Alaska Folk Fest memories

It's no secret that the Alaska State Library, Archives, and Museum have a great love for and strong connection to the Alaska Folk Festival. What started as a small gathering at the Museum has grown into a multi-venue week of music, workshops, and revelry enjoyed by musicians and music lovers from around the world. Bob Banghart, our former deputy director, has been a driving force behind Folk Fest since its inception.

Cover of the program for the 19th annual Alaska Folk Festival in 1993, designed by Bill Hudson. From Alaska State Library Manuscript Collection 118.

Like many in Juneau, we're sorry that the Festival is canceled this year and miss seeing familiar faces come through our doors and share their memories of music in the Museum, so we're taking a walk down memory lane with our collections. The Library's Historical Collections has some phonotape audio recordings from the early festivals, and has an active Alaska Folk Festival memorabilia collection, which grows every year and includes posters, buttons, stickers, programs, a "Folk Fest family album" from 1994, and even some painted backdrop panels created by University of Alaska Southeast students for the 2009 festival. You can see a selection of the programs on Alaska's Digital Archives and some even have notes, comments, and ratings of performances.

Bill and Clarissa Hudson wrote this note on the 1978 program they found and sent to the Folk Fest organizers in 1994. The Hudsons created many of the iconic Folk Fest posters in the '80s and '90s.

There are also some mysteries about Folk Fest history that even die hard fans haven't been able to help us solve. Did Folk Fest begin in 1974 or 1975? Although the Alaska Folk Festival website says 1975, others (including the Hudsons, see above) say the original concert was in 1974 and the first festival was in 1995. Who were the original Folk Fest performers? Do programs or flyers from 1974 or 1975 exist in someone's attic, basement, or guitar case? If you know the answers to these questions or have early Folk Fest memorabilia to donate, please contact the Historical Collections.

Although these guys were about 70 years too early for Folk Fest, they'd fit right in at a jam session. From Alaska State Library Photograph Collection 44-03-184.

Alaskan songs

Question: Could you help me find the lyrics and a recording for Aleut Lullaby and O'er the Tundra?

Answer: It looks like these songs can be found in the book:

CACHE OF SONGS FOR ALASKA. Delaware, Ohio. Cooperative Recreation Service, Inc., 1959. 80 p. (Includes words and music for several Alaska songs: Alaska's Flag; Aleut Lullaby; Song of the North; Alaska, My Alaska; Home on the Snow; O'er the Tundra; Our Alaska; Kusehani; Spirit of Alaska.).

According to our finding aid, we have this songbook in our Historical Collections, MS075, but it cannot be checked out. You can contact our Historical Collections directly with any questions at asl.historical@alaska.gov or 907-465-2925. It looks like the book is also available through some used book dealers.

I haven't found any CDs with both of these songs. I have found An Aleut Lullaby as a CD or download, but I don't know if it's the same song as Aleut Lullaby. I didn't find any recordings of O'er the Tundra, but have found some of She'll Be Coming O'er the Tundra. Again, I don't know if this refers to the same song or not. For either of these titles, trying putting the song title in quotes in your favorite internet search engine to find purchasing options.

Good luck in learning about Alaska's musical heritage!

Where can I find the second verse of the Alaska Flag Song?

Question: Where I can listen to the second verse of the Alaska Flag Song? I already know where to hear the first verse and get lyrics at http://museums.alaska.gov/eightstars/stars.html.

Answer: The Alaska Youth Choir sang both verses for the opening session of the Alaska House of Representatives on January 14, 2002. Their song can be found on this archived audio file from Gavel to Gavel:

http://www.360north.org/gavel-archives/?event_id=2147483647_2002011022

The song with two verses can be found on this file from 7 min 41 sec TO 10 min 16 sec. We have not found a stand-alone recording of both verses of the song. If you are aware of an online version of both verses, please leave a comment.