Features

Folk Festival kicks off with Saturday night performances

BY LYNN A. MALONEY

On Saturday, September 21, the Takoma Park Folk Festival will present a pre- festival concert and dance that jump-starts Takoma Park's most popular music-dance-and-arts event. Takoma Park Middle School will host both the concert and dance on Saturday night, as well as the Folk Festival on Sunday, beginning at 11 a.m.

For the pre-festival event, which is a fund-raiser for the free festival the next day, The Mammals will perform in the school's cafeteria, and Cajun dance band Squeeze Bayou will be in the large gym. Both performances begin at 8 p.m., with a Cajun dance workshop from 7 to 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door (call the Institute of Musical Traditions at 301-754-3611 or visit Takoma Park's House of Musical Traditions on Carroll Avenue to purchase tickets in advance). One ticket is good for both performances.

"Both of these bands are great," says Festival Chair Lenore Robinson. "With a concert and a dance, there's something for everyone, including teens and college students."

The Mammals offer listeners distinctive folk music that builds on traditional American folk. Performed by Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, grandson of Pete Seeger, Ruth Ungar, daughter of Grammy-winning Jay Ungar, and Michael Merenda, the Mammals are among the leaders of a new generation of musicians who have reinvigorating "roots" music.

"Ordinarily, we tell out-of-town performers that we prefer to showcase local performers at the Folk Festival," says Robinson. "But since Tao is Pete's grandson, and several committee folks said how spectacular The Mammals are, we tried to figure out a way to bring them down here as special guests."

Squeeze Bayou will provide spicy Cajun music for dancers and listeners in the gym. "Squeeze Bayou is our premiere local Cajun band," says Robinson. The band includes veterans of many past Takoma Park Folk Festivals: Karen Collins, fiddler and vocalist; Fred Feinstein, guitarist. Collins and Feinstein will be joined by Kevin Enoch on bass, David Lopez, drums and Matt Levine, lap steel.

Dancers will have the opportunity to two-step and waltz to the band's blending of country, blues, and Creole in good stomping Cajun style. Squeeze Bayou's most recent CD won the Cajun French Music Association's annual "Le Prix Dehours de Nous," or best recording by an out-of-state artist. Sharon Schiliro and Michael Hart will teach a Cajun Dance workshop at 7 p.m.

No doubt, some will be moved to participate in both the dance and attend part of the concert, which is the benefit of a location with several good performing areas.

"We would like ideally to have a two-day festival to bring all the performers we would like to present," says Robinson, "but logistics don't permit. The pre-Festival performance allows a manageable expansion of festival offerings, as well as helping to defray the cost of the Festival on Sunday."

Folk Festival on September 22—Overview

Although Robinson's dream of a two-day folk festival may not become a reality, there's more than enough activity planned for the one-day event. More than 50 performances will be held at the 25th Folk Festival on Sunday, September 22, starting at 11 a.m., on the grounds of Takoma Park Middle School. As always, the festival is free, and it will be held rain or shine.

Music and dance from around the world will be showcased. Performers represent traditional American folk and religious music, Eastern European traditions, several cultures in Latin America, and African storytelling and drumming. "We've got a lot lined up," says Kevin Adler, publicity chairman. "We will have activities sprawled across the grounds of the school and on the first floor of the building."

Folk Festival visitors can choose to sit at one of the seven stages all day, or they can wander the site and sample everything from an Irish dance lesson to a banjo workshop to African folk tales to the latest in alt-country sounds. One stage, known as the Grassy Nook, features performances especially for children.

In addition, the festival will have on hand more than 40 craftspeople, selected through a rigorous, juried competition. Their works in a wide range of media (wood, paper, glass, clay, and so on) will be displayed for sale.

Spaced throughout the festival, too, will be more than 70 community tables. "These community tables represent many of the organizations and causes that your friends and neighbors in Takoma Park support and believe in," said Adler. "We feel that visiting with community tables people is a very important part of the festival experience."

For more information about all of the music, dance, and crafts at the Takoma Park Folk Festival, read the special insert in this issue of The Voice or go to www.tpff.org.