Event Information

CANCELED: A Day of Fieldwork: Reconsidering Alan Lomax’s Global and Local Legacies

UPDATE: Due to changes in the University's operations in light of COVID-19,
we regret to announce that this event has been canceled.

 

A new documentary on Alan Lomax, which will be followed by a discussion on Lomax’s legacy.

Lomax in Éirinn (2018), d. Declan McGrath.  

In 1951 American musicologist Alan Lomax travelled to Ireland and, guided by piper Séamus Ennis, began recording and collecting traditional Irish songs and music. Released as the album Ireland, and credited with the folk and traditional music revivals of the 1960s and 1970s, these recordings sparked Lomax’s ambitious journey to gradually record the folk music of the world. Clannad’s Pól Brennan traces the roots of folk and blues songs from marginalised black communities of the American South, showing how Lomax’s 1933 recording of Lead Belly’s “Goodnight, Irene” later came to be recorded in Irish by sean nós singer Cití Ní Ghallchóir in Donegal. Declan McGrath’s documentary weaves archival footage, atmospheric landscapes, and interviews with contemporary musicians to investigate the man who first chronicled what we know today as world music.

This film screening is sponsored by the Consulate General of Ireland in Atlanta as well as the IFI (Irish Film Institute), An Chomhairle Ealaíon / The Arts Council, and Cultúr Éireann / Culture Ireland. 52 m.

Following the screening at 1:30 pm, we will have a panel discussion on the film and Lomax’s legacy on approaches to both fieldwork and performance with Glenn Hinson, Joseph Decosimo, Natasha Sumner, and Tiber Falzett. Martin L. Johnson will serve as moderator.

Free & open to the public. 

Date:
Friday, March 27, 2020
Time:
1:30pm - 3:30pm
Location:
Pleasants Family Assembly Room
Venue:
Wilson Library

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