The Lugo Codex

An online digital facsimile of the Lugo Codex, a Breviary housed at the archive of the Catedral de Santa Maria in Lugo (Galicia), Spain (LUc 60, no shelfmark). This project provides researchers and performers with a searchable and browse-able virtual codex for study. Available at lugocodex.org.

Igor (Slovo o polku Igoreve-The Song of Igor’s Campaign)

In a modern retelling of the story of Prince Igor Svyatoslavich’s failed raid against the Kumans ca. 1185, Wolodymyr Smishkewych brings to life one of the most emblematic stories of Slavic history. Thought to be the earliest Slavonic language writings outside of the Church, the original manuscript of the Slovo, now lost, records the oral-tradition stories of Igor’s raid and subsequent capture at the hands of the Kuman army. Reconstructed using parallel material from existing Slavic oral traditions including bylini and oral folk poetry, and accompanied only by the gusli (a lyre-psaltery based on archeological finds from Novgorod), Smishkewych’s Igor weaves a tapestry of adventure and intrigue from medieval Kievan-Rus’.

Sinfonia: The Zanfona, Across Times and Places

Due for release in autumn 2011, Sinfonia is a video documentary of the zanfona, or hurdy-gurdy in Spain. Based on Smishkewych’s research in Spain as Fulbright Award fellow in 2005-2006, the documentary traces the monastic origins of this millennial instrument, along its path via the Camino de Santiago and its use in church and court, through its rise, fall, and most recent renaissance on the Iberian peninsula. Featuring the music and talents of some of Spain’s finest performing and instrument-building artists as well as breathtaking views of Spanish churches and landscapes, the documentary brings to life what should rightfully be called Spain’s most historical traditional instrument.