The Center has begun a five-year program preserving cultural heritage and improving sustainable livelihoods in ethnic Tibetan communities in China. As part of this ambitious project, the Center is offering research fellowships to enhance our resident expertise in Tibetan culture.

Learn more and apply here

Celebrate Lead Belly’s Birthday

This week marked the birthday of Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly (c. 1888–1949). We’re celebrating with a new social media series, “Lead Belly: Song by Song,” in anticipation of the February 24 release of Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection. Find more on the Smithsonian Folkways Facebook and Tumblr pages, and listen to a previously unreleased song, “Princess Elizabeth,” which premiered on Rolling Stone.

New Release: Music from the Mountains of Bhutan

Music from the Mountains of Bhutan features Kheng Sonam Dorji, a master of the beautiful yet threatened traditional music styles of Bhutan. Playing drangyen (Bhutanese lute) and singing both traditional tunes and his own compositions, Dorji was inspired to present this endangered heritage to audiences outside of Bhutan through his participation in the 2008 Smithsonian Folklife Festival program Bhutan: Land of the Thunder Dragon.

Read more about Dorji and view a slideshow and video of his performance at the 2008 Festival

Subscriber Discount: Enter code SFBHUTAN at folkways.si.edu and save 20% on retail price on this CD or album download through January 31.

Intern at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

The Center seeks interns interested in folklore, cultural anthropology, ethnomusicology, or related areas for 2015. 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

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in Selma

“This Little Light of Mine (medley)” from the album Freedom Songs: Selma, Alabama is featured in the end credits of the new film Selma.

Find the entire album here and listen to related recordings in our “Sounds of the Civil Rights Movement” playlist.

Now Available from UNESCO Collection: Byelorussia, Corsica, Peru, Sicily, and More

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 UNESCO15 at folkways.si.edu and save 20% off retail price on any UNESCO CD or album download through January 31.

Intangible Cultural Heritage Speaker Series Continues

Intangible Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian welcomed Gloria O’Neill, president and CEO of the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, to speak about the innovative video game Never Alone, which is based on indigenous knowledge of the Iñupiaq people in Alaska. On January 27, Dr. Frank Proschan will speak about the development of UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian Castle in Washington, D.C.

Read more and RSVP here

From the Archives: Fiddle the Night Away

In the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, we just completed digitizing the J. Scott Odell folk music collection. The collection documents the tradition and use of folk instruments, particularly in southwestern Virginia and North Carolina. Materials include prints, field notes, trip reports, tape recordings, and photographs, like the one to the left. Pictured here is a performance at the 1966 Old Fiddlers’ Convention in Galax, Virginia.

Click to enlarge

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Images (top to bottom): 1) A Tibetan monk works on a sand mandala at the 2000 Folklife Festival. Photo by Jyoti Manseta, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. 2) Photo by Dr. Richard S. Blacher, courtesy of the Lead Belly Estate, All Rights Reserved. 3) Music from the Mountains of Bhutan album cover. 4) Smithsonian intern Noah Debonis at the 2008 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Photo by Hugh Talman, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. 5) Freedom Songs: Selma, Alabama album cover. 6) Byelorussia: Musical Folklore of the Byelorussian Polessye album cover. 7) Still from video game Never Alone. Created by Upper One Games LLC, in partnership with E-Line Media. 8) A performance at the Old Fiddlers’ Convention in Galax, Virginia, August 1966. Photograph by J. Scott Odell, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections.

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