General news from the Montana Folk Festival.
Native American Drumming | Harlem, Montana The Fort Belknap Singers are a family-based traditional drum group from the Fort Belknap Reservation, home to the Assiniboine (Nakoda) and Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) (meaning the White Clay People). Other Native peoples referred to them as the ” Water Falls People”. The sign for …
Congolese/Angolan | Los Angeles, California Ricardo Lemvo has established himself as a pioneer with his innovative music. Lemvo’s blend of Afro-Cuban rhythms with pan-African styles (soukous, Angolan semba, and kizomba) has been described by the Los Angeles Times as “seamless and infectious.” Lemvo hails from São Salvador Do Congo (M’Banza-Kongo), Zaire in Northern Angola. He …
Puerto Rican Cuatro | Aguadilla, Puerto Rico Edwin Colón Zayas grew up in Orocovis, Puerto Rico, surrounded by music. At an early age, he fell in love with the cuatro, which has been called the national instrument of the U.S. territory. The small, guitar-shaped cuatro, with five double-coursed strings, is the …
Chicago Blues | Chicago, Illinois This year the blues genre will be well represented by Melody Angel, a gifted guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, vocalist, arranger, and producer from Southside Chicago who is navigating a forward-looking musical path while integrating the legacy of classic blues. Her music encompasses many American genres, including …
New Orleans Funk and Blues | New Orleans, Louisiana One of the four famous Neville Brothers, Cyril Neville was the youngest, born in January 1948, in New Orleans. Cyril picked up his love of music from his parents and his older brothers at an early age, but it wasn’t until …
Telecaster Guitar | Galax, Virginia Redd Volkaert, originally from Canada, is widely regarded as one of the greatest guitar players in the modern era and is “among the country’s top Telecaster guitar slingers, particularly in the genres of Western Swing and Honky Tonk. He has been the go-to picker for Merle …
Irish | Sligo, Ireland Teada, Gaelic for “strings”, is a traditional band that formed in Sligo, Ireland 21 years ago that has grown to have a worldwide reach. Teada has appeared as a frequent headliner at major music festivals throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Africa, Russia, Israel, and Australia. Highlights include …
Tibetan Opera, Folk Song, and Dance | San Francisco, California Chaksampa, the Tibetan Dance & Opera Company was founded in 1989, in San Francisco, California, and is considered the most successful professional performance group outside of Tibet. Chaksampa is led by its artistic director Tsering Wangmo. All the members are trained …
Ukrainian | New York, New York Andriy Milavsky, clarinetist and master piper, is an Eastern European folk musician par excellence. One reviewer has called him “the Charlie Parker of Ukraine.” His experience in Carpathian folk music spans 30-plus years as a performer, soloist, and orchestra leader/arranger with the top traditional …
Tejano Conjunto Fiddle | San Antonio, Texas When Texas Folklife and the Festival of Texas Fiddling honored Belen Escobedo with the 2017 Texas Master Fiddler Award, they praised her for “single-handedly keeping alive” the tradition of conjunto fiddle, “a rare and beautiful style of Mexican-American fiddling which has almost disappeared …
Dhol and Brass | Brooklyn, New York Red Baraat is a pioneering band from Brooklyn, New York. Conceived by dhol player Sunny Jain, the group has drawn worldwide praise for its singular sound, a merging of hard-driving North Indian bhangra with elements of hip-hop, jazz, and raw punk energy. Created …
Bluegrass | White’s Creek, Tennessee Many folks remember the great bluegrass records from the 1950s and ‘60s. The power and soul of that music has won the hearts of people across the globe. Few bands have come along in recent years that directly draw their influence from that classic era …
Son Cubano | Seattle, Washington Son cubano is one of the most popular musical styles in Cuba and Kiki Valera is one of its foremost exponents. Over the last century, this style of traditional Cuban music has contributed to many other genres of music including jazz, cha cha cha, mambo, salsa, …
Zydeco | Lafayette, Louisiana Growing up in a Creole-speaking home in St. Martinville, Nathan eagerly sought out the music of Zydeco originators such as HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifton_Chenier” Clifton Chenier. Later, while recovering from a serious illness, Nathan decided to dedicate himself to learning the accordion. That dedication blossomed into an illustrious …
Afghan Music | San Francisco, California The Heart of Afghanistan project consists of Four Afghan musicians; Ahmad Fanoos on Vocals & Harmonium, and his two sons Elham on Piano and Mehran on Violin, with Hamid Akbar on tabla. Together they will tell the story of Afghanistan from its pre-islamic Buddhist …
Gospel | Charlotte, North Carolina Ken Heath was born in Petersburg, Virginia, where he was raised to the sounds of the gospel music of the Black Holiness Church. His grandfather Moses Lee Tucker sang with numerous local gospel quartets from his rural hometown of Dinwiddie, Virginia. Eventually, he formed the …
Québécois | Quebec, Canada Musique à bouches is a vocal ensemble composed of David Bélanger, Olivier Brousseau, Jérôme Fortin, Sylvain Trudel, and Michel Grandmaison who also brings his personal twist on foot-tapping (podorythmie). Humming with a cappella rhythms of traditional musical arrangements, this vocal quintet is the fruit of years of …
The Contributions of Immigrants to the Heritage and Traditions of Montana and the West By Aubrey Jaap, Director, Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives From the anonymous saying: “If you are more fortunate than others, it is better to build a longer table than a taller fence.” Long before the first Euro-American …
Ed Ronningen, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Chip Carving is an international tradition, although Scandinavia has the preponderance of carvings. It is a centuries-old craft, used by many peoples worldwide to decorate wooden objects—spoons, bowls, boards, doorways, boats, paddles, and more. Chip carving uses special knives to remove small chips of wood …
The Tiernan Irish Dancers were founded in 2001 when a local céilí club was adopted by the Trinity Irish Dancers of Chicago. Trinity arrived to perform at AnRiRa, Montana‘s annual Irish festival. Founder Mark Howard was fascinated by Butte’s heritage and history. He soon formulated a plan to adopt Montana Irish dancers and send Trinity instructors to …
Pysanka is a Ukrainian Easter egg, decorated with traditional folk designs using a wax-resist method. The word pysanka comes from the verb pysaty, “to write” or “to inscribe,” as the designs are written (inscribed) with beeswax, not painted. The designs are written on the egg using melted beeswax and a stylus, the egg is dipped in colored dye, and the …
The Big Sky Lace Guild was started in the fall of 2014 and is the only lace guild currently in Montana. The last lace guild in Montana existed in the early 1900s. Although based in Butte, the Big Sky Lace Guild is open to lace-makers statewide. The Guild became a …
The Montana International Folk Dancers join together from communities around the state to share an appreciation of the music, dance, dress, and language of traditional world cultures. Since the 1960s, their activities have always included recreational dancing, but at times have expanded to exhibition dance and musical performance. Dancers come …
LuWaana Marjamaa Johnson and Norma Pylypuw | Butte, Montana The tradition of weaving rag rugs was brought to Butte in the early 1900s by the Finnish miner families who settled in the east Butte neighborhood called “Finn Town.” Large floor looms were easily constructed, and being very frugal, the …
The Celtic Quintet brings Gaelic musical cultures from both Ireland and Scotland together with strong Iberian and Nordic influences. They play in Bozeman and the surrounding Gallatin Valley delivering ‘live’ music and a jig or two! They strive to bring community and culture together. The Celtic Quintet was organically formed …
