2006

 

Three-Part Podcast Series on the Anthology at Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

 

 

Episodes 4, 5, and 6 discuss the Anthology of American Folk Music, examining the life and art of Harry Smith, the original material of the Anthology and its enduring legacy.

Download and enjoy here.

 

posted February 7, 2007

 

Early Abstractions Added to the National Film Registry

 

 

On Early Abstractions #1-5, 7, 10 (1939-56):


"Harry Smith made his mark in many fields. He was a painter, archivist and compiler of the landmark “Anthology of American Music” (which helped stimulate a folk and blues revival). Smith also was a groundbreaking avant-garde filmmaker whose revolutionary animation challenged traditional concepts of cinema. His films used batik, collage and optical printing to create a tumult of shapes and images that integrates chaos with control. Consisting of seven films made over a 17-year span, “Early Abstractions” is a lovely, ever-moving collage of abstraction, color and imagery."

Read more from the Library of Congress.

Read the Animation World Network article.

posted December 27, 2006

"A Brief History of String" by Sabrina Gschwandtner, article on Harry's string figures in Cabinet Magazine

Download article here.

posted November 11, 2006

 

The Anthology went GOLD on December 2, 2005!!

The Anthology of American Folk Music has gone gold.


The RIAA honors the Anthology with a Gold® album award for the sale of 500,000 copies. That’s 83,333 copies of the 6-CD set. The RIAA® Gold® and Platinum® Awards program was launched in 1958 in an effort to create a standard by which to measure sales of a sound recording.



Rabbi Abulafia's Boxed Set

Jon Kalish documentary on KCRW – Lionel Ziprin’s holy mission. A radio documentary tracks the colorful story of the recordings Harry Smith made of Lionel Ziprin's grandfather, Rabbi Abulafia. Click here for more information.



Shout! Factory will release “The Old, Weird America: Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music”

The “Old, Weird America” documentary film tracks the history of Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music from its initial compilation of 78 records from rural Americana (1927 - 1934) by eccentric filmmaker Harry Smith to its release on Folkways Records in 1952, the folk music boom of the 1960s through its re-release on CD in 1997 and its continuing influence on contemporary music today.

On DVD and CD. Release Date August 2006
Stay Tuned!!!
www.shoutfactory.com


February 10 – 12, 2006
Northwest Film Forum presents Harry Smith: Connections and Transformations

Many of Smith's interests and practices were forged in his youth in the Pacific Northwest. Northwest Film Forum is proud to present a tribute to this important cultural figure and one of the greatest filmmakers to come from the Northwest. The series features screenings of rarely seen Smith films made between 1946 and 1980, including early hand-painted works, collage animations, and the Seattle premiere of the recently restored, multiple-screen masterpiece MAHAGONNY. The series also includes a number of special events illuminating the peculiar brilliance of his work and creative process as well as his early experiences in the Northwest.