AllMovie

During his lifetime, Alan Lomax stood alone via the originality of his contributions to Twentieth Century folk music; a veritable walking music encyclopedia with a passion for various local cultures, Lomax spent his life journeying from country to country and city to city, and recording the musical sounds of the indigenous peoples whose paths he crossed. He died in 2002; one year prior to him death, however, documentarists Adri Schrover and Roger Kappers visit him - only to discover that he has been rendered mute via a severe brain hemorrhage. Confronted with this knowledge, the filmmakers decide to embark on a transcontinental journey in an attempt to locate and film many of the people whose sounds Lomax preserved, in such rural locales as Italian mountain villages and nearly-vacant Scottish islands. Lomax the Songhunter captures the highlights of this incredible journey, intercut with protracted on-camera reminiscences by Lomax's friends and colleagues.