As we close out 2019, we can't help but look back at some of our favorite moments of this past year. In celebration of the closing of this yearly chapter, we asked our staff at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, folks from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, Smithsonian Folklife, and the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Digital Collections, to let us know about their favorite parts of 2019.

Halle Butvin - Director of Special Projects

• Best Tiny Desk Concert: Lizzo, hands down (for me and nearly 5M other people)
• Best (most-listened to) song: PIENSO EN TU MIRÁ by Rosalía
• Best book (fiction): Pachinko (I'm aware this was a very big deal in 2017, it's hard to keep up, and it's still an excellent book).
• Best binge watch: Unbelievable on Netflix
• Best meal: Al Shams, Anjar, Lebanon with Armenian friends (also largest restaurant, longest meal, and probably most food consumed in one sitting). A close second would be waiting for an hour in 100 degree heat with Anne Pedersen to eat pad Thai at Thipsamai in Bangkok

Erica Daudelin – Advancement Associate: Top 5 Food Trucks – in no particular order, I am not trying to have people fight me on this:

• Corn Factory
• Thai Happy Bellies
• Tempo Di Pasta
• KT Pizza
• Cluck Truck

Erin Dowdy – Production Manager for the Smithsonian Year of Music: Top 5 Books She Read in 2019:

• A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
• The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
• Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
• My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
• The Library Book by Susan Orlean

Rebecca Fenton – Folklife Curator: Top Snacks of 2019:

• Fresh coconut in Benin
• I used this fruit filling to save a #cakefail, but could put it on anything
• Everything I got at Your Dekalb Farmer’s Market, Decatur, GA
• But late to the party on this one, Jim Lahey’s no-knead bread
• Savory donuts from A & J Taiwanese restaurant

Anne Pedersen – CFCH Project Manager: My top 5 favorite cultural sustainability outputs

• MOOC: Methods and Techniques for Documenting and Preserving Tibetan Culture
• Online Exhibition: Making on the Tibetan Plateau
• Policy: Shared Stewardship of Collections
• Story Map: Masters of Tradition
• Release: Our Native Daughters “Black Myself”

Fred Knittel – Marketing Specialist: 10 Songs I Obsessively Listened to in 2019:

• The Roches - “Hammond Song” from The Roches
• Buffy Sainte-Marie - “The Big Ones Get Away” from Coincidence and Likely Stories
• Talk Talk - “The Last Time” from It’s My Life
• Cyndi Lauper - “All Through the Night” from She’s So Unusual
• Beyoncé - “Sorry” from Lemonade
• Yusuf - “I Love My Dog” from Matthew & Son
• Norma Jean - “I’m A Walkin’ Advertisment (For The Blues)" from Let’s Go All The Way
• Hatchie - “Without a Blush” from Keepsake
• Lucinda Williams - “Six Blocks Away” from Sweet Old World
• Throwing Muses - “Not Too Soon” from The Real Ramona

Seth Langer – Marketing & Licensing Assistant: Top 5 DC Murals:

• The Wailing Postman – Joe Pagac (2018)
• The Doors of Perception – Juan Pineda (2014)
• DC Jazz Heroes – Kate DeCiccio and Rose Jaffe (2017)
• Every Day I See Something New – Cita Sadeli CHELOVE (2011)
• “LOVE” Mural – Lisa Marie Thalhammer (2017)
• Bonus: the entire DC Alley Museum

Cecilia Peterson – Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collection Digital Projects Archivist: Top 5 Albums of 2019 (in order):

• Bombadil – Beautiful Country
• White Reaper – You Deserve Love
• Gente de Zona – Otra Cosa
• Lizzo – Cuz I Love You
• Electric Guest – Kin
• Top Five Honorable Mentions: Carly Rae Jepson – Dedicated, King Princess – Cheap Queen, Andrew Bird – My Finest Work Yet, JR JR – Invocations/Conversations, Maluma – 11:11

Jonathan Williger – Smithsonian Folkways Marketing Manager: 5 powerful musical experiences of 2019:

• Caterina Barbieri’s album Ecstatic Computation
• Voice of the Valley, where I got to see W00dy, Moth Cock, LXV, Mukqs, and about 40 other artists.
• Young Thug’s album So Much Fun
• Seeing Angel Bat Dawid at the Sandlot
• Claire Rousay residency at Rhizome and digging deep into quiet performances
• (bonus) – the musical output of Emily Sprague/Florist which seemed to counter everything else I was experiencing