Smithsonian Institute.. info ?

Subject: BS: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: GUEST,Omar
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 08:18 AM

Hi

I have been told that the Smithsonian Institute ( Institution?) has a list of the top 100 folk songs.

Do any mudcatters know anything about this ? Having done a google search I see a lot of connections with Folkways music, but I don't know if I am looking along the right lines.

I am European, so excuse my ignorance !

Omar

Subject: RE: BS: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 08:34 AM

They have a million plus recordings.

Aron Copeland was gleening some Smithsonian original recordings when he found a fiddle tune* he later used in his Billy the Kid suite.


* Now commonly recognized as the music for "Beef, its whats for dinner" TV ad.

Subject: RE: BS: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: GUEST,G
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 08:41 AM

I use the following a lot for all most music. Don't know if they have a top 100 list or not..but it's a start.
Can't make a clicky - type   Smithsonian Folkways into your search engine.

Subject: RE: BS: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: GUEST,G
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 08:49 AM

......or Folkways Smithsonian (late night!)

Also, don't go there with the European tag - you and us (US) have all types.

Subject: RE: BS: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: GUEST,M.Ted
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 12:42 PM

I don't know that they maintain a "Top 100 List", like Billboard's, only for folk music, but they have re-released Harry Smith's "Anthology of American Folk Music", in a boxed CD set--it features 84 recordings. It is probably the most influential compilation of folk music recordings ever, because many of the 1950's and 1960's folk revivalists learned   basic repertoire and style from it. The three albums were cornerstones for most folk music record collections, and they still offer as good an introduction to variety of American folk/traditional/rural music styles as you will find--

Subject: RE: BS: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: Peace
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 02:05 PM

Re M Ted's post above

You may access the liner notes from the anthology denoted in M Ted's post above.

Subject: RE: BS: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 02:06 PM

Trivia: Mr Smithson - an Englishman - willed the money that was used to build the Smithsonian Institution. The sum was so large that Parilament passed a law making the transfer illegal. IIRC, the cash had to be smuggled out and it took years to finish the job.

Subject: RE: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 02:47 PM

Smithsonian INSTITUTION Center for Folklife:
http://www.folklife.si.edu/index.html

Also Library of Congress American Folklife Center and Archive of Folk Culture (which is where Aaron Copland went to get his material):
http://www.loc.gov/folklife/

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 06:38 PM

The Smithsonian is such a vast organization that almost anyone should be able to find many things of interest. Although the query here was for folk and folklife stuff, there's a whole lot of other things to be seen.

For a place to start, the Smithsonian home page.

On the left, the "Smithsonian Magazine" is a great place for "random reading." It's one of the very few magazines I subscribe to in "tree-killer" format - and actually make a point of reading.

On the right, there's a long list of theme-specific "museums," each of which has its own research staff and publications, along with the exhibits and archives. Some exhibits travel internationally, so people almost anywhere may occasionally get a chance to visit one.

John

Subject: RE: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: sciencegeek
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 07:47 PM

They have a forum, see link below.

http://makephpbb.com/phpbb/folkwaysforum.html

they also have a number of indexes - some are undergoing maintainence at the moment.

Subject: RE: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 08:25 PM

Agreed LOC and SI are two of the world's best resources.

Another one, for historical film clips is:

http://www.britishpathe.com

The video on the computer monitor is quite poor on the previews, however, because of resolution they look very decent on a standard television set at 10 feet away.

It is made up of news reel shorts. For example, a Babe Ruth homerun, or King Fasad at age nine reveiwing camel troops, or Dublin's "Four Corners" during "the rebellion" .... from chimney-sweeps, to bathing beauties, it is a historical delight.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: Kaleea
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 08:51 PM

If there were a way to figure it out, it would be interesting to learn what are the top 10 or 20 tunes at jams these days. Perhaps we could do an informal poll here & someone could compile it for us. But don't look at me to do the counting, I was a Music major so I can only count to 4 sorta like Lawrence Welk: "Boys? a one, an a two, an a . . ."

Subject: RE: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 09:31 PM

I don't know about "currently popular" but one of the larger "camps" at WVA has their own Carp Camp website. If you click on "homework" over at the lower left of the page you can see what's being "assigned for learing" currently within this group. I understand that they apply "discipline" to those who come to sessions without doing the homework.

Most "collecting" sites just have too many songs to sort out what's "current." While the selection here is pretty specific to the small group of a few hundred subjects of "King Dave" the idea of a site for local groups, with appropriate (if not dearly loved) music lists, does have some appeal.

For Reference Only: Don Shorock's Virtual Winfield site offers a map of the campground for the WVA annual Acoustic Music festival. Click a colored patch to go to a detail map showing some groups who usually camp there. Many have websites with varied kinds of info – some of it even musically realted.

(The above "Carp Camp" is in the "green" patch top center.)

Don's Audio Winfield has some sound samples from a few years back, made during a "camp-hopping" walkthrough of the campgrounds.

John

Subject: RE: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 09:36 PM

"assigned for learing" = "assigned for learning"

"musically realted" - "musically related"

I think the cat must be drooling when he licks the beer off my keyboard. Some keys are getting sticky. I gotta quit spilling so much, or get a cat with a skinnier tongue to get it out of the cracks.

John

Subject: RE: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 10:32 PM

The Smithsonian (Institution) gives a brief summary of its origins at www.si.edu/about/history.htm.
Smithsonian

The site also provides headings which detail its divisions. 'Museums' outlines the fifteen Museums included in the complex.
Click on 'Research' and find information on its many activities, including folklife.

Subject: RE: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: NH Dave
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 11:15 PM

The Smithsonian has thousands of songs, in many different categories, and has assigned some of these tunes their Top Ten rating for that category. This and the Library of Congress have to be the biggest repository of music going.

   Dave

Subject: RE: Smithsonian Institute.. info ?
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 07 Apr 06 - 11:44 PM

The Smithsonian's Museum Of American History has asked me to consider allowing them to archive my forty years of folk scene photos (my slide collection.) I'm weighing putting my original slides either there or at the Archive Of folk Culture at the Library Of Congress

Those can be seen on the web at http://rudegnu.com/art_thieme.html

Art Thieme