There is still time to get to the National Folk Festival.
Despite the heavy downpours earlier in the day the crowds came out on Saturday to enjoy the music and especially the dancing. If you go to the Perdue Dance Pavilion and don’t know the dances they are doing, they will teach you. Yesterday, festival goers were learning old style Appalachian square dancing at the dance pavilion at the National Folk Festival. Mack Samples was doing the calling with the Bing Brothers Band featuring Jake Krack.
The market place and all the vendors were also in place yesterday including fiber artist Alice Lewis from Rock Hall, Maryland. Her colorful art and functional rugs and pillows are inspired by the salt water marshes and farm fields of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. You can also see Salisbury silk screen artist Erick Sahler whose regional prints often have witty themes. Another artisan there was carver Eddie Wozny from Cambridge who makes lovely life-like wood carvings. They are just a few of the artisans you can see at the festival.
One of the great opportunities of the National Folk Festival is the chance to hear all the kinds of music that have influenced American music. The World Beats: Masters of Rhythm performance included percussionists Abbos Kosimov from Uzbekistan; Jason Samuels Smith from New York; members of Orquesta SCC salsa band; members of West African Highlife Band; Sue Yeon Park, Vong Park of Sounds of Korea. They each talked about their form of drumming and demonstrated their beautiful rhythms. They finished up with a rousing collaboration that had the crowd on their feet. Sebastian Wang who will be performing Korean samulnori. He is from Kensington and along with Sanghyuk Park they are one of the Maryland Traditions Apprenticeship Award Teams.
There are all kinds of offerings for kids at the festival. On the shuttle bus I met a little girl who showed me a duck she had carved out of soap and a small clay coil pot that she had made. Those activities and more will continue today. Kids can also see Jeghetto, puppeteers from Chapel Hill, North Carolina who use recycled materials to make their astonishing modern puppets.
Street performers get the teens as well as a few of us old fogies to dance a few steps. And for something really different you have to hear Dominic “Shodekeh” Talifero, a Baltimore-based beatboxer and vocal percussionist widely respected for exploring new musical collaborations. He and Ian Hesford will demonstrate Tuvan throat singing.
Exposure to many diverse cultural gifts of our American folklife makes the National Folk Festival a real treasure. What makes it even more special is the space it gives us to celebrate our own homegrown heritage. Folklorist James Lane is one of the presenters in the Maryland Traditions Folk Life Area. He will introduce a number of storytellers and skipjack captains who will share stories of life on the water.
There is still a lot to see and do in the remaining hours of this year’s National Folk Festival. Performances begin at noon and end around 6pm. Again – it’s free and so are the shuttle buses and the parking at the civic center overflow lot. So, if you have not been yet – come out and celebrate our great American community.
