Interactive Features

Holiday Music from Around the World

All ages

Holiday music traditions such as Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanzaa feature an incredibly diverse range of musical accompaniment. The Holiday Music Map from Smithsonian Folkways includes 56 songs from 24 nations. Listen to them all in a row, or take a self-guided tour! This project was a collaboration with ESRI.

The Look of the Listen

Grades 9-12 & Higher Education

Through a series of galleries, representing the key sections and themes of the Folkways catalogue, the relationship between the cover art and the recorded sound is explored. Through words and images, the history and importance of Folkways cover art emerges. Over 200 album covers are displayed representing a vast range of artistic styles and genres.

Smithsonian Folkways Jazz Education Website

Grades K-12

This feature explores jazz from different perspectives: chronologically with a timeline, geographically with a world map, and musically with a virtual mixer in which you can listen to and observe the musical elements of jazz. We also invite you to be part of a constructive exchange of ideas about jazz in the discussion board.

Música del Pueblo

Grades K-12

A Flash-based virtual exhibition featuring a diverse range of Latin American and Latino musics. It includes twenty four high-quality video features arranged by thematic categories. Content includes Puerto Rican bomba, plena, and jíbaro music, South Texas conjunto, Mexican mariachi music, Mexican huasteco, jarocho, and Michoacán Tierra Caliente son, Afro Cuban sacred music, Colombian vallenato, Dominican merengue típico, Salvadoran chanchona music, corridos, Guatemalan marimba music, Chilean nueva canción, and Latino hip-hop.