Special Events
odd: label: Introduction
content: Ralph Rinzler Memorial Concert

Each year the Smithsonian Folklife Festival presents a special evening concert to honor both its co-founder Ralph Rinzler (1934–1994) and a key person with whom he collaborated. In 2014 the Festival and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings celebrated the life and work of Pete Seeger (1919–2014). Kindred spirits, Ralph Rinzler and Pete Seeger influenced the way that the public thought about the social power of music and the continued relevance of traditional culture in contemporary society. In their hands, the making of music was nothing short of a call to action. Moreover, the sharing of music was transformed into a summons for a kind of public engagement that would challenge our notions of what was "mainstream" and what lived on "the margins." Their contributions to the Folklife Festival, and to the Center that produces it, are without measure. It seemed fitting that the Rinzler Concert artists lifted their voices in appreciation of these two visionaries.

Xóchitl Chávez was Rinzler Concert Coordinator.

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives Narrative Stage

The vision behind the 2014 Archives Narrative Stage sessions began with staff and interns in the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections who noted that 2014 not only marked the twentieth anniversary of Ralph's passing, but also the milestone of the first formal archival arrangement for all of his papers - over one hundred cubic feet of content. In honor of Ralph's legacy with the Festival, these narrative stage sessions brought together key individuals from the Festival's past and present as well as looking toward the future.

History in the Present: From the Field to the Festival, June 28

Ralph Rinzler and Pete Seeger were practitioners and supporters of traditional music making, art, and artisanship. Like many of their contemporaries, Rinzler and Seeger actively documented traditions "in the field," capturing essential sounds, images, footage, and text. They were also intimately involved with festival production, providing access to the complexities of an individual or group's cultural identity in a public forum. Many of these materials collected from the field are now part of the archival record, made available through publications and recordings, repurposed for performances, and presented at festivals. Within this complex network of field documentation, interpretation, and public presentation, ethical and cultural lines can become blurred through the ongoing actions of the documenter and those who are documented.

Fieldwork and festival production also shape discourse covering cultural advocacy and cultural sustainability by incorporating content related to social, ethnic, racial, and gender issues, as well as holding an event on a site accessible for those with disabilities. This panel both explored the historical efforts of people like Ralph Rinzler and Pete Seeger and discussed the legacy and relevance of those efforts today.

Culture, Activism, and Community, June 28

Both Ralph Rinzler and Pete Seeger cared about and advocated for key cultural elements that are common threads in the human experience. Rinzler wove these threads through his fieldwork and engagement as a folklorist, musician, and cultural advocate, and Seeger embodied these elements through an advocacy in which music and public engagement function as core elements of humanity. In this light, culture, activism, and community have the power to represent the importance of people's voices, the need for agency and empowerment, and the fight for justice. The Folklife Festival demonstrates powerfully how these themes - these human elements - exist on a global scale, and how people who may not know the names "Rinzler" or "Seeger" fully embody and demonstrate what these individuals believed in and helped shape as the heart and focus of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
label: Participants
content: Ralph Rinzler Memorial Concert

Radmilla Cody, 1975-, Navajo singer, activist, Leupp, Arizona

Luci Murphy, 1950-, singer, activist, Washington, D.C.

Holly Near, 1949-, singer, activist, Ukiah, California

Tony Seeger, 1945-, banjo player, ethnomusicologist, former Smithsonian Folkways director, Annapolis, Maryland

Tony Trischka, 1949-, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings artist, Fairlawn, New Jersey

Adalberto Arcos Lando, 1962-, M.C., Los Angeles, California

Daniel Sheehy, M.C., Falls Church, Virginia

Quetzal  -- QuetzalJose Quetzal Flores, 1973-, Alhambra, CaliforniaMartha Gonzalez, 1972-, Alhambra, CaliforniaRocio Marron, 1975-, Newbury Park, CaliforniaNobuko Miyamoto Beserai, 1939-, actress, singer, activist, Los Angeles, CaliforniaJuan Antonio Perez, 1975-, Los Angeles, California

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives Narrative Stage

Roger Abrahams, 1934-, folklorist, Santa Clara, California

Junious Brickhouse, 1974-, dancer, choreographer, community organizer, Adelphi, Maryland

James Early, Cultural Heritage Policy director, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Jose Quetzal Flores, 1973-, Alhambra, California

Martha Gonzalez, 1972-, Alhambra, California

Marjorie Hunt, curator, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Sojin Kim, curator, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Jeffrey LaRiche, 1947-, former program coordinator, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Worth Long, 1936-, folklorist, Atlanta, Georgia

Luci Murphy, 1950-, singer, activist, Washington, D.C.

Diana Parker, former Smithsonian Folklife Festival director
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
setName: label: See more items in
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
identifier: label: Identifier
content: CFCH.SFF.2014, Series 4
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials