From The Cold Jaws Of Prison [CD]

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution the national museum of the United States. They are dedicated to supporting cultural diversity and increased understanding among peoples through the documentation preservation and dissemination of sound. Folkways Records believe that musical and cultural diversity contributes to the vitality and quality of life throughout the world. Through the dissemination of audio recordings and educational materials Folkways Records seek to strengthen people s engagement with their own cultural heritage and to enhance their awareness and appreciation of the cultural heritage of others. Our mission is the legacy of Moses Asch who founded Folkways Records in 1948 to document "people s music " spoken word instruction and sounds from around the world. The Smithsonian acquired Folkways from the Asch estate in 1987 and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has continued the Folkways commitment to cultural diversity education increased understanding and lively engagement with the world of sound.

"What you will hear on this recording is a cry of a people for justice and human dignity. You don t know what freedom is unless you ve experienced the chains from which to break free." The poems and music presented on this album were written and compiled by African American inmates and ex inmates of three prisons in the New York system—Attica Rikers Island and the Tombs. Their work speaks not only of the conditions faced in prison but to the broader African American experience outside prison walls where "Down went the junkie with the monkey on his back the white world laughed because the junkie was Black."

- SKU: SFR1408