Alan Lomax Archives Finally Digitised

Alan Lomax, the renowned archivist and ethnomusicologist, highly influenced many fields of musical research with his work. With his vision to explore a variety of cultural contexts, Lomax accumulated a massive music archive that he collected over the years, which includes about 17,000 tracks. This huge collection is finally being digitised and will be put online for streaming at the end of next month.

Lomax, who was the first to record acts like Muddy Waters and Woody Guthrie, would have turned 97 tomorrow, and dedicated the last two decades of his life to the idea of a 'global jukebox.' In commemoration of his works, the Global Jukebox imprint (named after his original project) will digitally release a 16-recording sampler titled The Alan Lomax Collection From the American Folklife Center that features material from various phases of his career.

Lomax was known and celebrated for gathering and recording music from diverse regions of the world. He was particularly interested in the exhibition of dance both in and as culture. Consequently, thousands of hours of his film will be put online in addition to the music.

Below, watch a snippet of the Alan Lomax intstallation of the 'Screening Room' documentary series.