Folk

Resources in this category:

Airs, Anthems, Ballads, Canons, Ditties, Folksongs, Hymns and War Songs
http://www.musicanet.org/robokopp/

A database of folksongs of the world including the areas of Germany, England, France, Ireland, Austria, Scotland, and Wales. Both the lyrics and sound files (MIDI format) are available for many songs.

American Folklife Center, Library of Congress: The California Folk Music Project
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afccchtml/cowhome.html

"The California Folk Music Project, conceived and directed by Sidney Robertson Cowell was intended to be a representative collection of folk music being actively performed in Northern California. The project was one of the earliest attempts to document the performance of English-language and non-Black, non-American Indian, ethnic folk music in the United States." This website contains "sound recordings, still photographs, drawings, and written documents from a variety of European ethnic and English- and Spanish-speaking communities in Northern California. The collection comprises 35 hours of folk music recorded in twelve languages representing numerous ethnic groups and 185 musicians."

The American Nyckelharpa Association
http://www.nyckelharpa.org/

A site dedicated to the nyckelharpa, a Swedish folk instrument. Included on this site are a history of the instrument, sound files, and articles from the monthly magazine, Nyckel Notes.

Australian Folk Songs
http://folkstream.com/

An extensive collection of Australian folk tunes. Both sheet music and audio files are provided for each song. A glossary of Australian words is also included.

Beat of India
http://www.beatofindia.com/index.html

A collection of folk music resources including information about and examples of wedding and childbirth songs. Other features consist of artist biographies and a calendar of events.

Canadian Historical Sound Recordings: The Virtual Grammophone
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/gramophone/index.html

"A multimedia Web site devoted to the first half-century of recorded sound in Canada." The site provides "information on and images of 78-rpm and cylinder recordings released in Canada, and foreign recordings featuring Canadian artists or Canadian compositions, as well as details on the 78s and cylinders in the Recorded Sound Collection at the National Library of Canada. Biographies of prominent Canadian performers, short histories of Canadian record companies, background information on music styles and the recording technology of the time, and digital audio reproductions of selected 78s will also be included." Available in both English and French.

The Colonial Music Institute
http://www.colonialmusic.org/

A source for a variety of resources related to American colonial music including instructions on how to dance a Country Dance, a Minuet, a Cotillion, or a Reel. Essays about American colonial music are also featured.

creativefolk.com
http://creativefolk.com/

A site combining information about folk music and women. Look here for resources related to women, women studies, women's folk music, and music about women and their lives. Also includes general folk music resources.

Digital Tradition Folk Song Database
http://www.mudcat.org/threads.cfm

A searchable database "containing the words and music to thousands of folk songs." Each entry has the lyrics, some also have the music and an .au file of the melody. Titles or full text can be searched.

The Folk File : a Folkie's Dictionary
http://www.folklib.net/folkfile/

A dictionary of terminology from the world of folk music, including entries for folk artists. Browsable alphabetically.

folkmusic.org
http://www.folkmusic.org/

Information on folk and other acoustic music.

The Great Empire of China: The Internet Chinese Music Archive
http://www.ibiblio.org/chinese-music/

A vast collection of audio resources. Genres represented include children’s songs, traditional, popular, and ceremonial genres. The site is available in both Chinese and English.

Herodotus Project
http://losttrails.com/pages/Hproject.html

The focus of this educational website is to document and translate the works of Greek historian Herodotus. In addition to the text of his works, you can also find extensive photography of the locations and artifacts mentioned in the book. In keeping with the interests of Herodotus in ethnography and history, there are also field recordings and examples of authentic traditional folk music from Greece and Romania. Music from Turkey and Bulgaria will be added soon.

Hispano Music and Culture from the Northern Rio Grande: The Juan B. Rael Collection
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/rghtml/rghome.html

"Hispano Music and Culture of the Northern Rio Grande: The Juan B. Rael Collection is an online presentation of a multi-format ethnographic field collection documenting religious and secular music of Spanish-speaking residents of rural Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. In 1940, Juan Bautista Rael of Stanford University, a native of Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico, used disc recording equipment supplied by the Archive of American Folk Song (now the Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center) to document alabados (hymns), folk drama, wedding songs, and dance tunes. The recordings included in the Archive of Folk Culture collection were made in Alamosa, Manassa, and Antonito, Colorado, and in Cerro and Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico. In addition to these recordings, the collection includes manuscript materials and publications authored by Rael which provide insight into the rich musical heritage and cultural traditions of this region."

Latvian Folklore and Traditional Culture
http://folklora.lv/en.shtml

"Various materials about Latvian folklore and traditional culture, for example, Latvian folklore groups catalogue which contains descriptions, photos and sound recordings of almost all Latvian folk groups." The site also presents "Information about Latvian traditional musical instruments and Information on folklore activities."

Music Information Centre Norway
http://www.mic.no/english

Genres on this website include: world/folk/ethnic; jazz; classical/contemporary; pop/rock/electronica. There are also sections dedicated to artist biographies, CD reviews, and music downloads. Available in both English and Norwegian.

Southern Mosaic: The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/lohtml/lohome.html

"Covering a three-month period in 1939, the John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip documents a wide variety of musical styles from eight different states." This online presentation provides access to over 600 audio recordings of folksongs, related photos and other graphic images, as well as transcribed, searchable text for all the print material in the Lomax collection.

The Traditional Ballad Index
http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/BalladSearch.html

"An Annotated Bibliography of the Folk Songs of the English-Speaking World." Described as "a collaborative effort designed to help people find reference information on folk ballads. It is not itself a source of song texts or of discussion of ballads, although it contains some summary information." Searchable and downloadable.