Musics of Struggle
odd: label: Introduction
content: Musical performances can be a part of social movements in a number of different ways. From marked silence through the revival of old musical forms to the composition of new genres, musical performances have both expressed and created feelings of community, have defined central concerns and aspirations, knit small communities together and projected messages to large international audiences. Music can be an effective resource for social movements because of the variety of ways it can be used - with subtlety or bluntness - and its ability to be heard in spite of censorship. Forged, transformed, and even abandoned in the crucible of struggle, music is part of the complex web of sounds and signs with which we experience and make history.

In the Musics of Struggle program, Fesival visitors could learn how different communities, in the United States and abroad, used traditional music, song, chant, and movement to make their voices heard. Recent years had seen profound changes in the social order resulting from mobilizations of popular support. Traditional music had taken on a dramatic, culturally dynamic role in some of these mobilizations. Old songs and tunes newly recontextualized or revalorized provided a link between the continuity of the past and the challenge of the present. Sometimes forgotton was how powerful could be music that articulates a sense of moral purpose and moves a community, a people, or a nation to transform itself. The 1990 program demonstrated just that power to transform, with performances ranging from the songs of the Freedom Singers to the chants, in sign language, of students in Gallaudet's 1988 "Deaf President Now" Movement.

Jacquelin Peters was Curator and Anthony Seeger was Program Consultant; Arlene L. Reiniger served as Program Assistant and Lori Taylor as Song Collection Coordinator.

Musics of Struggle was made possible, in part, by the Music Performance Trust Funds, the Inter-American Foundation, and the Arab American Cultural Foundation.
label: Presenters
content: Barry Bergey, Nahida Dajani, Amy Horowitz, Merhdad Izady, Worth Long, Mick Moloney, Menzi Plaatje, Maria Isabel Prieto
label: Participants
content: Participants

Agustin Lira & "Alma", Chicano Music

David Gomez, percussion, Fresno, California

Agustin Lira, rhythm guitar, lead vocals, Fresno, California

Mike Madrigal, upright bass, Redwood City, California

Harold Muñiz, congas, timbales, Sacramento, California

Ismael Rodriguez, percussion, vocals, Oakland, California

Patricia Wells Solórzano, guitar, vocals, Fresno, California

"Deaf President Now", Movement Music of the Hearing Impaired

Bridgetta Bourne, storytelling, Walkersville, Maryland

Gerald Covell, storytelling, Washington, D.C.

Mary Malzkuhn, storytelling, New Carrollton, Maryland

Barbara Riggs, storytelling, Greenbelt, Maryland

Steve Ryan, storytelling, College Park, Maryland

Feria Educativa, Quichua Music

Carlos Ajitimbay Cruz, 1961-, cuerdas, percussion, Riobamba, Ecuador

María Natividad Ajitimbay Cruz, guitar, vocals, Riobamba, Ecuador

Juan Pablo Aucancela, cuerdas, percussion, Riobamba, Ecuador

José Manuel León Bastidas, percussion, guitar, charango, Riobamba, Ecuador

Victor Manuel León Bastidas, cuerdas, percussion, Riobamba, Ecuador

Manuel Morochco Gualán, cuerdas, viento, percussion, Riobamba, Ecuador

Pedro Pablo Cayambe Morocho, viento, cuerdas, percussion, Riobamba, Ecuador

Paula Paca Simbaña, percussion, vocals, Riobamba, Ecuador

Freedom Singers, Music of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement

Bettie Mae Fikes, vocals, tambourine, Carson, California

Rutha Harris, vocals, tambourine, Albany, Georgia

Charles Neblett, vocals, tambourine, Russellville, Kentucky

Cordell Hull Reagon, 1943-1996, vocals, tambourine, Berkeley, California

Hazel Dickens & Friends, U.S. Coal Miners' Music

Tom Adams, banjo, Westminster, Maryland

Dudley Connell, guitar, Germantown, Maryland

Hazel Dickens, guitar, vocals, Washington, D.C.

Tad Marks, fiddle, Ellicott City, Maryland

Dave McLaughlin, 1958-, mandolin, Winchester, Virginia

Barry Mitterhoff, mandolin, Paterson, New Jersey

Richard Underwood, 1956-, banjo, Rockville, Maryland

Marshall Wilborn, bass, Winchester, Virginia

Earl Yager, bass, Codorus, Pennsylvania

Irish Music

Frank Harte, vocals, Chapelizod, Dublin

Mick Moloney, guitar, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Israeli Music

Sarah Alexander, 1942-, accordion, guitar, vocals, Paris, France

Kurdish Music

Temo Ezzadin, tambour, vocals, Paris, France

Sabreen, Palestinian Music

Yacoub Abou Arafeh, percussion, Jerusalem, Israel

Issa Freij, guitar, Jerusalem, Israel

Kamilya Jubran, vocals, zither, Jerusalem, Israel

Said Murad, composer, lute, Jerusalem, Israel

Raed Saadeh, manager, Jerusalem, Israel

Odeh Turjman, bouzouki, Jerusalem, Israel

South African Double Quartet Music

Sipho Bavuma, idiophone, vocals, Jersey City, New Jersey

Linda Bukhosini, idiophone, vocals, New York, New York

Jerry Mofokeng, idiophone, vocals, New York, New York

Tsepo Mokane, idiophone, vocals, New York, New York

Thandi Pase, idiophone, vocals, New York, New York

Sizakele Mtimkulu Seheri, idiophone, vocals, New York, New York

Silindile Sokutu, idiophone, vocals, New York, New York

Mbongiseni "Champ" Tshabalala, idiophone, vocals, Jersey City, New Jersey

Carolanne Carawan, workshops, New Market, Tennessee

Guy Carawan, workshops, New Market, Tennessee
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
setName: label: See more items in
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1990 Festival of American Folklife
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
identifier: label: Identifier
content: CFCH.SFF.1990, Series 2
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials