Henrietta Yurchenco

Henrietta Yurchenco (born Henrietta Weiss in New Haven, Connecticut, March 22, 1916; died Manhattan, New York, December 10, 2007) was an American ethnomusicologist, folklorist, radio producer, and radio host.

She studied piano at Yale School of Music. She recorded traditional music in Guatemala, Mexico, the United States, and Morocco. She also worked at WNYC and taught at the City College of New York.

She married the painter Basil Yurchenco and knew Alan Lomax and Pete Seeger.

She lived in Manhattan, New York, and died there, from lung failure, at the age of 91.

Books

• Yurchenco, Henrietta (2002). Around the World in 80 Years: A Memoir--A Musical Odyssey by Henrietta Yurchenco. Point Richmond, California: MRI Press.
• Yurchenco, Henrietta, assisted by Marjorie Guthrie. A Mighty Hard Road: The Woody Guthrie Story. Introduction by Arlo Guthrie.
• Yurchenco, Henrietta. In Their Own Voices: Women in the Judeo-Hispanic Song and Story.
• Yurchenco, Henrietta. A Russian Song Book.
• Yurchenco, Henrietta. Hablamos!
• Yurchenco, Henrietta. In Their Own Voices. (About the music of Sephardic Jewish women in Morocco, as well as numerous articles on folk music and figures, including Dylan, Bessie Smith, and Aunt Molly Jackson; as yet unpublished.)

Yurchenco was interviewed by Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead and is featured in his book Songcatchers, published by National Geographic.

Films

• 1996 - Henrietta Yurchenco: testimonio de vida. Directed by José Luis Sagredo.
• 2004 - Lomax the Songhunter. Directed by Rogier Kappers.
• 2005 - This Machine Kills Fascists. Directed by Stephen Gammond.

External links

• Obituary from The New York Times
• Obituary in The Guardian (UK) by Ken Hunt, published 11 February 2008 http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/feb/11/folk.mainsection
• http://en.world.freemusic.cz/index.php/henrietta-yurchenco-1916-2007/