Henrietta Yurchenco


Henrietta Yurchenco was an American ethnomusicologist, folklorist, radio producer, and radio host. She worked to save traditional music by recording in Guatemala, Mexico, the United States, and Morocco.

Biography and career

She was born Henrietta Weiss in New Haven, Connecticut, March 22, 1916.
Yurchenco studied piano at Yale University in the School of Music. She recorded traditional music in Guatemala, Mexico, the United States, and Morocco. She also worked at WNYC radio station and taught at the City College of New York.
She knew Alan Lomax and Pete Seeger. She hosted Woody Guthrie on her WNYC radio show, Adventures in Music, in 1940.
She lived in New York City, New York, and died there on December 10, 2007, from lung failure, at the age of 91.

Personal life

She had been married the Argentine-born painter Basil Yurchenco. The couple divorced in 1955.

Books

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

Films