Skip to main contentHarry Everett Smith was perhaps one of the most eclectic figures to come out of Portland. A pivotal individual for the preservation of folk music in the 20th century, an experimental filmmaker, and a lifelong anthropologist, Smith spanned genre and definition.
“Harry Smith: Portland’s Prodigal Son” is a three-day event showcasing Smith’s work, attempting to capture the unusual and avant–garde nature of his art in celebration of his 100th birthday (Smith died in 1991).
“It’s really an honor to be able to show this in Portland,” says Rani Singh, head of the Harry Smith Archives and Smith’s former assistant. “We’re really exploring how the Pacific Northwest planted the seeds for what would become his lifelong interest in music, film, culture, etc. What’s so exciting is bringing it to Portland, bringing it to his home turf.”
Celebrations kick off Saturday, June 15, at the Hollywood Theatre. A selection of Smith’s films will be projected on the silver screen, featuring musical accompaniment curated by Mississippi Records. Smith would often play recordings of music over screenings of his films, so the acts will be performing arrangements in the same vein. Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group, for example, will perform renditions of songs by Dizzy Gillespie, a jazz legend Smith was quite fond of, over his film Late Superimpositions.
A full gospel ensemble, Portland Sacred Harp Singers, as well as a local rockers Collate performing early Beatles covers will also be present during some films.
In between screenings, Jay Ringer will perform melodica renditions of songs off of The Anthology of American Music, the compilation album Smith curated that influenced such modern music legends as Bob Dylan and Jerry Garcia.
Event curator Katherine Factor believes the showcase serves as a good way to connect with both old and new audiences. “He was always interested in how art responds to other forms of art,” she says. “I think that keeps something going forward into eternity.”
On Sunday, June 16, historians, poets, jazz scholars, and authors will fill Turn! Turn! Turn! to discuss and teach about Smith’s large body of artistic work, as well as his anthropological efforts.
To round off the festivities, Clinton Street Theater will show a 4K restoration of Smith’s final film, Mahagonny, on Monday, June 17. Shot over the course of two years and edited over the span of another eight, Mahagonny compares New York to the fictional city depicted in Kurt Weill’s 1930 opera The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.
“It’s fascinating to look at the range of Harry Smith’s interests,” Singh says. “He was really looking for things that unite people from all over the world. For me, that’s what I continuously take from his work.”