John Cohen, founding member of the ‘50s folk troupe the New Lost City Ramblers, started making films in order to bring together the two disciplines he was heavily active in: music and photography. The End of an Old Song brings us to North Carolina, and demonstrates the power of old English...
This provocative and profound film documents the Choqela ceremony, an agricultural ritual and song of the Aymara Indians of Peru. By offering several different translations of the proceedings, the film acknowledges the problems of interpretation as an inherent dilemma of anthropology.
“Doc & Merle” reaches deep into the relationship between Doc and Merle Watson. It gives an historical overview of their evolution as musicians and explores the special bond between them and the North Carolina mountains they call home. It presents an entertaining and enlightening look at their...
Documentary about the most popular music of the Andes -- Huayno music -- and explores the lives of three Huayno musicians in a contemporary Peru torn between the military and the Shining Path guerrillas.
The poignant songs of church-goers, miners, and farmers of Hazard in eastern Kentucky express the joys and sorrows of life among the rural poor. John Cohen of the old-time string band the New Lost City Ramblers evocatively illustrates how music and religion help Appalachians maintain their dignity...
This musical portrait of immigrant clarinetist Pericles Halkias and the Epirot-Greek community explores the aspirations and ambivalences of Greek-Americans. Moving between Queens, New York and northern Greece, it presents the traditional music of Epirus, showing how the music unites the Epirot...
A colorful portrait of life in Putnam County, New York, with its "old-time fiddlers, farmers, commuters, and hippies," where an earlier, more traditional, relaxed style of life continues. This now-classic documentary will generate discussion in a range of classes in American studies, cultural...
Scotland’s Gypsies have lived outside mainstream society for more than 500 years. Although some of the “Travelling People” still live by the sides of roads, most live today in houses and are under pressure to abandon their culture. This film celebrates their traditional music, especially the...
This groundbreaking documentary shows the remarkable Carnival celebrations — never before seen by outsiders — of a remote community of Indians high in the Peruvian Andes. Their culture offers important clues into the Inca past and the roots of Andean cultures.
