Events from the Library of Congress

Take a trip along the Silk Road and listen to Turkmen musicians play the Dutar, a stringed instrument, while traditional performers  sing poems by Magtymguly, the Turkmen national poet on the 300th anniversary of his birth. View a display of Turkmen collections at the Library of Congress.

Accessible seating is available upon request. Please request ADA accommodations at least five days in advance by contacting 202-707-6362 or ada@loc.gov.

Istiwanāt Live! Arabic Music Ensemble reinterprets music that was originally performed 100 years ago for a transnational industry of Arab, Arab American and international record labels, and which has recently been released into the public domain. The concert is inspired by the “Archive Challenge,” an initiative of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, and draws on recordings archived in Loeb Library at Harvard University and the Library of Congress. The performers are all directors of university based Arab music ensembles.  They have challenged themselves to research, transcribe, study, practice and perform new “covers” of these “golden oldies” and to share them with their students. Performing on ‘ud, qanun, violin, and percussion (riqq and daff), their takht (or small ensemble) brings the highlights of their research to the concert stage contextualizing the music and artistry of the past and repurposing it for contemporary audiences. The members are Anne K. Rasmussen, Jared Holton, Albert Agha, and Anne Elise Thomas.

Accessible seating is available upon request. Please request ADA accommodations at least five days in advance by contacting 202-707-6362 or ada@loc.gov.

Internationally bestselling author of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy Kevin Kwan talks about his forthcoming book “Lies And Weddings,” a novel about a forbidden affair that erupts volcanically amid a decadent tropical wedding.

Kevin Kwan is the iconic author of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, which has sold over 4 million copies in the US alone and has been translated into over 30 languages. The 2018 adaptation of the first book became Hollywood’s highest grossing romantic comedy in over a decade, starred Michelle Yeoh, Constance Wu, Gemma Chan, and Henry Golding. Kevin is one of only three authors (alongside EL James and Colleen Hoover) to occupy the #1, #2, and #3 slots on the New York Times bestseller list at once, with Crazy Rich Asians, China Rich Girlfriend, and Rich People Problems all hitting at the time of the film’s launch. In 2018, TIME Magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Washington, DC-based writer, curator and activist Dr. Natalie Hopkinson discusses her work amplifying the voices of Black and Indigenous cultures that face erasure throughout the world. Drawing on her oral history and archival projects that span Washington, DC’s go-go music, Guyanese painting and poetry, and African photography, she describes how teams of artists, schools, libraries, civil society organizations, governments, and museums are building a world where everyone is heard, everyone belongs, and everyone is free. Dr. Hopkinson is Associate Professor of Media, Democracy and Society at American University and author of “Go-Go Live” and “A Mouth is Always Muzzled.” In 2020, she co-led a coalition that advocated for and achieved DC Law 23-71 “Go-Go Official Music of the District of Columbia Act.”

Accessible seating is available upon request. Please request ADA accommodations at least five days in advance by contacting 202-707-6362 or ada@loc.gov.

As part of our celebration of the opening of our new Treasures Gallery, join Natalie Merchant for a folk-song sing-along in the Coolidge Auditorium. All ages welcome.

Lennon Award-winning songwriter Rachel Sumner sits at the helm of her virtuosic string band Traveling Light (fiddle, guitar, bass). This Boston based acoustic trio come bearing new interpretations of traditional folk songs and lend their deeply rooted bluegrass know-how to the tightly crafted original songs written by Sumner. In addition to some of their own songs, the group will be performing their own take on songs taken from the American Folklife Center archives. While their instrumentation and textures show roots deep in bluegrass and traditional folk music, Sumner's lyric-forward writing and penchant for snaking chord progressions demand something beyond folk conventions, highlighting the acrobatic range of her brilliant bandmates Kat Wallace on fiddle and Mike Siegel on upright bass.

The Homegrown Music Concert Series is part of AFC's ongoing public programming activities highlighting the fields of folklife, ethnomusicology, oral history and related disciplines; foregrounding its archival holdings; and fulfilling its congressionally mandated mission.