National Folk Festival (USA)

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The National Folk Festival in the United States (known also as the National) was first presented in St. Louis in 1934, the National Folk Festival is the oldest multi-cultural traditional arts celebration in the nation and the first event of national stature to put the arts of many nations, races and languages into the same event on an equal footing. Some of the artists presented at the first festival are now legendary and the recordings and other documentation made possible by the National are precious. W.C. Handy's first performance on a desegregated stage was at the 1938 National. It was the first event of national stature to present the blues, Cajun music, a polka band, a Tex-Mex conjunto, a Sacred Harp ensemble, Peking opera, and others.

Eleanor Roosevelt was involved in the National's move to Washington, D.C. in 1938, and served as the festival's honorary Chair.

This traveling festival has been held in 28 communities around the country. [1] [2]. In many cases, after the National has moved on to other sites, the locality continues having a folk festival of its own. For example, the Lowell Folk Festival was started this way.

In 1934, NFF was held in St. Louis, Missouri
In 1935, , NFF was held in Chattanooga, TN
In 1936, , NFF was held in Dallas, Texas
In 1937, , NFF was held in Chicago
In 1938 it was moved to Washington, DC for five years (1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942)

Then it went to cities of New York, Philadelphia, and Cleveland.

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From 1947-1955, it stayed in St Louis, Mo

Oklahoma City and Nashville followed, and then the festival returned to Washington, D.C., in 1960. The National Folk Festival struggled through the 1960s, never staying in one place for more than a year. It was held in various places such as Florence and Covington, Kentucky; St. Petersburg, Florida; Denver, Colorado; Syracuse, New York; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Knoxville, Tennessee.

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From 1971 until 1982, the National was held in Vienna, VA at Wolf Trap
In 1985 and 1986 the National was held at Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, a newly formed park an hour south of Cleveland, Ohio
In 1986 the National was held in New York City to commemorate the refurbishment of the statue of Liberty
in 1987, 1988(50th anniversary), and 1989 the National was held in Lowell National Historical Park in Lowell, Massachusetts
In 1990, 1991, and 1992, the National was held in Johnstown, Pennsylvania
in 1993, 1994, and 1995, the National was held in Chattanooga, TN [3] [4]
in 1996, 1997, and 1998 the National was held in Dayton, Ohio [5]
In 1999, 2000, and 2001, the National was held in East Lansing, Michigan
In 2002, 2003, and 2004, the National was held in Bangor, Maine
In 2005, 2006, and 2007, the National will be held in Richmond, Virginia

[edit] 2005 Festival Acts

The 2005 festival includes Ivo Papasov & Yuri Yunakov - Legends of Bulgarian "Wedding Music", Cheick Hamala Diabate Ensemble - West African jeli, Chuna McIntyre - Yup'ik Eskimo Traditions, Marcia Ball - New Orleans boogie-woogie piano, Prem Raja Mahat - Nepalese Music and Dance, First African Baptist Choir - African American gospel, Bernard Allison - Blues, Sankofa String - African American string band, D.W. Groethe - cowboy poetry and songs and Papa Susso - kora master. Also featured at festival is music from the Crooked Road. These artists include: Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys (Sunday Only), No Speed Limit, Carter Family Band featuring Dale Jett, Linda Lay, David Lay, and Deborah Jean Sheets, White Top Mountain Band, Crooked Road Band, The Round Knob Singers, Kirk Sutphin and Sammy Shelor, plus dancers Brenda Joyce and Shannon Joyce.

These artists join Cephas & Wiggins (Piedmont blues), The Paschall Brothers (African American a cappella gospel), Mariachi los Camperos de Nati Cano (Mexican mariachi), Mountain Heart (bluegrass), Los Pleneros de la 21 (Puerto Rican bomba y plena), Khmer Classical Dance Ensemble (Cambodian) and Frank London's Klezmer Brass Allstars (Jewish klezmer), The Madison Hummingbirds (African American gospel brass shout band); J. P. Cormier (Cape Breton fiddler), Hayden Thompson & The Rhythm Rockers (Rockabilly, Dervish (Irish), The Savoy Family Band (Cajun) and Zydeco Joe and the Laissez Le Bon Temps Roulez Band (zydeco)completing the list of performing artists at the 67th National Folk Festival.

[edit] 2006 Acts

2006 NFF will occur October 13-15, 2006.[6] Performers will include Chuck Brown, the "Godfather of Go-Go"; the Skatalites, the group that virtually invented ska and whose members are considered founders of the modern Jamaica sound; and the Mahotella Queens, an acclaimed South Africa mbaqanga ensemble. [7]. The Richmond Times Dispatch announced a month prior to the festival that Mahotella Queens would not be performing.

Other announced artists are:

Kenny & Amanda (Kenny & Amanda Smith Band)
Le Vent du Nord
The Quebe Sisters Band
Santiago Jiménez, Jr.
Yuqin Wang & Zhengli Xu
The Boston Edge: Joe Derrane, Seamus Connolly and John McGann
Chuck Brown
The Lee Boys

"Gulf Coast Musical Traditions" segment was added later and will feature traditions affected by Hurricane Katrina and are as follows:

Don Vappie and the Creole Jazz Serenaders
The Lost Bayou Ramblers
Willie King & The Liberators

Three additional acts were announced less thn a month before the festival and include [8] AltaiKAI (kai throat singers from the Altai Republic Russia) , Grace Chang (Chinese zither), Jamesie & the All-Stars(scratch, aka quelbe music from the island of St. Croix) and Williams and Summerour(Warner Williams and Jay Summerour, playing piedmont blues), with 10 additional acts to be announced at a later date.