Alan Lomax

“The modern computer with its immense storage capacity has been a godsend for the folk song collector.”

“A folksong is a song that has been changed by many people.”

“The dimension of cultural equity needs to be added to the humane continuum of liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and social justice.”

“It is the voiceless people of the planet who really need to be heard, and I've tried to hear them.”

“Folk music is the original signal of the masses, the sound of the silenced.”

“I feel that in the past, we have been running a cultural bake sale, where we sell off the jewels of our culture to the highest bidder.”

“The main thing that has been on my mind is the question of what is going to happen to the human race.”

“Every time a culture dies, we lose a treasury of human potential.”

“The essence of America lies not in the headlined heroes... but in the everyday folks who live and die unknown, yet leave their dreams as legacies.”

“We now have cultural machines so powerful that one singer can reach everybody in the world, and make all the other singers feel inferior because they're not like him.”

“I believe that all cultures are equal and that every culture has something to say.”