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Smithsonian Folkways

Playing Music with Animals: Interspecies Communication of Jim Nollman with 300 Turkeys, 12 Wolves and 20 Orcas
2024 stock. On this one-of-a-kind record, Jim Nollman showcases his experiments with "interspecies communication." Using a variety of instruments and vocalizations, Nollman improvises with turkeys, wolves, and orcas. The interactions are sometimes fu…
Outer Space
2024 stock. "Ingenious use of echo, artificial reverberation and electronic alterations gives the music in this category a weird, spooky futuristic, 'out of this world' quality, well-suited to super-natural happenings of any kind. Piano, drums and el…
Indeterminacy: New Aspect Of Form In Instrumental And Electronic
2024 stock. Originally issued in 1959 on Smithsonian Folkways, the initial idea for Indeterminacy came from avant-garde pianist, David Tudor, who suggested that John Cage give a lecture that was simply the telling of stories. Cage did this in Brussel…
Return to Archive
In 1948, Moses Asch founded Folkways Records with a self-proclaimed mandate to record the sounds of the entire world. From the Sounds of North American Frogs to Speech After the Removal of the Larynx, Folkways documented the audible nooks and crannie…
Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958–1971
Big Tip! In the 1950s and 60s, the blues was the dominant form of Black vernacular music throughout Texas and the surrounding areas. In segregated neighborhoods, community members gathered in saloons, dancehalls, and each other’s homes to hear their …
Dom Flemons Presents Black Cowboys
Dom Flemons presents Black Cowboys pays tribute to the music, culture, and the complex history of the golden era of the Wild West. In this single volume of music, the first of its kind, Flemons explores and re-analyzes this important part of our Amer…
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