The Center for Southern Folklore is an American non-profit cultural organization based in
Memphis
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memp ...
,
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...
. Founded in 1972 by
William Ferris and
Judy Peiser Judy Peiser (born June 4, 1945) is the American co-founder and executive director of the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. She graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Illinois and a master's d ...
, its mission is "to preserve, defend, protect and promote the music, culture, arts, and rhythms of the South."
The Center produces
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
s and maintains a large archive of video and audio
recordings
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, r ...
of music and narratives, contemporary and historical photographs, film and slides, and selected artifacts and art. The Center also has a gallery that shows regional folk art and photographs, a cafe featuring live performances by local
blues,
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
,
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
, and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...
musician
A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who w ...
s, and a folklore store selling art, photographs, posters, and CDs by Memphis-area musicians.
In the early 1980s, they employed
Mose Vinson
Mose Vinson (June 2 or August 7, 1917 – November 16, 2002) was an American boogie-woogie, blues and jazz pianist and singer. His recordings included "Blues with a Feeling" and "Sweet Root Man". Vinson worked with Booker T. Laury and James ...
to perform at special cultural festivals, and he played at
concert
A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variet ...
s plus educational and cultural events associated with the Center, until shortly before his death in 2002.
The Center also sponsors the annual Memphis Music and Heritage Festival, which is held each
Labor Day
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United ...
weekend.
References
External links
Center for Southern Folklore site
1972 establishments in Tennessee
Culture of the Southern United States
Non-profit organizations based in Tennessee
Tourist attractions in Memphis, Tennessee
Arts centers in Tennessee
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