In a rather bizarre move the Ghanaian government has passed a new copyright law which nationalizes folklore and penalizes Ghanaians who commercially use, sell or distribute Ghanaian folklore or translations without a Government permit.

Cyril Tawney author of ‘Grey Funnel Line’, ‘Chicken On A Raft’, ‘Sammy’s Bar’, ‘Monday Morning’ and many other great songs died April 21st after a long battle with a bone infection.

A tribute for Rachel Bissex who died of cancer in Feburary is in production and will be released in July 2005. The CD will feature Rachel’s songs preformed by Dar Williams, Catie Curtis, Groovelilly, Tret Fure, Ruthie Foster, Jennifer Kimball, Tracy Grammer, The Kennedys and others. Proceeds from the sale of these CD’s will go to a college fund for Rachel’s children.

Pre Orders are now being accepted at www.rachelbissex.org .

Smithsonian Global Sound a project of The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage makes a treasure trove of the worlds recorded folk heritage available for download at 99 cents a track. This is a truly amazing resource.

Launched in February 2005, SGS initially offers almost the entire Folkways and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings collections and the holdings of two regional archives: the International Library of African Music (ILAM), in Grahamstown, South Africa, and the Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology (ARCE), in New Delhi, India. Expansion of educational offerings and user groups and partnerships with other archives around the world are anticipated with the growth and success of SGS….

Smithsonian Global Sound

The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences held the 34th annual Juno Awards ceremony in Winnipeg last night. The awards of most relevance to the folk world were…

Jenny Whiteley, Roots & Traditional Album of the Year – Solo for “Hopetown”.

The Wailin’ Jenneys, Roots & Traditional Album of the Year – Group for “40 Days”.

Garrett Mason, Blues Album of the Year for “I’m Just a Man”.

Connie Kaldor, Childrens Album of the year for “A Poodle in Paris”.

Official showcase applications and Program proposal forms for the 2006 conference in Austin Texas are now available on the Folk Alliance website. You can download each form as a .pdf file at http://www.folkalliance.net/conference/index.php

Applications for the 2006 Official showcase must be postmarked no later than May 31, 2005.

The application fee is $35 US or $55 Canadian for Folk Alliance members, $105 US or $145 CDN for non-members. The non member rate includes a one-year individual membership in the Folk Alliance.

Program Proposal Forms allow you to tell us what panels you would like to see presented at the conference or to indicate your interest in leading a panel.

Program Proposal Forms must be postmarked no later than May 31, 2005.

If you have questions, e-mail Tony@folk.org