Lomax in the Carribean, 1962; via the Library of Congress
We're just coming back from a Labor Day holiday and wanted to share this new YouTube channel for The Alan Lomax Archive. We've written previously about The Association for Cultural Equity, the organization which continues the work of preserving Mr. Lomax's archive as well as forwarding, in the digital age, his belief in cultural equity as a basic human right. This YouTube channel is a perfect extension of those goals, representing footage shot during Mr. Lomax's American Patchwork project. (The edited episodes can be viewed on Folkstreams, just scroll to the bottom of the link.) Here's what we have too look forward to on the channel:
Represented are former levee and railroad workers, farm women, bluesmen, and young tall-tale rhymers from the Mississippi Delta; New Orleans jazz parades; Cajun cowboys; Sea Island game songs; Sacred Harp singing; clogging contests from Virginia; country gospel, Primitive Baptists, and coal miners from Kentucky and Tennessee; bootleggers, balladeers, tobacco workers, and a Georgia bluegrass festival. There is also footage of breakdancers in Philadelphia; Italian and Italian American folk musicians at the Giglio Festival in Brooklyn; Latino car clubs; Yaqui Indian dancers, and Norteno musicians from Arizona.
Here are three of our favorites, though artists we've previously spoken of, such as Nimrod Workman and Tommy Jarrell, are also included on the site. Enjoy:
Joe Savage -- Dangerous Blues (1978)
The 1982 Holly Springs Sacred Harp Convention - Hallelujah
Sheila Kay Barnhill Adams - Little Margaret (1982)
