Serenata Guayanesa is much more than a music group: For over 40 years, it has been a cultural and social force in Venezuela. Smithsonian Folkways presents Canta con Venezuela, a selection of newly recorded classics that exemplify why Venezuelans embrace Serenata Guayenesa and its music as part of themselves.

Subscriber Discount: Enter code SFCANTA at folkways.si.edu and save 20% off retail price on this CD or album download through September 30.

Robert Leopold Joins Center Staff

Robert Leopold, director of the Smithsonian’s Consortium for World Cultures and senior program officer for history, art and culture, has been appointed deputy director at the Center. With an extensive background at the Smithsonian, Leopold is known for promoting interdisciplinary scholarship and public programs that inspire audiences to explore the cultural and artistic heritage of the world’s peoples.

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Join Us! Intern at the Center

The Center seeks interns interested in folklore, cultural anthropology, ethnomusicology, business, technology, or related areas for the fall and winter. Interns can work with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways record label, the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, or cultural education.

Apply for an internship

Talk Story: Connecting Cultures Through Dance

This summer, one week after their collaboration at the Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways artists Quetzal and Nobuko Miyamoto regrouped in South Los Angeles. Joined by fellow artists and friends playing Mexican and Japanese instruments, they created a new song and dance for obon festival, reaching across borders to explore cultural connections.

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Keeping Craft Traditions Alive: Bohai Mohe Embroidery

Our new online exhibition highlights the work of Sun Yanling, a Bohai Mohe embroiderer and participant in the 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival’s China: Tradition and the Art of Living program. Learn how her techniques relate to her geographical region and ethnic identity, drawn from her experience as one of the few Mohe people in China who still practice this traditional craft.

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Sneak Preview: Songs of the Spanish Civil War

On October 14, Smithsonian Folkways will release Songs of the Spanish Civil War, a historically vital collection of songs from the 1930s that reintroduces the hymnal of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, more than 2,600 American volunteers who fought General Francisco Franco in support of a democratic Spain.

Listen to a sneak preview of Songs of the Spanish Civil War

UNESCO Reissues Continue: Algeria, Bali, Benin, Bulgaria, France, India, Pakistan, and Vietnam

The Smithsonian Folkways reissue of two albums per week from the UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music continues! Read the latest guest blog posts, and check back weekly to explore musical traditions from around the world.

Subscriber Discount: Enter code UNESCOSEPTEMBER at folkways.si.edu and save 20% off retail price on any UNESCO CD or album download through September 30.

From the Archives: A Man Behind the Music

Harold Leventhal was a prominent music manager who worked and held close friendships with many folk musicians throughout the 20th century, and he pops up in many places in the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. He is pictured here (right) in 1951 with Lee Hays, the bass singer of The Weavers. The Lee Hays Collection is currently being digitized in its entirety.

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Images (top to bottom): 1) Canta con Venezuela album cover. Photo by Daniel Sheehy; art direction, design, and layout by Galen Lawson. 2) Robert Leopold. Photo by Amanda Lucidon. 3) Carly Hafner interned on the 2012 Folklife Festival. Photo by James Mayer. 4) George Abe accompanies the dancers at the Higashi Honganji obon. Photo by Sojin Kim. 5) Songs of the Spanish Civil War album cover. Photo courtesy of R. F. Wagner Labor Archives, Tamiment Library, New York University. 6) Vietnam: Hát Chèo – Traditional Folk Theatre and Bali: Folk Music album covers. 7) Bohai Mohe embroiderer Sun Yanling. Photo courtesy of Sun Yanling. 8) Harold Leventhal and Lee Hayes, 1951. Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections.