National Folk Festival Adds Six Artists to Lineup; 29 Performers Announced to Date

Free Festival runs in downtown

Greensboro from Sept. 9 – 11, 2016

Greensboro, N.C., June 30, 2016 — Today the National Folk Festival announced six additional artists who will perform in downtown Greensboro from Sept.9 – 11, 2016. The 76^th National Folk Festival in 2016 marks the event’s second year of its three-year residency in Greensboro.

Last fall, the 75^th National Folk Festival attracted more than 102,000 attendees to downtown Greensboro for the FREE, three-day weekend. Based on survey data, organizers expect attendance to grow substantially in 2016—by as much as 30% or more.

Approximately 300 artists—musicians, dancers, storytellers, and craftspeople—will take part in the National Folk Festival, with more than 30 different musical groups performing on as many as seven outdoor performance venues throughout downtown Greensboro. The four artists announced today are:

·      Alberti Flea Circus – Flea Circus: Third-generation flea circus impresario Jim Alberti and his talented troupe of charismatic performers have been entertaining audiences with their astonishing acrobatic feats for nearly 30 years. Based in Winston-Salem, N.C., the Alberti Flea Circus was brought to the United States in the 1880s by Jim’s great-great uncle, but the tradition is much older, first documented in 16^th-century Europe. Jim delights in introducing this age-old art to new generations of children, who cheer for the fleas, help with their props, and even provide musical cues for their incredible feats.

·      Bouncing Bulldogs – Precision Jump Rope: Be inspired by the boundless creativity and intense athleticism of North Carolina’s own Bouncing Bulldogs, who have been crowned the top international jump rope team for the past five consecutive years at the World Jump Rope Championships! Founded by Coach Ray Fredrick in 1986 and based in Chapel Hill and Durham, the Bouncing Bulldogs field a competitive team of 140 girls and boy ages 7-19, with 200 other jumpers ages 4 and older participating in a club program. Fresh off defending their title at the 2016 World Championships in Portugal in July, 15 jumpers will perform at the National Folk Festival, amazing audiences with their skills in Double Dutch, speed jumping, and freestyle.

·      Chico Simões – Brazilian Mamulengo: “I don’t speak Portuguese, I don’t speak English; I speak puppet,” says mamulengueiro Chico Simões, who began studying this Brazilian puppet tradition in 1981. Since founding his own puppet theater in 1985, Simões has become an international ambassador for this Brazilian tradition, which has connections to the English Punch and Judy shows, the Italian pulcinella, and the French guignol—all rooted in the Italian 16^th-century commedia dell’arte. Simões has performed thousands of puppet plays around the world, from street corners to prestigious puppetry festivals, using his performances—many featuring trickster Benedito the Vaquiero, a cowboy, who bests a series of mythological and human opponents—to “hold up a mirror to the public.” His raucous performances delight children and adults alike.

·      Dancing On Air Crew – B-boying: Gravity-defying head spins, twirling windmills, and rapid-fire footwork are hallmarks of breaking, an urban dance style that—along with graffiti, MC-ing, and DJ-ing—is the expressive core of hip-hop culture. Dancers are called breakers, b-boys, or b-girls, and they prefer the terms “breaking” or “b-boying” to “breakdancing.” The members of the Dancing On Air Crew (DOA) live in Charleston, S.C., where they have been friends since middle school. Inspired by popular movies and the moves of older b-boys, they formed DOA in 2010. DOA’s current roster of eight b-boys, ages 17-26, travels to competitions around the Southeast and beyond, dazzling crowds, sharing a message of “hope, perseverance, and teamwork,” and inspiring the next generation of b-boys and b-girls.

·      Joe Bruchac – Abenaki Storytelling: With a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, Joe Bruchac is an award-winning author of more than 120 fictional and non-fictional works, most featuring Native American protagonists, history, and values. Descended on his mother’s side from the Abenaki, an Algonquian-speaking Native people living in New England and Eastern Canada, Bruchac has dedicated himself to partnering with Native elders to collect stories from Abenaki and other Native cultures. “When a good story is told, it goes into a person’s heart, and it remains there,” Bruchac says. His stories inspire audiences to appreciate and protect the earth and all who dwell upon it.

·      Mangum & Company – Gospel Brass “Shout Band”: The United House of Prayer for All People congregations take to heart these words from Psalm 150:3-6: “Praise him with the sound of the trumpet…Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” Mangum & Company, a group of outstanding musicians representing many United House of Prayer congregations from Charlotte, N.C., brings the unique African American sacred “shout band” tradition to the National Folk Festival. Charlotte-based shout trombonist Cedric Mangum joined his congregation’s band at age 7, learning to play all the shout instruments before becoming lead trombonist of the Charlotte Mother House’s legendary Bailey Clouds of Heaven at age 13, a position he continues to hold today at age 55. “Our music feeds the soul,” Mangum says. “…That’s what draws the people.”

  

These outstanding artists join the following performers, who have already been announced:

·      The Alt – Irih

·      Bahamas Junkanoo Revue ­– Bahamian Parade

·      Balsam Range – Bluegrass

·      Bill Kirchen  – Master of the Telecaster

·      Chaksam-pa – Tibetan Opera, Folk Song, and Dance

·      The Chankas of Peru – Andean Danza de las Tijeras (Scissors Dance):

·      Clinton Fearon & the Boogie Brown Band – Reggae

·      DJ Grandmaster Flash – Hip Hop

·      Grupo Rebolú – Afro-Colombian

·      Hula Halau ‘O Lilinoe – Hawai’ian Hula

·      Jeffery Broussard & the Creole Cowboys – Zydeco

·      The Jerry Grcevich Tamburitza Orchestra – Tamburitza

·      Joshua Nelson ­­– Kosher Gospel

·      Leonardo Sandoval – Tap

·      Le Vent du Nord – Québécois

·      Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano – Mariachi

·      Paperhand Puppet Intervention – Giant Puppet Pageants and Parades

·      Nathalie Pires – Portuguese Fado

·      The Quebe Sisters – Texas Fiddling & Western Swing

·      Sahba Motallebi – Persian Tar

·      Samba Mapangala & Orchestra Virunga – East African Rumba, Soukous, and Benga

·      Super Chikan & the Fighting Cocks – Delta Blues

·      Dr. Michael White & the Original Liberty Jazz Band ­– New Orleans Jazz

To learn more about all these artists, their traditions, and their stories, please visit nationalfolkfestival.com/performers. Throughout the summer, the National Folk Festival will feature individual artists on its Facebook page (Facebook.com/NationalFolkFestivalNC) and on social media:

·      #NCFolkFest  #WeAreFolk

·      Twitter: @NtlFolkFestNC

·      Instagram: NationalFolkFestNC

·      YouTube: National Folk Festival NC

More performers will be announced as they are confirmed."

- A Press Release

Three More Performers Join Lineup for 76th National Folk Festival, Celebrating Its Second Year in North Carolina from September 9 – 11, 2016

"Greensboro, N.C., March 29, 2016 — Today the National Folk Festival announced three additional artists who will be performing in downtown Greensboro from September 9 – 11, 2016. The 76^th National Folk Festival in 2016 marks the event’s second year of its three-year residency in Greensboro.

Last fall, the 75^th National Folk Festival attracted more than 102,000 attendees to downtown Greensboro for the FREE, three-day weekend. Based on survey data, organizers expect attendance to grow substantially in 2016—by as much as 30% or more.

Approximately 300 artists—musicians, dancers, storytellers, and craftspeople—will take part in the National Folk Festival, with more than 30 different musical groups performing on as many as seven outdoor performance venues throughout downtown Greensboro. The three artists announced today include:

·      Jeffery Broussard & the Creole Cowboys – Zydeco: Standouts in the zydeco scene, this band delivers pack-the-floor renditions of Creole classics as well as their own rollicking brand of traditional zydeco. The group is led by accordionist and vocalist Jeffery Broussard, one of today’s most influential zydeco musicians.

·      Grupo Rebolú – Colombian: Playing the rich, rhythmic, and undeniably danceable music of Colombia’s Caribbean coast, Grupo Rebolú is the preeminent Afro-Colombian ensemble in the United States. People of African, Spanish, and indigenous descent have been intermixing for centuries along Colombia’s Caribbean coast, resulting in a rich blending of cultures. Reflecting this, Grupo Rebolú sings in Spanish, performs on a mix of indigenous, African, and modern instruments, and causes an irresistible urge to get up and dance.

·      Sahba Motallebi – Persian: Sahba Motallebi is a modern virtuoso of the tar and setar, lute-like stringed instruments central to Persian classical music, which became central to Iranian identity in the early 1900s. In post-revolutionary Iran, learning and performing traditional music was frowned upon—especially for girls—but Sahba and her sisters studied music as children in their hometown of Sari, a small seaside city in the north of Iran. Sahba was recognized as the Best Tar Player at the Iranian Music Festival for four straight years, beginning in 1995 when she was 16. She left Iran in 2003 to pursue graduate studies, and now lives in Los Angeles, which is home to a vibrant Iranian exile community.

These outstanding artists join the following performers, who have already been announced:

·      Balsam Range – Bluegrass

·      Clinton Fearon & the Boogie Brown Band – Reggae

·      DJ Grandmaster Flash – Hip Hop

·      Leonardo Sandoval – Tap

·      Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano – Mariachi

·      Nathalie – Portuguese Fado

·      The Quebe Sisters – Texas Fiddling & Western Swing

·      Super Chikan & the Fighting Cocks – Delta Blues

·      The Alt – Irish

To learn more about these artists, their traditions, and their stories, please visit nationalfolkfestival.com/performers. Throughout the spring and early summer, the National Folk Festival will feature individual artists on its Facebook page (Facebook.com/NationalFolkFestivalNC) and on social media:

·      #NCFolkFest

·      Twitter: @NtlFolkFestNC

·      Instagram: NationalFolkFestNC

·      YouTube: National Folk Festival NC

More performers will be announced as they are confirmed.

###

About the 2016 National Folk Festival: Co-produced by the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) and ArtsGreensboro, the National Folk Festival is celebrating the second year of its three-year residency in downtown Greensboro in 2016. The FREE, three-day event is America’s longest-running festival of traditional arts. nationalfolkfestival.com

About the National Folk Festival: Since it was first presented in St. Louis in 1934, the National Folk Festival has celebrated the roots, richness, and variety of American culture. Championed in its early years by Eleanor Roosevelt, it was the first event of national stature to present the arts of many nations, races, and languages on equal footing. An exuberant traveling festival that embraces the diverse cultural expressions of the American people in the 21st century, the National Folk Festival is FREE to the public, and is produced by the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) in partnership with communities around the country.

About the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA): The National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) is one of the nation’s premier non-profit cultural organizations dedicated to the presentation and documentation of folk, tribal, and ethnic arts in the United States. Founded in 1933, it is the nation’s oldest producing and presenting organization with such a focus. Its programs celebrate and honor deeply rooted cultural expressions—music, crafts, stories, and dance passed on through time by families and communities as well as by tribal, ethnic, and occupational groups. The NCTA stresses excellence and authenticity in presenting artists to the public in festivals, tours, concerts, media programs, exhibitions, recordings, and other activities, and works in partnership with communities across American to establish new, sustainable traditional arts events that bring lasting social, cultural, and economic benefits. www.ncta-usa.org

About ArtsGreensboro: With an annual budget of approximately $4 million, ArtsGreensboro is a catalyst for innovation to build recognition and support for the arts. Through its ArtsFund-supported grant programs, the 17DAYS Arts & Culture Festival, the Levitt AMP Greensboro Music Series, I HEART ARTS Month, and other opportunities including the National Folk Festival, ArtsGreensboro is driving the health and vitality of our community by supporting arts education, celebrating the diversity of Greensboro, and driving economic impact through excellence in arts programming. artsgreensboro.org"

- A Press Release