#folklife festival

[paulpingminho]

[alliluyevas]

saddle up cowgirls we’re going square dancing

[wonderlesch]

Can’t Miss July 2024 Events

Welcome to the ultimate guide to the most exciting Can’t Miss July 2024 Events across the United States. If you are a music lover, beer enthusiast or a sci-if fan, this is your go to resource for planning your summer adventures. Read on to immerse yourself in the world of live music, craft beer, and the fantastical realm of science fiction. Without further ado, let’s dive into the most…

[lesterpubliclibrary]

Contemporary U.S. Asylum, Refugee, and Immigration Policy by Lester Public Library Via Flickr: Speaker for the World on the Move exhibit. World on the Move: 250,000 Years of Human Migration. Lester Public Library is one of 15 libraries across the United States awarded to host this important exhibit. Learn more about the exhibit here: understandingmigration.org/about-the-project/ Lester Public Library, Two Rivers, Wisconsin

[t13shoots]

[1264doghouse]

Near Ferrum, Virginia, Ferrum College and the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival, ca. 1940.

[friendswithclay]

“A potter from Aux Pins, Haiti.”

Photo by Patrick Vilaire

From: “Smithsonian Folklife Festival : Haiti, freedom and creativity from the mountains to the sea; Nuestra Música, music in Latino culture; Water ways, Mid-Atlantic maritime communities” by Smithsonian Folklife Festival (2004 : Washington, D.C.); Smithsonian Institution; 2004

[ausetkmt]

McIntosh County Shouters: Gullah-Geechee Ring Shout from Georgia

The McIntosh County Shouters is a ten-member Gullah-Geechee group that began performing professionally in 1980. They have educated and entertained audiences around the United States with the "ring shout," a compelling fusion of counterclockwise dance-like movement, call-and-response singing, and percussion consisting of hand claps and a stick beating the rhythm on a wooden floor.

African in its origins, the ring shout affirms oneness with the Spirit and ancestors as well as community cohesiveness. The ring shout was first described in detail during the Civil War by outside observers in coastal regions of South Carolina and Georgia. Its practice continued well into the 20th Century, even as its influence was resounding in later forms like spiritual, jubilee, gospel and jazz.

By the late 20th century, the ring shout itself was presumed to have died out until its rediscovery in McIntosh County in 1980; thus, the beginning of the McIntosh County Shouters.

The group was awarded the NEA National Heritage Fellowship in 1993, and were selected as Producers of Distinction and Founding Members of the "Georgia Made Georgia Grown Program," in 2009.

Their performances include the National Black Arts Festival, of Smithsonian Folklife Festival, World Music Institute, and Sound Legacies at Emory University. The group has been featured in magazines and documentaries, including HBO's Unchained Memories.

[broadcastarchive-umd]

#PBS Smithsonian World ran for six seasons between 1984 and 1991, each with 5-7 one-hour episodes. The premiere program of the 1988 season was “The Living Smithsonian,” documenting the range of the Institute’s activities. Top: Liza Kirwin visits the Rev. Howard Finster, artist, storyteller, and banjo-picker. Bottom: “Bowling Green” John Cepas (left) and “Harmonica” Phil Wiggins (right) at the 1988 Festival of American Folklife.

"Smithsonian World, which has had its ups and downs over its six years and three executive producers, was nonetheless a fine addition to PBS, an almost always interesting hour produced with imagination and passion. It died the death of so many PBS shows, strangled financially by the loss of its corporate underwriting. It will be missed." – Michael Hill, Baltimore Sun, 6/5/1991

[paulpingminho]

[friendlyfaded]

time to find out if i’m strong enough to avoid posting memes to the folklife center’s twitter account to raise awareness for the festival

[chronotopes]

SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL DAY!!!!!! FOR ME!!!!!!

[lesterpubliclibrary]

Defining Home by Lester Public Library Via Flickr: Visit the World on the Move exhibit through April 23. Stop at the Community Collage table to print YOUR word that describes "home." World on the Move: 250,000 Years of Human Migration. Lester Public Library is one of 15 libraries across the United States awarded to host this important exhibit. Learn more about the exhibit here: understandingmigration.org/about-the-project/ Lester Public Library, Two Rivers, Wisconsin

[shamandrummer]

The Drum Makers of Cochiti Pueblo

Brothers Carlos and Tomas Herrera, along with their father, Theodore "Arnold" Herrera, of Cochiti Pueblo, produce some of the most sought-after drums in the Native American craft world today. Drummers from all 19 of New Mexico's Pueblo communities come to Cochiti to purchase these drums, which are still made according to ancient practices. Over the years, the Herreras' craft has taken them from Guadalajara, Mexico, to Washington, D.C., for the Smithsonian Institution's Folklife Festival.

While Carlos, an environmental scientist, does drum-making in his free time, Tomas recently left the home construction business to focus full-time on making drums. To find the materials for the perfect drum, the brothers wander riverbanks looking for cottonwood boughs and trek into the mountains to collect recently dead aspen logs. Being a relatively soft wood, aspen is not only easier to hollow out, compared with other woods, it also emits a soft reverberation. Cottonwood, having similarly desirous properties, is often used for the large drums that the Herreras make for Plains Indian powwow groups.

While a drum has only a few parts, the process of making one is not simple. The multiple steps include aging the logs, cutting them to length, and removing the interior wood, a process for which the Herreras use homemade chisels culled from heavy metal scraps. Then, after preparing rawhide for the drum's head, a lengthy process in itself, the Herreras stretch the rawhide, secure it to the drum with sinew, and do whatever trimming is needed. These steps alone can take up to 16 hours, and that's before they've gotten to painting the drum, or making the drumsticks.

While plenty of other Native Americans make drums, Carlos says that their use of ancient, traditional methods for turning an animal hide into a drum head "is something that sets us apart." Today, he says, most drum makers use harsh chemicals, which dry out the hides and make them brittle. The method the Herreras' practice allows their hides to retain some of their original fat and oils, which Carlos says keeps them supple for decades.

To accomplish this feat, the Herreras bury their hides, which are sometimes made from elk skins but usually from cowhide, in damp earth for a week or two. They then remove the hair, using old metal files, and degrease the inside, which will still be covered with a lot of fat. To finish the hide, they never use salts, preservatives, or any other special treatment; by the time the hide is fully dry, it has been transformed into odor-free, resonant rawhide.

This whole process was passed onto the Herreras from their father, and their grandfather before him. "Even with the knowledge base we have, we struggle at times in getting the hides just right," Carlos says. "There's a lot we don't have control over. Every hide is different, and this is one of the biggest challenges we face. The drying process of the rawhide is out of our control. We can do everything right -- log selection, the carving, the hide preparation, and stretching it with the proper tension. Then maybe the humidity changes or the air pressure, and it loses its tone. At that point, the only option is to remove the leather and begin again with a new hide. We always have to wait until a drum is perfectly dry to find out if it works."

"To try to ensure success, we always reach out to my grandpa's spirit and ask him for his help," Carlos says. "We say a little prayer to the spirits to help guide us."

To learn more about Cochiti artisans, read "Storytellers and Drums," an excerpt from my memoir Riding Spirit Horse.

[t13shoots]

[cosmicanger]

Texas Folklife Festival in San Antonio, Texas (1974)

Photographs from the Texas Cultures Online, UT San Antonio Libraries Special Collections via the UNT Libraries