August 30, 2021, was the 70-year anniversary of the 1951 Edinburgh People’s Festival Ceilidh, the seminal event that heralded and generated the Scottish Folk Revival of the 1960s. Alan Lomax was on hand to record it in the Oddfellows Hall, and thus able to preserve a document of a legendary concert that alerted the astonished urban audience to the continuing vitality of Scotland’s rich heritage of traditional song.
It is with great sadness that we must announce the passing of Jeffrey Alan Greenberg, longtime ACE Board member, ACE attorney, and cherished friend. Jeff was a part of ACE for 25 years, and leaves behind a great hole in the fabric of our organization, and is a deep personal loss for us all. President Anna Lomax Wood shared her memories of Jeff.
In September UNESCO accredited the Association for Cultural Equity as a non-governmental organization providing advisory services to its 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage program is devoted to safeguarding ICH through documentation, promotion, fostering transmission and revitalizing cultural practices and expressions. It designates ICH from among the 178 states parties that have ratified the Convention for the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural of Humanity and lists of best
Anna Wood, together with Eric Crawford from Coastal Carolina University, will be co-chairing a forum entitled "The Return: Rethinking Historical Recordings in Collaboration with Source Communities" at this year's virtual American Folklore Society conference, on Friday, October 16 at 10:30 am. ACE contributors Violet Baron, Lamont Jack Pearley, and Donato Raimondo will be on the panel as well.
Bessie Jones was one of the most popular performers on the 1960s and '70s folk circuit, appearing usually at the helm of the Georgia Sea Island Singers at colleges, festivals, the Poor People's March on Washington, and Jimmy Carter's inauguration. GET IN UNION is a collection of classic recordings with the Singers, combined with previously unavailable solo and small-group performances captured by Alan Lomax between 1959 and 1966. This digital-only release by the Alan Lomax Archive is an expanded version of the two-CD set issued by Tompkins Square in 2013, featuring nine previously unreleased tracks. Visit alanlomaxarchive.bandcamp.com, where 85% of your purchase will benefit ACE and Bessie Jones' heirs. The album is also available via streaming services.
At 1:30 am on December 5th, a friend and great Caribbean cultural leader was lost to us. Winston Fleary passed away on his home island of Carraicou. He was a folklorist, musician, activist and ambassador - and was and is an inspiration to all of us.
In the Fall of 1959, Alan Lomax -- assisted by the English folksinger Shirley Collins -- undertook a two-and-a-half month field-recording trip throughout the American South.
This month, ACE presented an in-development education component of the Global Jukebox to a group of educators under the auspices of a larger City Lore education and technology initiative.
