Burt Nagra

Now that's really something.

I had a colleague at CUNY who specialized in recording birds, Susan Quinn.

We used to compare field notes from our trips, talk about what collecting folk songs and collecting bird songs had in common.

Quite a bit.

As it turns out, every culture has their own folk songs, just like anywhere with birds has bird song.

But the more you travel and hear, the more those little differences become apparent.

I'll start you with an easy one.

Roosters.

North American and Asiatic roosters have totally different calls.

But they're both still waking you up at 5 a.m.

wherever you are.

Still doing the same job, just a different uniform.

And folk songs are kind of the same way.

They all serve the same purpose.

Celebration, mourning, getting through the work day.

And of course there are local legends and stories and mythologies that are distinct to every place.

I was most interested in trying to capture that, you know, show how special every culture's folklore is while also showing its universal purpose, just like dancing.

But also because folklore, the songs, it's all so fragile and so close to vanishing if it's not preserved in some way.

You'd be surprised at how quickly culture can disappear like that.

Maybe you've already seen it happen.