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 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 present their culture and speak for themselves. The 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival features the Canadian province of Alberta, Latino Chicago, Native Basketry, and music of New Orleans. More about the Festival.






Alberta at the Smithsonian: Canada Day Concert
John Wort Hannam, Blackfoot Medicine Speaks, Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans, and Cowboy Celtic
July 1, 5:30pm - 9:30pm EST

The vitality and diversity of the western Canadian province of Alberta is demonstrated in these performances by leading Albertan folk singers. John Wort Hannam and Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans bring folk and country songs with stories of the Albertan "can do" spirit. Blackfoot Medicine Speaks preserves the songs and dances of the Plains people, while Cowboy Celtic's sound combines old world Celtic instrumentation and balladry with cowboy songs. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival brings these artists together on July 1 to celebrate the national holiday Canada Day. Find these Albertan musicians and more on the Smithsonian Folkways release Alberta: Wild Roses Northern Lights.

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Nuestra Música: Latino Chicago
Suni Paz and Rafael Manríquez, Trío Chalchihuecan, Grupo Nahui Ollín/Tarima Son, and Banda Ansiedad
July 2, 2:20pm - 5:30pm EST

The 2006 program highlights the music and cultural expressions of Chicago’s diverse Latino communities and explores the role they play in shaping contemporary society, creating community, and confirming cultural identity. Chicagoans Grupo Nahui Ollín/Tarima Son perform indigenous ceremonial dances of Mexico while Banda Ansiedad play lively música ranchera, cumbias, música tropical, and the popular pasito duranguense. Smithsonian Folkways artists Suni Paz (Argentinian singer-songwriter), Rafael Manríquez (Chilean folk signer), and Trío Chalchihuecan (Mexican son jarocho virtuosos) complement the Chicago artists and reference the wider panorama of musical life in Latino USA.

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The 12th Annual Ralph Rinzler Memorial Concert: Joe Wilson and His Crooked Road
John Cephas, Phil Wiggins, and Daryl Davis, Linda Lay and Springfield Exit, and The Whitetop Mountian Band
July 2, 5:30pm - 9:30pm EST

This concert series honors Ralph Rinzler, founding director of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, by highlighting his work and the work of his colleagues in conserving and extending traditional expressive culture. This year honors Joe Wilson, Chairman of the National Council for the Traditional Arts, and features music from Wilson's "Crooked Road" project, which aims to document and preserve the musical heritage of Virginia. Linda Lay and the Springfield Exit and The Whitetop Mountain Boys bring to the stage the old-time sound of the Virginia project. They are joined by local musicians John Cephas, Phil Wiggins, and Daryl Davis who demonstrate the Piedmont-style blues guitar. Find more music of Virginia.

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Nuestra Música: Latino Chicago
Ballet Folklórico Quetzali and Carlos Mejía and Katalina Trujillo on Guatemalan Marimba
July 7, 1:30pm - 3:00pm EST

This afternoon of exciting music and dance from Latino Chicago showcases two groups preserving their distinct cultural traditions. Ballet Folklórico Quetzali from Mexico features dozens of dancers in traditional costumes demonstrating folk dances of Veracruz. Carlos Mejía, a master Maya Quiché marimbero, is originally from a small town in Guatemala. A victim of torture during the Guatemalan civil war, he came to the United States in 1987 as a political exile. In 1993, he came to Chicago where he has been a major educator of marimba and Mayan culture in the Guatemalan community. Kathy Trujillo, also Guatemalan, has been an apprentice with Mejía for many years. Find more marimba music.

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Alberta at the Smithsonian
Allez Ouest, Su-Chong Lim, and Asani
July 9, 2:00pm-5:00pm EST

These three popular groups from Alberta represent a range of cultures and traditions that enrich the province. Allez Ouest’s members are four of the most prominent, vibrant, and engaging singer-songwriters from Northern Alberta’s Francophone community. Using acoustic instruments, the group performs their songs in a simple and uncluttered style, marrying folk, roots, and blues with contemporary songwriting values. Su-Chong Lim, an accomplished singer and songwriter, was born in Singapore and roamed the world before settling in Calgary. His songs weave together tales of far-off places and exotic lands, but some of his most entertaining songs are about Alberta. Asani, a contemporary a cappella Aboriginal women’s trio from Edmonton, carries with them the traditional influences of First Nations and Métis music. Find these Albertan musicians and more on the Smithsonian Folkways release Alberta: Wild Roses Northern Lights.

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Nuestra Música: Latino Chicago
AfriCaribe, Sones de México, and The Essence
July 10, 6:00pm - 8:00pm EST

This concert offers more Chicago bands playing música Latina, the sound which often unites and defines the largest minority group and fastest growing population in the United States. AfriCaribe celebrates the African influence of Chicago's música Latina. Sones de México, Chicago's premier Mexican folk music group, play a variety of instruments and musical genres in an energetic performance. Hip hop and reggaetón artists who have performed in Chicago together and with others recently formed the crew, The Essence. Their repertoire includes hip hop, Spanish hip hop, and reggaetón and demonstrates a new sound of música Latina.

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SI Folklife Contact Copyright Privacy Credits
©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