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Henrietta Yurchenco
is a world-renowned ethnomusicologist and leading authority
on indigenous music of the Americas. One of the few
"songcatchers" recognized by The Grateful
Dead's Mickey Hart, she pioneered fieldwork in remote
parts of Latin America and around the world. Like colleagues
Alan Lomax and Paul Bowles, she recorded
the music of native peoples, and added a unique cast
to ethnomusicology by exploring the cultures behind
the songs. A "Dr. Ruth" of musical and cultural
analysis, Yurchenco continues to study ancient and modern
music alike through the prism of her theory of "sexual
politics."
As a broadcaster,
Yurchenco championed the emerging folk music movement,
debuting legends Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie,
Leadbelly and Bob Dylan on New York radio,
and hosted "Adventures in Folk Music" throughout
the 1960s. She is currently recording a series of broadcasts
for Air America radio. A long-time educator, Yurchenco
remains Professor Emerita at the City College of New
York, where she bucked academic tradition with innovative
courses and workshops in folk and world music.
Just recently, Henrietta
has been awarded an Honorary Membership by the Society
of Ethnomusicology for lifetime achievement.
And be sure not to
miss the weekly Down
Home Radio Show, hosted by Eli Smith and Henriettta.
Down Home Radio is conceived as a trail blazer: to present
folk and popular music as a time honored cultural expression
endowed with wisdom, wit, humor, and a vivid sense of
humanity, its joys, trials and tribulations.
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In Sonora, Mexico, 1944 
A
MIGHTY HARD ROAD: THE WOODY GUTHRIE STORY
On the air, Mexico City, 2000