Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution, the national museum of the United States. We are dedicated to supporting cultural diversity and increased understanding among peoples through the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of sound. We believe that musical and cultural diversity contributes to the vitality and quality of life throughout the world. Through the dissemination of audio recordings and educational materials we seek to strengthen people’s engagement with their own cultural heritage and to enhance their awareness and appreciation of the cultural heritage of others.

Gil Slote was “inspired” to write the song cycle Gosh, What a Wonderful World! by “a desire to bring back to children in my classes some of the impressions I received during my travels throughout Europe, Latin America and the United States.” He directs the children of his sixth grade class N.Y.P.S. in a polished performance that reveals an acute perspective of the geographic, cultural and scientific world.