[Bilimsel Haber] The Lomax Legacy: Folklore in a Globalizing Century

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

The Lomax Legacy: Folklore in a Globalizing Century

The American Folklife Center, in cooperation with the Association for 
Cultural
Equity, will present a symposium, “The Lomax Legacy: Folklore in a
Globalizing Century,” from January 18 to 20, 2006, at the Library of
Congress. For two days, a diverse group of scholars, cultural workers, 
and media
producers will gather to reflect on the life work of the preeminent song
collector, musical anthropologist, and cultural activist Alan Lomax 
(1915-2002).
The symposium will consist of panel presentations, film screenings, and an
evening concert.

Participants will discuss their own research, publications, productions and
advocacy work in light of Lomax’s pioneering initiatives in these same
areas.

The gathering highlights the AFC’s 2004 acquisition of the Alan Lomax
Collection, his legacy of recordings, research and writing—-a 
multimedia
archive of musical performances from around the world.

The two-day event will be open to the public, free of charge, but seating is
limited and reservations are required. Reservations for no more than two 
seats
per registrant will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. For 
general
information, registration, program details and locations of events, please
visit:

http://www.loc.gov/folklife/lomax/lomaxlegacy.html

Also visit http://www.loc.gov/folklife/lomax for additional details on the
collection.

Alan Lomax began his career at the Library of Congress’ Archive of
American Folk Song (the predecessor to the American Folklife Center) in 
1933.
Between 1933 and 1942, Alan Lomax and his father, folklorist John A. Lomax,
helped develop the Library of Congress’ Archive of American 
Folksong into
a major repository of traditional music. Many of the early recordings 
held by
the Center are the products of their celebrated field trips to document folk
music and oral history across much of the United States and Alan Lomax's
subsequent trips to the Caribbean and Europe.

After he left the Library of Congress in 1942, Alan Lomax continued his 
work to
document, analyze and present the traditional music, dance and narratives of
cultural communities around the world. He expanded the scope of his work to
include ethnomusicological and anthropological research and teaching, book
publishing for scholarly and popular audiences, and commercial record, 
radio and
film production. He was the recipient of numerous honors and awards, 
including
the 1980 National Book Critics Circle award for “The Land Where 
the Blues
Began,” the National Medal of the Arts in 1986, a “Living
Legend” award from the Library of Congress in 2000 and a Grammy in 
2002
for his lifelong contributions to music.

Media contacts: Trish Taylor Shuman (202) 707-1940; Joanne Rasi (202) 
707-1744
Public contact: (202) 707-5510
Web site: http://www.loc.gov/folklife/

Library of Congress Media contacts: Joanne Rasi (202) 707-1744; Trish Taylor
Shuman (202) 707-1940
Email: gshankar@loc.gov

Visit the website at http://www.loc.gov/folklife/lomax/lomaxlegacy.html