Vanuatu Women's Water Music

Los Toques del Tambor Afro Montevideano

Shipibo healer Ricardo Amaringo describes how he prepares, teaches, and shares the plant medicine ayahuasca. Olivia and Julian Arévalo sing examples of icaros (healing songs) in the Shipibo language.

A documentary on the surviving syncretic pagan midwinter customs of the British Isles, focusing on nine ritual celebrations ranging from the Moray Firth in the north, the Somerset Levels in the south, Humberside in the east, and County Kerry in the west. Featuring music by the Albion Band and narration by John Tams.

The Shipibo-Konibo people of Peruvian Amazon decorate their pottery, jewelry, textiles, and body art with complex geometric patterns called kené. These patterns also have corresponding songs, called icaros, which are integral to the Shipibo way of life. This documentary explores these unique art forms, and one Shipibo family's efforts to safeguard the tradition.

Vanuatu, la mer et le feu

Unustatud rahvad (1970 - 1989) by Estonian composer Veljo Tormas is based upon six Balto-Finnic peoples traditions. Collegium Musicale choir brought the songs to different sides of Baltic coasts to liven current citizens connections for fleeting past and strengthen their identity.

In the Sardinian town of Tonara, where the ancient art of crafting cowbells teeters on the edge of extinction, a family battles to preserve their heritage, passing down skills to a new generation while grappling with personal struggles and the pull of modernity. English subtitles.

May It Fill Your Soul is a film about Bulgarian traditional music, about the pain of emigration and the promise of immigration, and about a family with a century-long musical history. Bulgaria's astonishingly rich village music traditions include strong women's singing, musical instruments with roots its millennia-old pastoral lifestyle and its 500-year history in the Ottoman Empire, and its lively dancing in additive meters of 5, 7, 9, and 11 beats to the measure. These practices are presented through the lens of a musical family trained during Bulgaria's communist regime (1944-1989) to represent the best that Bulgaria had to offer the world, but who made the wrenching decision in the post-communist period to immigrate to the United States for the sake of their daughters' futures. From that vantage point they have been able to teach their art to, and "fill the souls" of, singers, dancers, musicians, and audiences all over the world.

Comitiva Esperança

On the shores of the Gulf of Finland, the ancient Finno-Ugric peoples originated a singing tradition of mysterious power called the Regilaul. These songs are the roots of Estonia’s renowned singing culture. Based on the continuous repetition of eight-syllable verses, they produce a haunting sound able to connect the fleeting present with the eternal circle of life. Against the stunning setting of modern Estonia, this film explores how Regi songs still fire the imagination today, weaving together people and nature through song.

An old, broken morin khurr (horse head fiddle) compels renowned Mongolian singer Urna Chahar Tugchi to take a road journey to Ulan Bator and the steppes of Mongolia.

Documentary on Mozambican music, and the role it played in the country's rediscovering its national identity after centuries of colonial rule.

A musical portrait of Texas blues songster Mance Lipscomb.

A present moment, a memory or a wish.

An orphaned teenager with potential and enthusiasm named Raka (18) lives alone with his older brother since his parents left. After accompanying his friend to his studio practice, Raka was invited to stop by the studio owner's house, Mr. Din (40), using a pickup piled with straw. He remembered his childhood playing simple traditional music made from straw. Mr. Din was amazed by Raka's talent and then trained him until he won an award.

A feud develops between a taverna with bouzoukia and a club next door that plays modern music.

An intimate documentary portrait of world-class improvisational and traditional pianist Mike Garson as he tours, performs, and teaches.

Zimbabwean musician, Biggie Tempo, talks to a number of UK folk musicians about their work and their views on traditional music.

If you had never heard of an airplane, would you think it was a miracle when one arrived? Waiting for John tells the story of America's incredible impact on a remote island in the South Pacific and the birth of an extraordinary religion, the John Frum Movement, considered the last surviving cargo cult. We follow the John Frum believers today as they struggle to preserve a culture in danger of being lost to the modern world.

Live action documentary footage of a concert by the Kodo drummers of Japan at the Acropolis, Greece, in 1995, with commentary by members of the drum group concerning the concert and the drum troupe