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W E D N E S D A Y

A pioneering study of the African roots of Western cultures, Melville and Frances Herskovits’ Trinidad Village offered an analysis of the couple’s 1939 stay in a rural portion of that island. Equally relevant but less widely available, until now, are the 352 carnival, work, and religious songs they gathered on acetates while there. In a presentation titled “The Trinidad Field Recordings of Melville and Frances Herskovits,” ethnomusicologist Dr. Donald R. Hill, author of Calypso Calaloo, and audio restorer David Giovannoni will play some of these selections, which they are preparing for release by Rounder, and will discuss the songs’ social and artistic importance, as well as the technical problems involved in remastering such field recordings for compact disc. At 7 p.m. at the Library of Congress’ Pickford Theater, James Madison Building, 1st & Independence Ave. S.E. FREE. (202) 707-1308. (SK)