of singers and songwriters who came together in 1982 in New York City to mutually support read more...
Heartbeat: Voices of First Nations Women
SFW40415 (1995)
"A woman hums songs to a child. Three old ladies sing as they pick chokecherries or cactus buds, husk corn, or dig camus root. A woman's high-pitched lu-lu-lu-lu rises over the men's voices at the end of an honoring song for returned veterans. "Chorus girls" back up the men's lead song read more...
Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
SFW40044 (1996)
This recording is a testament to two men, the Louisiana African-American musician and composer, Lead Belly (born Huddie Ledbetter, 1885-1949), and New York recording engineer and Folkways record company owner Moses Asch. Their partnership created a lasting document of Lead Belly's read more...
That's Why We're Marching: World War II and the American Folksong Movement
SFW40021 (1996)
Songwriter and labor organizer Joe Hill wrote, "A pamphlet is never read more than once, but a song is learned by heart and repeated over and over." Topical songs, employing well-known melodies and simple messages, have traditionally been used in the U.S. to transmit read more...
The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan
SFW40438 (2002)
At the end of the 13th Century C.E., Marco Polo set out on a legendary journey from Europe to eastern Asia. Looking at rich musical traditions present along the Silk Road (the epic trade routes of Central Asia), music scholars beg the question, "What if Marco Polo had carried a tape read more...