Watch World Music Documentaries Free Online
Tuesday June 2, 2009
The man of the house recently tipped me off to a website called Folkstreams.net, which has apparently been around for quite awhile, but had somehow, very unfortunately, slipped under my radar until just now. Lemme tell ya, I'm obsessed! The website is a clearinghouse for dozens upon dozens of documentaries, available in free streaming format, all of which focus on folk and world music, and other elements of folk life. I managed to tear myself away from the site long enough to tell you about it (sharing the love and all), but I swear, as soon as I finish writing this blog post, I'm off to spend another couple of hours watching these great films. Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order:
Rebuilding the Temple: Cambodians in America - Lawrence R. Hott and Claudia Levin. Examines the struggles of Cambodians who came to America to escape the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, and how they kept their culture (including their music) alive in the United States. The soundtrack is particularly stunning.
Medicine Fiddle - Michael Loukinen. An exploration of a particular genre of fiddling that emerged out of the melding of the Native American populations on the Midwestern U.S./Canadian border and the French fur traders and later Scottish and Irish settlers in the region. It's a fairly unknown fiddle genre, but one that's worthy of much exploration, as you'll see in this film.
The Popovich Brothers of South Chicago - Jill Godmilow, Martin Koenig, Ethel Raim. A portrait of a family tamburitza band, hugely popular among the Serbian immigrant community of Chicago in the middle of the 20th Century.
From Shore to Shore - Patrick Mullins. An examination of traditional Irish Music in both the United States and Ireland, featuring both well-known Irish musicians and lesser-known (but equally wonderful) musicians.
Cajun Country - Alan Lomax. A visit to Southwest Louisiana, documenting the vibrant music and culture of the Cajun and Creole people who live there. Especially notable are some rare pieces of footage of Canray Fontenot and Walter Mouton.
Singing Fishermen of Ghana - Toshi Seeger, Pete Seeger. A documentary from Pete Seeger's world explorations back in the 1960s, which shows a very old tradition of call-and-response singing and African work songs (the roots of many genres of African-American music as we know it today) as they were still taking place in Ghana, among groups of fishermen.
There are dozens upon dozens more, so definitely do some exploring around the Folkstream site. Leave a comment and let us know what new favorites you've found!
Rebuilding the Temple: Cambodians in America - Lawrence R. Hott and Claudia Levin. Examines the struggles of Cambodians who came to America to escape the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, and how they kept their culture (including their music) alive in the United States. The soundtrack is particularly stunning.
Medicine Fiddle - Michael Loukinen. An exploration of a particular genre of fiddling that emerged out of the melding of the Native American populations on the Midwestern U.S./Canadian border and the French fur traders and later Scottish and Irish settlers in the region. It's a fairly unknown fiddle genre, but one that's worthy of much exploration, as you'll see in this film.
The Popovich Brothers of South Chicago - Jill Godmilow, Martin Koenig, Ethel Raim. A portrait of a family tamburitza band, hugely popular among the Serbian immigrant community of Chicago in the middle of the 20th Century.
From Shore to Shore - Patrick Mullins. An examination of traditional Irish Music in both the United States and Ireland, featuring both well-known Irish musicians and lesser-known (but equally wonderful) musicians.
Cajun Country - Alan Lomax. A visit to Southwest Louisiana, documenting the vibrant music and culture of the Cajun and Creole people who live there. Especially notable are some rare pieces of footage of Canray Fontenot and Walter Mouton.
Singing Fishermen of Ghana - Toshi Seeger, Pete Seeger. A documentary from Pete Seeger's world explorations back in the 1960s, which shows a very old tradition of call-and-response singing and African work songs (the roots of many genres of African-American music as we know it today) as they were still taking place in Ghana, among groups of fishermen.
There are dozens upon dozens more, so definitely do some exploring around the Folkstream site. Leave a comment and let us know what new favorites you've found!
Comments
No comments yet. Leave a Comment