Historical Portrait
John Botica playing the svirala, portrait, photograph
Archive record
Photograph caption: The svirala is from Dalmatia. Forms part of a group of field materials documenting John Botica performing Dalmatian dance music from Croatia on May 26, 1938 and January 11, 1939, collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell in Mountain View, California.
About this photograph
Sidney Robertson Cowell photographed John Botica holding a svirala, a traditional wind instrument from Dalmatia, in Mountain View, California on May 26, 1938. The photograph is part of field documentation that also includes recordings of Botica performing Dalmatian dance music from Croatia, made on that date and again on January 11, 1939.
Cowell led the W.P.A. California Folk Music Project between 1938 and 1940, recording and photographing traditional musicians across Northern California. She worked deliberately across the state's immigrant communities rather than focusing on a single tradition. The project's portraits document performers from Armenian, Icelandic, Italian, Portuguese, Mexican, Irish and Serbian backgrounds, among others.
The recordings and photographs are held by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Compiled from the catalogue record and reference notes on the formats and events involved. The archive record above is the primary source.
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