''Lomax the Songhunter'' is a 2004

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, sch ...

, a man who, after World War II, was determined to record folk music from United States and all over the world before it was blown away by mass consumer culture. Son of

John Lomax John Avery Lomax (September 23, 1867 – January 26, 1948) was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist, and a folklorist who did much for the preservation of American folk music. He was the father of Alan Lomax, John Lomax Jr. and Bess Lo ...

, the man who discovered

Lead Belly Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk music, folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, Virtuoso, virtuosity on the twelve-string guita ...

(and bailed him out of prison) and introduced

Woody Guthrie Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter, one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism. He has inspired ...

to the world, Alan shared his father's passion for music and was not intimidated by his massive accomplishments. The film, which finds Alan near death and barely able to make himself understood, traces Alan's journey across the globe, stopping to hear testimonials from many of the people or relatives of the people he recorded. It also contains interviews from Lomax's friends and colleagues, including

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...

, who did some cataloging for Lomax.PBS Synopsis
/ref> ''Lomax the Songhunter'' was written and directed by

Rogier Kappers Rogier may refer to: Given name Rogier is a Dutch masculine given name equivalent to Roger. People with this name include: * Rogier van Aerde, pseudonym of Adolf Josef Hubert Frans van Rijen (1917–2007), Dutch writer and journalist *Rogier Bli ...

and aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

Point of View Point of view or Points of View may refer to: Concept and technique * Point of view (philosophy), an attitude how one sees or thinks of something * Point of view (literature) or narrative mode, the perspective of the narrative voice; the pronou ...

series in 2006.

References

External links

Official Site
*
The New York Times review

P.O.V. ''Lomax the Songhunter''
- PBS's site dedicated to the film Dutch documentary films 2004 films POV (TV series) films American musical documentary films 2004 documentary films American folk music 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{music-documentary-film-stub