Lomax the Songhunter

Alan Lomax (1905-2002) was 'the song hunter'. He devoted his life to registering folk songs before they would permanently fade away under the influence of the modern music industry. When director Rogier Kappers visits him in Florida in 2001, shortly before his death, Lomax can no longer speak due to brain haemorrhage. Therefore, Kappers portrays him by incorporating statements by collaborators, relatives and friends, as well as excerpts from old interviews with Lomax himself. Kappers also avails himself of the many folk music recordings Lomax and his associates made. Travelling around and filming from his van, with Lomax' travel accounts in voice-over, Kappers manages to retrace people who were registered by Lomax many decades ago. On a remote Scottish island, he finds a woman who knows almost four hundred songs by heart. And in a small Spanish village, upon hearing the old recordings, the bagpipe is brought out once again and, as before, the people present burst out in song.