Join us for a fascinating lecture with folklorist and researcher Derek Piotr, founder of The Derek Piotr Fieldwork Archive.
The Derek Piotr Fieldwork Archive was established by Derek Piotr in August 2022. The Archive contains over 1,500 audio recordings made from March 2020 onward, and preserves diverse representations of folklife; ballads, hymns, tales, poems, children’s songs, and interviews among them. The focus of this collection is on the "non-singer": someone with no background in musical performance who can nevertheless relate a song or folkloric memory. In this lecture, Derek will walk you through the process of journeying everywhere from Iceland to Appalachia to record these songs from non-musicians, as well as the organization and development of the Archive as a web-based repository.