The Importance of Recordings

In 1948, Moses Asch set out with an ambitious project: to document the world’s sounds! 75 years later, that project has grown into one of the world’s most eclectic, iconic and LARGEST repositories of recorded sound… from American folk music, to sounds of everyday life, and even a serenade for turkeys. Folkways Recordings —as it's now known— lives on within the Smithsonian, connecting the past, present and future… through sounds.

Guests:

Michael Asch, anthropologist and son of Moses Asch 

Jake Blount, musician and scholar of Black American music 

Maureen Loughran, director and curator of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Jeff Place, curator and senior archivist at Smithsonian Folkways Recordings 

Anthony Seeger, curator and director emeritus of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings