Town
Buzz
Brushfire Stankgrass
Ginger Thistle
David Holt Song Book: New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music August 4–September 16 Landrum Library, 111 E Asbury Dr, Landrum (864) 457-2218
Music Library
Smithsonian exhibit at the Landrum Library brings American music to life
T
his summer, the rhythmic strains of air pushing through the bellows of an accordion and the scratch of bottle-cap openers finding a Cajun beat over a corrugated-steel rub board are going to be commonplace at Spartanburg County’s Landrum Library. Librarians, however, aren’t going to be asking folks to turn the music down. The Landrum Library is hosting the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibition New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music from August 4 through September 16. The interactive exhibit, complete with listening stations, historical displays and photographs, and hands-on instrument demonstrations, is a 45-minute journey into the heart of distinctive American music. The story is one of a migration of culture and an evolution of experience. “The distinct cultural identities of all of these people are carried in song,” the Smithsonian says of its Museum on Main Street traveling exhibit. “Their music tracks the
unique history of many peoples reshaping each other into one incredibly diverse and complex people—Americans.” That uniquely American music featured in the exhibit is what makes the presentation so special, says library volunteer Ellen Henderson. “Perhaps they were songs brought over by immigrants, but have evolved to Americana, like jazz, zydeco, and gospel music,” she says. “New Harmonies is designed to bring culture to rural communities,” Henderson says. The exhibit, however, is just part of the party. “In addition to that, there are 15 events that will be taking place during that time frame that represent all different types of American music,” Henderson says. Those events will be free, she adds. “This is a real coup for the Landrum Library,” she says. “For the library to get this exhibit and offer to the community this whole wide range of events in addition to the exhibit is really special,” Henderson says. “I think it’s a real tribute to the people who live here that we can do something of this magnitude.”
Photographs courtesy of the musicians’ Web sites
/ by Kimberly Johnson
34 TOWN / towngreenville.com
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7/19/12 9:17 AM