The Genius of Bert Jansch: Folk, Blues & Beyond

Instant Guitar(en)

Learn about guitar! In this instructional video, both technique and notation are shown on-screen in an easy-to-understand format. Students are introduced to the basics of chords, riffs, guitar tuning, and types of guitars. New guitarists learn the instrument by playing songs popularized by such bands as Coldplay, U2, Stereophonics, Muse, AC/DC, and the Beatles.

Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound(en)

Following folk musician Joan Baez on her extensive 2008-2009 tour, this film commemorates her career, which has spanned five decades. It includes concert and archival footage as well as interviews with such disparate colleagues, friends and admirers as Bob Dylan, Jesse Jackson and David Crosby. In addition to the music, it also touchs upon Baez's long history of global social activism.

Broken Token(en)

A single female voice sings of waiting in her garden for her ‘dark-eyed sailor’ to return from war, bearing the other half of their token, a gimmel ring. Three veterans pass on the road as she waits, and she asks them: “When you were fighting in distant lands, did you think of the home you left?” In reply the veterans relate their recollections. The garden images in the accompanying film represent ‘home’, but also stand for a more general possibility of redemption, of the potential of the past to return at any time, disguised and changed, to renew the present: “Each moment of time is a garden gate,” the song goes, “Through it my love may walk.”

In the Steps of Forgotten Peoples(et)

Unustatud rahvad (1970 - 1989) by Estonian composer Veljo Tormas is based upon six Balto-Finnic peoples traditions. Collegium Musicale choir brought the songs to different sides of Baltic coasts to liven current citizens connections for fleeting past and strengthen their identity.

Call(en)

Paris To Kyiv’s Fragmenti recording was originally released in 2005, a sonic tapestry of ancient Ukrainian song fragments and contemporary sounds. Nearly 11 years later, after circulating throughout the roster of artists on Balanced Records, a remix album has been compiled featuring electronic and avant garde interpretations by Ken Gregory, Joe Silva, Rise Ashen, Kasm, J57, Solidaze, Cayetano, Miguel Graça, Trevor Walker and Anders Peterson. This film accompanies the remix by Joe Silva.

Cheeseburgers, Legs, Guitar Solos(de)

In this shortfilm videoartist and Rock'n'Roll musician Hans-Jürgen Vogl explains how to make a perfect cheeseburger

It Might Get Loud(en)

A documentary on the electric guitar from the point of view of three significant rock musicians: the Edge, Jimmy Page and Jack White.

Lady Sings the Blues(en)

Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday, beginning with her traumatic youth. The story depicts her early attempts at a singing career and her eventual rise to stardom, as well as her difficult relationship with Louis McKay, her boyfriend and manager. Casting a shadow over even Holiday's brightest moments is the vocalist's severe drug addiction, which threatens to end both her career and her life.

Comitiva Esperança(pt)

Old Harp Singing of East Tennessee(en)

A short musical film on the Old Harp tradition from East Tennessee, shot around a gathering in a church of the Smoky Mountains

The Songpoet(en)

Eric Andersen is widely regarded as one of the most poetic songwriters that sprang from the Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960s. His artful mélange of love, despair, hope and stirred memory has earned him a passionate international following and the respect and admiration of artists ranging from Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen to Lou Reed and Wyclef Jean. The Songpoet offers a look into the mind, soul and creative process of this multifaceted, complex and singularly driven artist whose career saw great expectations waylaid by misfortune.

Hootenanny a Go-Go(en)

A square rich boy wants to make it with a pretty folk singer, so he buys the coffee house where she and a bunch of other beatniks perform. Features performances by The Goldebriars, The Free Wheelers, and a very young Joan Rivers doing a stand-up routine.

Riqueni(es)

Sheryl Crow Live Soundstage(en)

Captured in High-Definition and Mixed in 5.1 Surround Sound. Join Sheryl Crow as she leads her longtime band through some of her biggest hits in this one-night-only Soundstage performance, which also includes a rare cover of the Nick Lowe classic "(What's So Funny `Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding." Features: My Favorite Mistake, You're An Original, The First Cut Is The Deepest, Leaving Las Vegas, Strong Enough, Redemption Day, Sweet Rosalyn, If It Makes You Happy, Home, All I Wanna Do, Soak Up The Sun, Everyday Is A Winding Road, (What's So Funny `Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding, Let's Get Free, Safe and Sound, I Shall Believe, Steve McQueen.

Neil Young: Don't Be Denied(en)

This television special is a first for the reclusive singer with the BBC documentary gaining new interviews with Young, nine months apart in New York and California. The documentary also looks back over the singer's archives, with some never-seen-before material.

Beside Bowie - The Mick Ronson Story(en)

Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story is a documentary about the life and work of Michael "Mick" Ronson, the guitarist, songwriter, producer and arranger who, in the early part of his career, performed with David Bowie as one of the 'Spiders from Mars'.

Steve Goodman: Live from Austin City Limits... and More(en)

This program collects a number of the late singer/songwriter Steve Goodman's appearances on the classic AUSTIN CITY LIMITS television series. Probably best known for his song "City of New Orleans", Goodman's catalog of songs have earned him a large cult of fans, including luminaries such as John Prine, Kris Kristofferson, and Arlo Guthrie, all of whom appear here, talking about Goodman and his music. Containing a wealth of live material along with rare interview footage, this program is an excellent retrospective of a great career.

A Mighty Wind(en)

Three eclectic, never-quite-famous folk bands come together for the first time in decades following the death of their manager to put on an reunion concert in his honor, at the request of his son.

Neil Young: Heart of Gold(en)

In March 2005, Neil Young was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm. Four days before he was scheduled for a lifesaving operation, he headed to Nashville, where he wrote and recorded the country folk album Prairie Wind with old friends and family members. After the successful operation and recovery period, he returned to Nashville that August to play at the famed Ryman Auditorium, once again gathering together friends and family for this special performance.

Bulgaria: Fire Dance Ritual(de)

Every year in June, the small Bulgarian village of Balgari celebrates St Constantine with a special ritual. Initiated ‘nestinari’ go into a music-induced trance and dance on bonfires in a display of religious passion.