I came across an amazing web site that contains OLD documentaries made of lots of aspects of southern and Appalachian culture life, and other areas as well. The site is FolkStreams.net. I watched two of the videos and found them fascinating -- one on old gospel religion among Mississippi blacks, and the other on Appalachian music and culture, which I love.
The Appalachian documentary, called Appalachian Journey, is one of the Alan Lomax films which I've read about but have never seen. He was an American collector of folklore and music from all over the world. From the 1930's through the 1950's he went about filming and recording Southern culture mountain music (among others) for the Library of Congress and other institutions. This Appalachian film is one he produced. One of the things I most enjoyed was seeing the late Ray Hicks, the legendary tale-teller who lived near Boone, NC, before he died just a couple of years ago. People would come to festivals and shows and sit on the edge of their seats to listen to Hicks (whose Appalachian accent is barely understandable -- fortunately, Alan Lomax provided subtitles in the film) tell tales. He is featured prominently in this film, plus lots of OLD Appalachian music, an explanation of the blend of African/black influences on Appalachian music and on flat-foot dancing (the precursor to modern precision clogging). Stuff I've never seen before.
The Appalachian film is here. There are two viewing options: Real-Broadband and MPEG-4. Only the Real Broadband link works, but it requires the Real Audio player which most folks have. When it opens, you can expand the RA viewing window to 2x the original size for better viewing with no loss of clarity.
The Appalachian documentary, called Appalachian Journey, is one of the Alan Lomax films which I've read about but have never seen. He was an American collector of folklore and music from all over the world. From the 1930's through the 1950's he went about filming and recording Southern culture mountain music (among others) for the Library of Congress and other institutions. This Appalachian film is one he produced. One of the things I most enjoyed was seeing the late Ray Hicks, the legendary tale-teller who lived near Boone, NC, before he died just a couple of years ago. People would come to festivals and shows and sit on the edge of their seats to listen to Hicks (whose Appalachian accent is barely understandable -- fortunately, Alan Lomax provided subtitles in the film) tell tales. He is featured prominently in this film, plus lots of OLD Appalachian music, an explanation of the blend of African/black influences on Appalachian music and on flat-foot dancing (the precursor to modern precision clogging). Stuff I've never seen before.
The Appalachian film is here. There are two viewing options: Real-Broadband and MPEG-4. Only the Real Broadband link works, but it requires the Real Audio player which most folks have. When it opens, you can expand the RA viewing window to 2x the original size for better viewing with no loss of clarity.
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