| Visitors to the 37th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival will experience the sights and sounds of Appalachia, Scotland and Mali. The 10-day Festival, presented outdoors on the National Mall between Seventh and 14th streets, will be held Wednesday, June 25 through Sunday, June 29 and Wednesday, July 2 through Sunday, July 6. Admission is free.
“Appalachia: Heritage and Harmony” is one of the events in the yearlong celebration of the “Year of Appalachia,” commemorating the 75th anniversary of the “Bristol Sessions.” The sessions refer to recordings made of Appalachian musicians, including the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers, in the Tennessee-Virginia border town of Bristol in 1927. Those commercial recordings brought old-time ballads, string and mountain music to broad audiences across the United States and established the beginnings of the country music industry. The region around Bristol encompasses portions of Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and West Virginia. Festival performances will include bluegrass, old-time music, African-American traditions, blues, gospel, ballads and occupational songs. Participants will range from master practitioners like National Heritage Award-winner Ralph Blizard to young up-and-coming performers like 18-year-old West Virginia fiddler Jake Krack. There will be a pickin’ porch where visitors and participants can play music and dance. Foodways demonstrations will include chicken dishes, bean recipes, canning, apple butter making, fried pies and stack cakes. This program is produced in cooperation with the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance and East Tennessee State University, and with support from the Recording Industries Music Performance Trust Funds and Norfolk Southern Railroad. |
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| From the Highlands and Islands in the north to Ayrshire in the south, from Glasgow Green to Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, and from the textile mills of the Borders to the oil fields of Aberdeen, Scotland’s heritage, regional cultures and occupations will be highlighted by “Scotland at the Smithsonian.” Dynamic performances and demonstrations will feature more than 100 of Scotland’s finest musicians, storytellers, cooks, craftspeople, dancers and scholars, who will explain and celebrate the living traditions that sustain Scotland’s distinctive culture.
Participants will include fiddlers, “clarsach” (harp) players, accordionists, pipers and a “ceilidh” (kay-lee) band for dancing; ballad singers and “panto” (pantomime) performers; kilt makers, knitters from Fair Isle and Shetland, and Harris Tweed and Tartan weavers; and bagpipe, curling stone and golf club makers. Additionally, there will be demonstrations of malt whisky distilling, on-line genealogical research and offshore oil industry traders. Scottish cooks will show visitors how to make shortbread, “stovies” (meat and potato pies) and other local delicacies. This program is produced in partnership with the Scottish Executive, with the collaboration of and donation from the Scottish Arts Council, and a donation from VisitScotland. Mali, the largest country in West Africa, is home to Timbuktu, a historical center for trade and learning. Visitors to “Mali: From Timbuktu to Washington” will learn how traditions are passed from generation to generation and how traditions change. They will hear epic songs sung by “griots” (musicians who sing about traditions and history) and see how textiles are created from raw cotton and wool, woven, dyed, sewn, embroidered and fashioned into traditional and contemporary designs. Festival visitors will also be able to sample Malian rice-based dishes, learn how families prepare for Malian holidays and see how a community prepares for a wedding. They will be able to pound millet into flour, try Malian games and dances and learn to tie a turban or headscarf. Additionally, visitors will learn why Malians have come to the United States in recent years and what cultural traditions they brought with them. This program is produced in partnership and with major support from the Government of Mali. |
| The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, inaugurated in 1967, celebrates folk culture with people from across the United States and around the world. The Festival typically includes daily programs of music, song and dance, crafts and cooking demonstrations, storytelling, workshops and narrative sessions for discussing cultural issues. The Festival, which attracts about 1 million visitors a year, is produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and co-sponsored by the National Park Service. |
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