Smithsonian Music Stories

Featured Topics

Men Singing, 1946. Two men are standing beside each other singing. Both are wearing robes; the one on the right has the Star of David on his robe and is holding a ram's horn which is a wind instrument.
Spirituality and Music

This feature highlights the connections between spirituality and music.

Theodore Robinson, At the Piano, 1887, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly, 1929.6.90
Love and Music

Music and love are natural allies. Explore some of the ways people have connected with love through music. 

Fiddlers and dancers
Music and Dance

Explore the wide variety of resources for learning about and participating in the relationship between dance and music.

Triple-image (triple-exposure) picture of Ella Fitzgerald in concert, undated, Ella Fitzgerald Papers, ca. 1935-1996, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. 
Ella Fitzgerald

Celebrating Ella Fitzgerald's talent, passions, and musical legacy.

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Stories

Articles from our magazines, educational resources, artist spotlights, and more.

Pete Seeger at a peace rally in New York City, 1965. Photo by Diana Davies, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives The Singular Power of Music
Folkways Recordings
Photograph of Mario Bauzá, Enrique Cervera, 1992, Brooklyn, NY. Exhibiting Music History: U.S. Exhibits on Latin American and Latino Musicians and their Traditions
Smithsonian Music
banjo Musical Crossroads: African American Influence on American Music
Smithsonian Music
Trumpet owned by Louis Armstrong Louis Armstrong: The First Great Jazz Soloist
Smithsonian Music
Dewey and Will Balfa in the Studio, courtesy of the Ralph Rinzler Archive, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Insitution Dewey Balfa: Master of Cajun Music
Folkways Recordings
Ethiopia album cover Rasta Sounds Connect Ethiopia to the Americas
Folkways Recordings
Lead Belly The Incomparable Legacy of Lead Belly
Smithsonian Magazine
Buffy Sainte-Marie, 1968, image courtesy of Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Rijksfotoarchief: Fotocollectie Algemeen Nederlands Fotopersbureau (ANEFO), 1945-1989, provided through Wikimedia Commons. Up Where She Belongs—An Interview With Buffy Sainte-Marie
Smithsonian Magazine
Sharecropper's Troubadour: Songs of Solidarity in Hard Times Sharecropper's Troubadour: Songs of Solidarity in Hard Times
Folkways Recordings
farmers Musical Labor Performed in Northwest Tanzania
Folkways Recordings
city view Rap and Hip-Hop Bring Folk Music to New Audiences
Folkways Recordings
Person playing guitar Music of Indonesia: The Present Position of Guitars
Folkways Recordings
Acoustic Guitar Libba Cotten's Guitar
Smithsonian Magazine
Eddie Van Halen The Electric Guitar's Long (And Louder), Strange Trip
Smithsonian Magazine
Mike Seeger Early Southern Guitar Sounds: A Brief History of the Guitar and Its Travel South
Folkways Recordings
Prince's Yellow Cloud Guitar Beyond Raspberry Berets: What Prince Left Behind
Smithsonian Magazine
Alan Lomax, Pete Seeger, and others Three Surprising Finds from the New Alan Lomax Archive
Smithsonian Magazine
A Life of Song from Ella Jenkins Ella Jenkins: The First Lady of Children's Music
Folkways Recordings
Ella Fitzgerald in 1949. Photograph by Herman Leonard. Herman Leonard Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Jazz
Folkways Recordings
Marian Anderson Marian Anderson and the Concert at the Lincoln Memorial
Smithsonian Music
Vodoun “manman” drum in the collections of National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Rara: Vodou, Power, and Performance
Smithsonian Music
small hand bell In Sync: Ancient Chinese Bronze Bells at the Smithsonian
Smithsonian Music
Bell Tower, St. Mark’s Square, Venice Ringing Out Across the City with Change Ringing
Smithsonian Music
This 1971 Smithsonian Folkways consists of short biographies and famous statements made by 14 influential American women who fought for gender equality in the 19th and 20th centuries. Women Breaking Musical Barriers
Folkways Recordings

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