Item Detail
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University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries
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Folksongs of another America
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Hailed by the Journal of Folklore Research as A landmark presentation of traditional music of the Upper Midwest, the hardcover edition of James P. Leary's Folksongs of Another America included five CDs and a DVD, received a Grammy nomination for Best Album Notes, and sold out within a year of its publication. Thanks to a partnership between the University of Wisconsin Press and the University of Wisconsin Libraries, sound files for each of the five CDs—as well as the film Alan Lomax Goes North, coproduced with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress—are now accessible and downloadable through the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.xt Challenging and considerably broadening popular and scholarly definitions of American folk music, Folksongs of Another America recovers the diverse, multilingual traditions of immigrant, Native American, rural, and working-class performers in America's Upper Midwest during the 1930s and 1940s. The book extensively documents 187 tunes and songs in more than twenty-five languages, with full original lyrics and English translations, and biographical notes on the performers. The companion musical tracks and documentary film—drawn from field recordings made by Sidney Robertson, Alan Lomax, and Helene Stratman-Thomas from 1937 to 1946—offer still more to discover, ponder, and pursue. As Professor Leary writes in his preface to the paperback edition, The songs and tunes figuring in Folksongs of Another America had been hidden for too long to let them vanish once again. May their persistence spur new understandings and performances, along with ongoing recognition and appreciation of the many peoples, tongues, and sounds that—whether past or present, from mainstream or from margin, deservedly acknowledged or unjustly ignored—have always made America great. (from the website)
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Website
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Madison, Wis.
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University of Wisconsin-Madison
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English
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Internet
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13867