AFC

Dr. Benjamin Luft, Professor of Medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and founder of the Long Island World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Center, which follows approximately 6,000 responders to the 9/11 disaster, will discuss the oral histories he has collected as part of his Center’s mission. These oral histories, told from the vantage point of World Trade Center disaster workers a police officers, firefighters, construction workers, and other volunteers at the site a form that basis of Luft’s new book, “We’re Not Leaving”: 9/11 Responders Tell Their Stories of Courage, Sacrifice, and Renewal. Dr. Luft’s oral histories also form part of a larger World Trade Center History Project, and have served as a basis for documentary films. Dr. Luft has established a website, www.911respondersremember.org, where people can view excerpts from the interviews and learn more about the project.

Grupo do BabaASSuAa a A DoASSu SA(c)menome (Song for DoASSu) from The Discoteca Collection: MissA!o de Pedquisas FolclAuricas, and

Mickey Hart, Various Artists a Shipibo song from The Spirit Cries: Music from the Rainforests of South America.

Agustin Lira Trio and Quetzal: Chicano Music from California

Wednesday, SEPTEMBER 14 at 12:00 noon (no tickets required)

Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, Jefferson Building, First Floor

From the ashes of Los Angeles’ 1992 uprising arose a collective of East Side musicians committed to respectfully continuing the legacy of over 70 years of Chicano Rock. Standing on the shoulders of giants like Lalo Guerrero, Ritchie Valens, Cannibal and The Headhunters, The Brat, Los Lobos, and many others, Quetzal has created a path that has earned them the recognition as “one of Los Angeles’ most important bands.” (L.A. Times). Quetzal most recently completed its fifth studio album, titled Imaginaries, to be released in early 2012 on the Smithsonian Folkways label.

Agustin Lira, a NEA National Heritage Fellow (2007), began his career in 1965, at the age of 19, when he co-founded the theater company El Teatro Campesino with Luis Valdez, during the Delano Grape Strike headed by Cesar Chavez. The company created songs and plays, performed at picket lines and rallies, and toured throughout the United States, demonstrating the power of artistic expression in uniting and inspiring the farmworker communities. Together with Patricia Wells Solorzano, Lira formed the musical group Alma in 1979. Alma features original compositions by Lira and is known for its mesmerizing duets, inspirational lead guitar playing by Wells, and incomparable, rhythmic bass by Ravi Knypstra. Alma blends Mexican, Latin American, American Folk, and Afro-Cuban styles, creating a hybrid: Chicano music.

The Alliance for California Traditional Arts promotes cultural traditions by providing advocacy, resources, and connections for folk and traditional artists. Recognized for its leadership, intellectual capital and excellence in program administration, ACTA is California’s state-designated entity for all folk and traditional arts.

The New Lost City Ramblers and Folk Music Authenticity, presented by Ray Allen, Brooklyn College, CUNY. (Book Talk)

September 8, 2011, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm

Mary Pickford Theater, 3rd Floor, James Madison Building, Library of Congress

The New Lost City Ramblers were pioneers in the old-time music revival that paralleled the great folk music boom of the 1960s. Mike Seeger, John Cohen, and Tom Paley (later replaced by Tracy Schwarz) were city-born and suburban-bred folk musicians who specialized in recreating the sounds of rural southern stringband and early bluegrass music at a time when the folk music scene was dominated by commercial singers and political singer/songwriters. The Ramblers raised key questions over what constituted authentic folk music, encouraging city musicians to concentrate on instrumental and vocal performance styles gleaned from recordings rather than depending on words and melodies learned from written collections. But as cultural “outsiders” their own status as authentic practitioners of southern mountain music would be challenged by academics and governments folklorists. Ray Allen’s Gone to the Country: The New Lost City Ramblers and the Urban Folk Music Revival (2010) examines the Ramblers music and the challenges they faced as performers and promoters of traditional folk styles.

The symposium will take place on Monday, September 26 and Tuesday, September 27, 2011. Attendance is free of charge, but registration is required. For a complete schedule and to register online, visit: [http://www.loc.gov/folklife/Symposia/litcordel/] Please reserve your place today!

Literatura de cordel, literally astring literature,a refers to popular booklets or chapbooks originally hung along cords strung across marketplace stalls to attract buyers. A tradition brought from Portugal to northeastern Brazil in the sixteenth century, literatura de cordel features traditional poetry on many topics, often illustrated by eye-catching woodblock images. Today, cordel poems are no longer found solely in northeastern Brazil, but also in the larger cities of SAPSo Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. In addition to being printed in traditional chapbook fashion, they are found widely on the Internet.

The American Folklife Center was created by Congress in 1976 and placed at the Library of Congress to apreserve and present American folklifea through programs of research, documentation, archival preservation, reference service, live performance, exhibition, public programs, and training. The Center includes the American Folklife Center Archive, which was established in 1928 and is now one of the largest collections of ethnographic material from the United States and around the world.

As director of the AFC and principal officer for folklife in the Library, the person filling this position has full managerial and professional responsibility for the development and growth of research programs, collection development, public and scholarly service, preservation and custodial management, interpretive and other special programs of education and presentation (including publications, exhibits, and events) of the AFC. The director is also responsible for managing the AFC gift and trust funds and for raising private funds to support AFC objectives. The director is responsible for the management of the Folklife Reading Room to carry out AFC’s custodial responsibility for the AFC Archive collections, including significant oral history and born-digital collections (e.g. the Veterans History Project Collection, the StoryCorps Collection and the Civil Rights History Project Collection).

Decoration Day in the Mountains
a book talk presented by Alan Jabbour and Karen Singer Jabbour

July 7, 2011, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm
Mary Pickford Theater, 3rd Floor, James Madison Building, Library of Congress

Decoration Day is a late spring or summer tradition that involves cleaning community cemeteries, decorating them with flowers, holding religious services in cemeteries, and having dinner on the ground. These commemorations seem to predate the post-Civil-War celebrations that ultimately gave us our national Memorial Day. Little has been written about this tradition, but it is still practiced widely throughout the Upland South, from North Carolina to the Ozarks and beyond. Written by folklorist Alan Jabbour and illustrated with more than a hundred photographs taken by his wife, Karen Singer Jabbour, Decoration Day in the Mountains is an in-depth exploration of this little-known cultural tradition.

Some recently added webcasts include:

The Work & Transformation Symposium from December 2010

The Borderlines/Borderlands Symposium from June 2010

Homegrown Concerts and Botkin Lectures from the 2010 Series

For a complete list of AFC programs now available as webcasts, please visit:

Tim Tingle and D.J. Battiest-Tomasi a Traditional Choctaw storytelling and music from Oklahoma

Wednesday, June 29 at 12:00 noon
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, Jefferson Building, First Floor

Both D. J. Battiest-Tomasi and Tim Tingle are enrolled as members of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and regularly participate in tribal events. Tim is a traditional singer, flute player, and drummer, and a nationally known performance storyteller, as well as a teacher, writer, and lecturer. He delivers lively historical and traditional stories, accompanying himself on the Native American flute, and sings Choctaw songs to the rhythms of a whaleskin drum. D. J. is also a flute player and storyteller, and works as a family counselor. Both have performed extensively across Oklahoma and are considered to be ambassadors of the Choctaw people.

Celebrating Native American Language Revitalization in Film
10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 21
Mumford Room, James Madison Building,
Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave SE
Washington DC.

The American Folklife Center and other divisions at the Library of Congress will join the organization “Cultural Survival” in celebrating innovative tribal language programs and language activists who are revitalizing Americaas ancient linguistic heritage. Join us to celebrate their efforts, learn about the challenges they face, and share in their successes. Library of Congress curatorial staff will point to resources within the institution’s vast collections, with a focus on field recordings, manuscripts, photos, and other archival materials that tribal language programs can incorporate into local curricula. This will be followed by screenings of several films focusing on Native American language revitalization.

Reclaiming Lost Languages: The Breath of Life Archival Institutes for Indigenous Languages
presented by Leanne Hinton, University of California, Berkeley

June 16 , 2011, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm
Coolidge Auditorium, Ground Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress

Leanne Hinton is professor emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in American Indian languages, sociolinguistics, language loss and language revival. She is an advocate for the perpetuation and revival of Native American languages. In 2006, she won the Lannan Foundation Cultural Freedom Award for her contributions to the support of linguistic diversity. In her current research, she is observing families that make endangered languages the languages of their homes.

Reclaiming Lost languages: The Breath of Life Archival Institutes for Indigenous Languages, Thursday, June 16, presented by Leanne Hinton, University of California/Berkeley

Decoration Day in the Mountains, Thursday, July 7, presented by Alan Jabbour & Karen Singer Jabbour

Newslore: Contemporary Folklore on the Internet, Wednesday, August 10, presented by Russell Frank, Pennsylvania State University

New Lost City Ramblers and Folk Music Authenticity, Thursday, September 8, presented by Ray Allen, Brooklyn College/CUNY

May 25: Ben Payton and the Thundering Harps — Blues Quartet from Mississippi

June 22: Tony Ellis and the Musicians of Braeburn– Traditional Banjo and Stringband music from Ohio

June 29: Tim Tingle and D.J. Battiest-Tomasi — Traditional Choctaw storytelling and music from Oklahoma

July 20: Kiu Haghighi with Tooraj Moshref-Zadeh — Persian santour and tombak music from Illinois

July 27: Ann Yao Trio — Traditional Chinese zheng music from Florida

August 17: Daniel Boucher and Friends — Traditional French-Canadian fiddle music from Connecticut

August 24: Sophia Bilides Trio — Traditional Greek Smyrneika music from Massachusetts

September 14: Agustin Lira Trio and Quetzal — Chicano Music from California

May 25: Ben Payton and the Thundering Harps — Blues Quartet from Mississippi

June 22: Tony Ellis and the Musicians of Braeburn– Traditional Banjo and Stringband music from Ohio

June 29: Tim Tingle and D.J. Battiest-Tomasi — Traditional Choctaw storytelling and music from Oklahoma

July 20: Kiu Haghighi with Tooraj Moshref-Zadeh — Persian santour and tombak music from Illinois

July 27: Ann Yao Trio — Traditional Chinese zheng music from Florida

August 17: Daniel Boucher and Friends — Traditional French-Canadian fiddle music from Connecticut

August 24: Sophia Bilides Trio — Traditional Greek Smyrneika music from Massachusetts

September 14: Agustin Lira Trio and Quetzal — Chicano Music from California

The Archie Green Fellowship goes to Pat Jasper, William Westerman, James Leary, Bucky Halker, Tanya D. Finchum and Juliana M. Nykolaiszyn.

The Gerald E. and Corinne L. Parsons Fund Award goes to David Greely and Emily Kader.

The Blanton Owen Fund Award goes to Bradley Hanson.

Please visit the link for biographies of the recipients and a brief description of their projects:

The Pennsylvania Dutch culture, which is now over three centuries old and still evolving, is an American hybrid creation put together from Continental Europe, British Isles, and American building blocks in Southeastern Pennsylvania. While this culture is a unit linguistically, and in most other ways, it is divided down the middle by religion. The “two worlds” are those of the “Plain Dutch” a Amish, Mennonites, and Brethren a and the much large world of the Lutheran and Recorded churches of the German and Swiss Reformates. Dr. Yoder will illustrate the differences between these two cultural patterns with slides and ethnographic commentary.