Playlist:  World Music 101: Ethnographic Video for the Classroom by Samantha Lubrano

Africa: Burkina Faso. Griot Traditions. Griots are wandering African musicians considered to be a repository of the oral tradition. This film focuses on a master drummer, Adame Drama of Burkina Faso, a descendant of a long line of griots. He is a contemporary griot whose mission in life is to preserve his heritage and pass it on the next generation.

Africa: Zimbabwe. Mbira. The mbira, or thumb piano, is an integral component of Shona traditions, history and daily life. Here the instrument is introduced as an element of an AIDS prevention program in a Zimbabwean village.

Asia: Vietnam. Gong-Making. In the mountains of the southeast Vietnam, Ma Bio, a Chu Ru woman, is one the few people who plays the gong, an ancestral drum considered an Oral Masterpiece of Human Heritage by Unesco. She teaches the gong to the young generation of her village.

Europe: The Czech Republic. Roma Communities and Culture. Although it is acknowledged that the Gypsies were the victims of the Nazi scourge, this downtrodden group has seldom told its story to the outside world. The Gypsies put their suffering into mournful songs which survive today. The film is laced with their music and their memories.

The Middle East: Afghanistan. Music and Refugees. This documentary, directed by John Baily, features Afghanistan musicians exiles in Peshawar.

North America: The United States. The Navajo Nation, Culture and Pow-Wows. In this film we hear from a professor of Native American history in San Antonio who discusses the five hundred tribes who lived in the US centuries ago and recalls the massacres they suffered. Gayle Ross, a respected Cherokeeteacher, feels Americans do not understand native people. Arvol Looking Horse of the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota nation is deeply disturbed by the entire arena of cultural exploitation. Music, dance and pow-wow culture are woven throughout.

North America: The United States. Music at the Texas-Mexico Border. The film confronts the accordion music of Chicano immigrants in southern Texas with the traditional music of accordion players in Austria. Without making any final judgments on the ‘roots’ of ‘conjunto’ music of the Chicanos, the film is able to reveal the different claims to ethnic identity. Most interestingly, Chicanos in Mexico and Texas and Austrians comment upon each others’ way of playing Polka.

Central and South America: An intimate portrait of Jaime Torres, the world's foremost performer on the charango, a small stringed instrument created by the Andean Indians of South America. This is a rare inside view of the traditional music and rituals (including a ritual to Pachamama, Mother Earth) of the Indians of the Quebrada, a mountainous region of northern Argentina that was the southernmost part of the Inca empire. The film also contains dramatic concert footage, Jaime's band in practice, scenes from a Bolivian neighborhood in Buenos Aires, the dancing of a chacarera, as well as Jaime talking about his music, his culture and his life.

Oceania: Samoa. Gataula Singing Traditions. The Gataula is a men's singing group from the village of Asua in Savaii. This film captures over an hour of singing and includes a brief commentary in the Samoan language. The group performed for Their Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta'isi and Masiofo Filifilia Tamesese Ta'isi during a visit they made to the village in early January 2008.