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FOLK FEST 2016

S2 THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2016

INDEX OF PERFORMERS

Art in the Courtyard

The Lowell Folk Festival presents Art in the Courtyard Arts and Fine Crafts, a venue of the Lowell Folk Festival in Lowell. Art in the Courtyard is coordinated by the Brush Art Gallery. This collaboration provides an opportunity for visitors to view and purchase some of the finest art and craft work. Art in the Courtyard is held in the shaded, brick-lined courtyard between the National Historical Park Visitor Center and the Brush Art Gallery. Tents will be set up to provide a welcoming place, rain or shine. Conveniently situated between Market Street and the Dutton Stage, one of the main music and dance stages of the Folk Festival, Art in the Courtyard is a high-traffic spot during the festival. Local artists will also be displaying and selling their artwork at the neighboring Brush Art Gallery and Studios, creating a strong center for art and fine crafts for the Lowell Folk Festival.

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Ana Lains Portuguese fado

S12

Angkor Dance Company Traditional Cambodian dance

S19

Aqua String Band Philadelphia Mummers’ parade

S4

Charlie Walden Missouri old-time fiddle

S6

Deacon John’s Jump Blues Jump blues

S10

Debashish Bhattacharya & Family Indian slide guitar

S8

Dennis Polsky & the Maestro’s Men Polka

S15

Gibson Brothers Bluegrass

S16

Hung Gar Kung Fu & Lion Dance Chinese Lion Dance

S4

Jason D. Williams Rockabilly S18 AT MERRIMACK

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King Sunny Ade and His African Beats Nigerian juju

S4

Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy Cape Breton and Ontario fiddling

S7

Oi Pontoi Pontic Greek

S6

Old Bay Ceili Band Irish

S18

Plena Es Bomba y plena

S14

Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera Company

S12

Rahim AlHaj Iraqi oud

S21

Savoy Family Cajun Band Cajun

S10

Spencer Taylor & the Highway QCs Gospel

S15

Sri Lankan Dance Academy

S16

Tarniriik Inuit throat singing

S12

Map, Schedule

S23, S24-S25

OR

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Crafts

S27-S34

Food

S36-S40

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FOLK FEST 2016

THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2016 S3

30 years of festive harmony

As it marks a milestone anniversary, the Lowell Folk Festival highlights the heritage, traditions and culture that bind us in a vast, colorful tapestry

Cindy Cashdollar on steel guitar, and Redd Volkaert, withthe Redd Volkaert Band on the first night of the Lowell Folk Festival. SUN FILE PHOTO James ‘Super Chikan’ Johnson & the Fighting Cocks, including Laura Craig on keyboard, had the crowd firmly in hand at last year’s Lowell Folk Festival. SUN FILE PHOTO

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KING SUNNY ADÉ & HIS AFRICAN BEATS Nigerian jùjú

Aqua String Band

AQUA STRING BAND Philadelphia Mummers’ parade Aqua String Band epitomizes the grandeur and whimsy the annual New Year’s Day Mummers’ Parade in Philadelphia is known for. Mummers wear outsized costumes of bright blocks of color outlined in sequins. First come the dancers, repeating their elaborate,

high-stepping moves, the famed Mummers’ Strut. Then come the musicians, providing the jubilant, rhythmic tunes. The Mummers’ Parade is based on the tradition in many European countries of dressing in outlandish costumes and making noise on New Year’s Day to

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scare away local demons for the rest of the year. The tradition took hold in South Philadelphia’s immigrant neighborhoods in the late 19th century. Each year, local clubs design elaborate new costumes based on a theme and compete against each other. The prize-winning Aqua String Band has been marching since 1920. Its captain, Ken Maminski, says it’s like a family and in his case that’s literal. He joined the band at age 10 in 1980, following in his father’s footsteps, and his two young sons have joined the band. “I always say, ‘New Year’s is one day a year, but it’s the other 364 days that make us a string band,’” he says. SCHEDULE: Friday, parade, Boarding House Park, 6:30 p.m.; Saturday, parade, Kirk and Merrimack streets, 3:40 p.m., parade, Boarding House Park, 7:10 p.m.

King Sunny Adé has spent the last 45 years defining and transforming the Nigerian music known as jújù. He has brought the sound of traditional Yoruba praise music and talking drums overlaid with guitar and keyboard to audiences worldwide. Jújù, which originated in the early 19002, is the amalgamation of Western and Nigerian traditions — church hymns, Yoruban traditional music, from sea chanteys and ballads sung by musicians traveling the Nigerian countryside. It imported the sounds of ukulele, banjo, and King Sunny Ade guitar into Yoruban percussion. By the 1960s, practitioners had added in lead, rhythm, and bass guitars, as well as ganga, conga, clave, sekere, and agogo. In the following decade still more came in: synthesizer, steel guitar, and vibraphone. King Sunny Adé emerged on the musical scene in the 1960s as a member of Moses Olaiya’s Rhythm Dandies. By the 1970s, he was fronting the African Beats, an enormous group including singers, percussionists, dancers, and guitarists and his innovation, the addition of the distinctive tone of Hawaiian steel guitar. The festival performances of King Sunny Adé & His African Beats are presented in collaboration with the Nigerian Association of the Merrimack Valley. SCHEDULE: Friday, Dutton Street, 9 p.m.; Saturday, Boarding House Park, 9:40 p.m.

HUNG GAR KUNG FU & LION DANCE Chinese lion dance Dating back over two thousand years, the lion dance is one of China’s most important traditions. Now associated with Chinese New Year celebrations, and with social events like weddings, it is believed to chase away evil spirits and summon luck and fortune. Christopher Yee, head instructor, says the story of the lion dance “involves overcoming some obstacle.” Harmony among the participants is important Hung Gar Kung Fu and Lion Dance for a successful lion dance, he says.The lion is enacted by two dancers, whose energetic movements make the lion come alive. Three musicians accompany the lion, playing a large drum, cymbals and a gong. Everything about the lion’s presence is symbolic. The costume’s five colors — yellow, black, green, red, and white — represent the five cardinal directions — east, west, north, south and center — important in Chinese aesthetics. The lion walks in a zigzag path to confuse evil spirits, which the Chinese believe move in straight lines. Lowell’s Hung Gar Kung Fu & Lion Dance is one of several branches of Chiu Mo Kwoon, a school founded by Grandmaster Winchell Woo, a revered figure in Boston known for teaching unforgettable lion dance performances. SCHEDULE: Sunday, John and Merrimack streets, 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.

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LURRIE BELL’S CHICAGO BLUES BAND Chicago blues

The members of Oi Pontoi

OI PONTOI Pontic Greek Oi Pontoi features three young Greek American musicians who are keeping rarely heard, centuries-old sounds from isolated villages in northeastern Greece alive in America. The band’s members — Kostas Fetfatsidis, Evan Karapanagiotides, and Vasili Ikonomou — trace their heritage to Pontus, a

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region in present-day Turkey near the Black Sea. Pontian traditional music has a Near Eastern flavor that strikes Western ears as haunting and mysterious. Tewksbury’s Kostas Fetfatsidis grew up in a large Pontic Greek community in South Boston. His grandfather and father played kemenche, the Pontian

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lyra, while his mother’s family maintained an ornamented singing tradition called epitrapezio (“you sing it around the table”). Kostas began playing kemenche at 14. Later, he picked up the tulum, a double-reed bagpipe made from a sheep’s belly, after hearing it at dances at Boston’s Pontian cultural societies, and in Greece. Evan Karapanagiotides and Vasili Ikonomou come from a close-knit Greek diaspora community in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. Evan, who also plays guitar, learned to sing in the Laiko genre, a Greek urban folk music popularized in the 20th century. Vasili’s immigrant parents instilled in him deep pride in his Pontian heritage and he taught himself to play the Pontian daouli, or drum. SCHEDULE: Saturday, St. Anne’s, 12:15 p.m., JFK Plaza, 2:45 p.m.; Sunday, Market Street, 4:30 p.m.

Lurrie Bell was raised with and nurtured by the blues. His father, harmonica virtuoso Carey Bell, played with Muddy Waters and other Chicago blues greats. He taught himself to play guitar amid the musicians who visited the Bellhome, including Big Walter Horton and Eddie Clearwater. Gospel informed his music when he was sent Lurrie Bell to live in Mississippi and Alabama with his grandparents, who were devoted churchgoers. Back in Chicago in the 1970s he began recording with his father, and backing established stars, such as Willie Dixon and Koko Taylor. In 2007, Bell launched his own label, Aria B.G. Records. Living Blues Magazine’s Critics’ Poll has three times named Bell Most Outstanding Guitar Player and Male Blues Artist of the Year. He was a 2009 Grammy nominee for Best Traditional Blues Recording. His latest album, “Blues in My Soul,” is an homage to the roots of Chicago-style traditional guitar blues. SCHEDULE: Friday, Dutton Street, 7:15 p.m.; Saturday, Dutton Street, 5:15 p.m.; Sunday, Dutton Street, 1:45 p.m., Boarding House Park, 5:15 p.m.

CHARLIE WALDEN Missouri old-time fiddle Charlie “Possum” Walden is a master of Missouri old-time fiddle, an energetic style that requires fiddlers to articulate each note distinctly so the melody can be heard even at tempos fast enough to propel dancers across the floor. The Missouri repertoire is heavy on dance music — Scotch-Irish jigs and reels — and includes more waltzes than other regional fiddle styles. Walden hails from tiny Hallsville in central Missouri. He was 14 when he heard the great old-time fiddler Taylor McBaine playing at a nearby gas station. He got hold of a fiddle and started learn- Charlie Walden ing as much as he could from McBaine and his peers. Soon Walden was playing house parties, dances, and winning his fair share of fiddle contests. Both virtuoso and advocate for the Missouri style, Walden has worked tirelessly to keep the style alive, taking on students, writing articles and giving talks, all to help Missouri fiddling keep its own identity. He played the first National Folk Festival in Lowell in 1987. SCHEDULE: Saturday, Market Street, 12:45 p.m., St. Anne’s, 2:50 p.m.; Sunday, 3:30 p.m.

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NATALIE MACMASTER & DONNELL LEAHY Cape Breton and Ontario fiddling Natalie MacMaster’s virtuosity has brought international acclaim to the complex, beautiful style of fiddling brought to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, by early 19th-century Scottish immigrants. For more than two centuries, Cape Breton players have staunchly preserved and nurtured this style, known for closely hewing to its Scottish roots. “It is very family oriented,” MacMaster says, “and passed down from generation to generation. It is in the very community, and very much a way of life.” MacMaster began playing at age 9, absorbing the music from her uncle Buddy MacMaster, a legendary Cape Breton fiddler. She was soon playing throughout Cape Breton. Her

first album appeared when she was 16; she now has 11, and has played 100 shows a year for the last 15 years. She often performs with her husband, master fiddler Donnell Leahy, whom she married in 2002. Their six children, ranging in age from 10 to 1, are immersed in the tradition and the older four jig, fiddle, and step dance. MacMaster has tweaked Cape Breton traditions of fiddlers sitting while they perform, standing and sometimes dancing when she plays, yet always giving a performance infused by her heritage. SCHEDULE: Saturday, JFK Plaza, 3:50 p.m., Boarding House Park, 8:30 p.m.; Sunday, Boarding House Park, 4 p.m.

Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy

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DEBASHISH BHATTACHARYA & FAMILY Indian slide guitar Both traditionalist and innovator, Debashish Bhattacharya is a virtuoso of the Indian slide guitar. He performs deeply meditative ragas as well as lighting-fast, intricate slide work on the family of guitars he invented. Born into a family of devotional singers in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, he discovered a lap-steel guitar in his parents’ house, a relic from the 1930s-era Hawaiian music craze that swept through Kolkata. He began studying classical singing as well as traditional instruments, immersing himself in the tradition of raga, the melodic frameworks for improvisation upon which classical Indian music is based. But the slide guitar drew him back and began studies with

Indian masters of the instrument. By the he was 40, he was granted the honorific title of pandit — master — himself. Bhattacharya has created a family of slide guitars that incorporate characteristics of Indian instruments, including his primary instrument, a 22-string guitar that has the timbres of violin, sitar, sarod, and veena. He will be performing with his younger brother, Subhasis, a master tabla player, as well as his daughter, Anandi, an accomplished singer and tamboura player. SCHEDULE: Saturday, Boarding House Park, 1 p.m.; Sunday, JFK Plaza, 1:30 p.m., St. Anne’s, 5 p.m. Debashish Bhattacharya & Family

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DEACON JOHN’S JUMP BLUES Jump blues Deacon John Moore is a New Orleans institution who performs everything from classic rhythm and blues and rock and roll to jazz and gospel. But his great love is jump blues, an up-tempo, hardswinging music prominently featuring a horn section that presaged R&B and rock and roll. Moore grew up in New Orleans as part of a musical family. His mother played piano and a grandfather played banjo. His 12 brothers and sisters played guitar, drums, trombone and viola. He started singing with an R&B band in the seventh grade. In high school, he learned guitar by ear and started playing profes-

Deacon John Moore sionally. Moore, who rarely ventured outside New Orleans, played in the

house band of the Dew Drop Inn, and as a sesion guitarist at the French Quarter studio with pro-

ducer Allen Toussaint, where he backed some of the major R&B stars of the day. Today Moore fronts his own band and was recently inducted into the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. “I never had a hit record,” Deacon John recently told NPR, “and I never been on tour … I’m just one of the guys who stayed around here and made a living playing music.” SCHEDULE: Friday, Boarding House Park, 9:15 p.m.; Saturday, JFK Plaza, 2:15 p.m., Boarding House Park, 4 p.m., Dutton Street, 7:30 p.m.

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Savoy Family Cajun Band

SAVOY FAMILY CAJUN BAND Cajun The sound of the Savoy Family Cajun Band begins with accordion, fiddle, guitar, and piano; it’s sung in Cajun French and performed by two generations of a family who joyfully live their culture. Cajun music is rooted in musical traditions Frenchspeaking Acadians carried to southwest Louisiana after they were expelled from Nova Scotia by the British in 1755. Their distinctive culture emerged as they settled alongside Native Americans, Spanish, Germans, and French Creoles of African descent. Members of the Savoy family have been stewards and evangelists of this culture for generations. Marc Savoy, a National Heritage Fellow, was born on a rice farm outside Eunice, Louisiana, raised French-speaking, surrounded by music. He picked up the accordion at age 12 and by 20 had taught himself to build them. Ann Savoy married into the tradition and developed a keen ear and voice for Cajun life. Marc and Ann threw old-time boucherie parties — pig roasts — punctuated by music. She plays guitar, accordion, and fiddle. Son Joel, a renowned fiddler, launched Valcour Records, an award-winning Cajun and Creole label. He headlines the Cajun Country Revival band with Jesse Lége. His brother, Wilson, a star on fiddle, accordion, and piano, fronts the Pine Leaf Boys. Both Joel and Wilson have been nominated for multiple Grammy awards. SCHEDULE: Friday, Boarding House Park, 7:15 p.m.; Saturday, JFK Plaza, 2:15 p.m. and 6:15 p.m.; Dutton Street, 4 p.m.; Sunday, Dutton Street, 4:30 p.m.

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TARNIRIIK Inuit throat singing

Ana Lains

ANA LAÍNS Portuguese fado Often described as the soul of the Portuguese people, fado emerged from the cafes and side streets of Lisbon in the early 19th century. It is a genre of minor-key laments about the hardships of life at sea, the pressures of urban

poverty, and, above all, the heartbreak of romance. Ana Laíns embodies the soulfulness of this musical tradition, delivering lyrics with barely controlled raw emotion. Like all the legendary fadistas — female fado singers — Lains aims

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for the experience of saudade, the feeling that one has been overcome by fate and carried away like a stick caught in the current. Laíns grew up in the rural Portuguese region of Ribatejo. At the age of 19 she moved to Lisbon to become a professional singer, where she honed her skills in the traditional fado houses, small, darkened taverns where locals listen to fado over wine. She won Lisbon’s “Grande Noite de Fado,” the country’s top fado competition, which led to her 2006 debut album, “Sentidos.” The festival performances of Ana Lains are presented in collaboration with the Saab Family and the Portuguese/American Cultural Exchange. SCHEDULE: Friday, Boarding House Park, 8:15 p.m.; Saturday, JFK Plaza, 1:15 p.m.

Samantha Peoyuq Kigutaq is 12 years old and Cailyn Nanauq DeGrandpre just 11, but they are breathing life into a centuries-old Inuit throat-singing technique known as katajjaq. Manipulating their mouth and larynx, they produce two different tones: a huffing, lower foundation Samantha Peoyuq Kigutaq and Cailyn and a whistling, higher melody. Nanauq DeGrandpre They create an astonishing array of sounds with only their voices. Though Tarniriik is based in Ottawa, the Inuit people originated along the Arctic Sea. When men left on long hunting trips, women and children entertained themselves by competing in a throat-singing game. Two singers stand face to face, grasping each other’s arms, and engage in a friendly competition as one takes the lead and the other follows. The rhythmic melodies imitate sounds from nature, and the singer who stops or laughs first loses the competition. This two-tone singing tradition is practiced almost exclusively by women. Samantha and Cailyn met during after-school throat-singing classes at the Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre. They began performing together, becoming an Internet sensation in Canada after demonstrating Inuit throat-singing during Justin Trudeau’s swearing-in ceremony as Canadian prime minster. They now perform as Tarniriik, the Inuit word for “two spirits.” SCHEDULE: Saturday, Market Street, 12:10 p.m., St. Anne’s, 2:15 p.m. JFK Plaza, 3:15 p.m.; Sunday, St. Anne’s, noon, Boarding House Park, 1:15 p.m.,

QI SHU FANG PEKING OPERA COMPANY Qi Shu Fang is still famous in China as a woman who broke the gender barrier in traditional Peking (Beijing) Opera. Though it is just one of over 300 operatic styles in China, Peking Opera is likely the best known and most widely practiced theatrical tradition in the world. Dating to at least the 1600s, it Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera Company started as an exclusively masculine art form. But after 1949 women began to emerge as performers, and Qi was central in that movement. As a teenager in the 1950s, she was renowned not only for her powerful soprano but also for her muscular execution of the required acrobatics and martial arts. At 18, Qi was chosen by Madame Jiang Qing, Chairman Mao's wife, as the female lead in “Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy,” one of the eight national “model opera” films produced during the violent upheaval of the Cultural Revolution. Overnight she became a nationwide star, eventually the title of "National Treasure of China." Qi and her husband and longtime director Ding Meikui moved to Queens in 1988 to establish the Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera Company, which mounts new productions, trains young performers, and educates Westerners about Peking Opera. She was named a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow in 2001. SCHEDULE: Saturday, Boarding House Park, 2 p.m., Market Street, 5:30 p.m.; Sunday, Market Street, 2:15 p.m.


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PLENA ES Bomba y plena

Plena Es

In the Cuban-rich region of South Florida, Plena Es has carved a space for Puerto Rican music by emphasizing the island’s distinctive bomba y plena musical traditions, percussion-driven sounds that reflect the island’s African heritage. Founded by Pierre Ramos in 2004, the band — featuring percussion, trombones, piano, and bass — plays the high-energy Latin dance music that is a touchstone for Puerto Rican identity. Bomba is the 17th-century music created by West African slaves on Puerto Rico’s sugar plantations. Plena mixed bomba with indigenous Taíno Indian music, jibaro music of the island’s mountain farmers, chamber music of the Spanish colonizers and the rhyming

verse of urban satirists. With political commentary and day-to-day news in the lyrics, backed by the rhythm of hand drums, plena focuses on the story sung by a lead singer and chorus. Ramos picked up the hand drum, or pandero, as a boy and found that plena moved him. Shortly after he founded Plena Es, he was joined by conga player David Lucca, a native of Ponce, the region of Puerto Rico that is considered the birthplace of plena. Lucca is now Ramos’ partner in the band and Ramos says their mission is to get audiences dancing and smiling. SCHEDULE: Saturday, JFK Plaza, 5 p.m., Dutton Street, 9 p.m.; Sunday, Dutton Street, 12:30 p.m.

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THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2016 S15 www.lowellsun.com/folkfest

SPENCER TAYLOR & THE HIGHWAY QC’S Gospel For over 70 years, the Highway QC’s have been one of the top gospel groups in the classic “quartet” tradition that married the older a cappella sound of jubilee singers to the hard-driving rhythm sections of 1940s African American gospel. The QC’s launched the careers of Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls, and Johnnie Taylor before each crossed over into the secular realm to become R&B stars. But the group kept going without them, and made groundbreaking male-harmony records that are landmarks in religious music as much as the hits by Rawls and Taylor are in pop. Cooke co-founded the group in Chicago as a teenager in 1945. When he left in 1951, he was

replaced by Rawls. When Rawls left in 1953, he was replaced by Taylor. When Taylor left in 1957, he was replaced by Spencer Taylor — no relation — who has kept the group going for the past 59 years. He is still belting out lead vocals over the smooth fourpart harmony of his bandmates, who include two of his sons. The group has worked with the likes of Mahalia Jackson and the Edwin Hawkins Singers and appeared on Broadway with Morgan Freeman in “Gospel at Colonus.” “We’re not going,” Taylor asserts, “not as long as I live.” SCHEDULE: Saturday, Boarding House Park, 5:15 p.m.; Sunday, JFK Plaza, 12:15 p.m.; Spencer Taylor and the Highway QCs Boarding House Park, 3 p.m.

DENNIS POLISKY & THE MAESTRO’S MEN Polish polka Dennis Polisky & the Maestro’s Men play a unique blend of East Coast and Chicago styles of Polish polka. Faithful to tradition, their vocals are in Polish, or translated from Polish. Polka originated from peasant dances in Eastern Europe in the mid-19th century. As Eastern Europeans immigrated to the American Midwest, PolishAmerican polka split into two regional styles: Dennis Polisky & the Maestro’s Men Chicago and East Coast. Chicago polka emerged in the 1950s, with more of a rock and roll sound and slower tempos than East Coast polka, which developed a decade earlier, when big bands were prevalent. East Coast polka boasted a larger reed or horn section. Chicago polka typically had no reed instrument. Dennis Polisky, the group’s founder, leader, and clarinet and saxophone player, is a third-generation polka musician in the East Coast tradition. The band hews closely to traditional instrumentation, including clarinet, accordion, trumpets, as well as sax, bass, concertina, and drums. The Maestro’s Men’s ninth album, “Decade Two,” released in 2016, commemorates their 20th anniversary. They have won the International Polka Association award for “Favorite Instrumental Group” 12 consecutive years. SCHEDULE: Saturday, JFK Plaza, noon, Dutton Street, 1:45 p.m.

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SRI LANKAN DANCE ACADEMY Traditional Sri Lankan dance The Tompkinsville neighborhood of StatenIsland, known as “Little Sri Lanka,” is believed to the largest Sri Lankan enclave in the country, know for introducing American audiences to traditional Kandyan dance through the Sri Lankan Dance Academy of NY. Tanya DeSilva started a dance school for young girls in her Staten Island attic in 1992, shortly after emigrating from Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Dance Academy of NY now trains about 50 students in Kandyan dance and drumming traditions. Kandyan dance, a a centuriesold tradition in the central hill region of Kandy, grew out of a healing ritual that according to legend was used to rid a king of a mysteri-

ous illness. The Kandyan style is characterized by a calm, central core, intricate footwork, flowing arms, acrobatic leaps, and a percussive, stomping beat accentuated by the jingle of the silambu on dancers’ ankles. It was orriginally performed only by men but female dancers and teachers became integral to the tradition starting in the 1940s. Dilhan Pinnagoda is the troupe’s current director and master choreographer. The performing troupe consists of experienced dancers ranging from 15 to 25 years old, accompanied on drums. SCHEDULE: Saturday, St. Anne’s, 1:15 p.m., Market Street, 4:15 p.m.; Sunday, Market Street, 12:15 p.m., Boarding House Park, Sri Lankan Dance Academy 1:50 p.m.

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GIBSON BROTHERS Bluegrass While the Gibson Brothers echo the traditional bluegrass of the South, their sound is distinctly Yankee. Leigh and Eric Gibson were born on a dairy farm in New York state, just miles from the Québec border. The brothers began on banjo and guitar in middle school, influenced first by country, folk, the nearby Québécois countryside and church. They heard music Gibson Brothers through French television stations that broadcast from the Maritimes. They attended jams in Québec. Their first stage was their Wesleyan church, whose music came from the old hymnal, Leigh says. With the dairy industry struggling in the 1970s, the boys were not encouraged to stay on the farm that had been in the family since the Civil War. They discovered a tape of Flatt & Scruggs, whose traditional bluegrass themes resonated with their experience. Being removed from the rest of the population of bluegrass led them to create an individual sound. With nine albums to their credit, they’ve twice been recognized as entertainer of the year by the International Bluegrass Music Association. SCHEDULE: Saturday, JFK Plaza, 3:45 p.m.; Boarding House Park, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, St. Anne’s, 12:35 p.m.

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music


Jason D. Williams

JASON D. WILLIAMS Rockabilly Jason D. Williams was born in El Dorado, Arkansas, in 1959, at the end of rockabilly’s golden era. He has helped to keep the 60-year-old tradition of rockabilly alive and kicking, performing with the spirit of the young Southern musicians who combined blues, gospel, and hillbilly music, with swaggering vocals and aggressive, rocking guitar and piano. He started playing piano at age 2, and at 16 quit high school to join rockabilly legend Sleepy LaBeef ’s band. From LaBeef he learned hundreds of songs from blues, gospel, country, R&B, and beyond, and how they could be transmuted into revved-up rockabilly. He then went to Memphis, the hotbed

of rockabilly where Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison recorded classics at Sun Studio. It was there that Williams recorded two albums. While he acknowledges the influence of Jerry Lee Lewis, Williams’ respect for rockabilly’s tradition runs to its deep roots. “I’d watch ‘Hee Haw’ and see Moon Mullican put his foot up on the piano, so I’d do that. Of course, once you do that, the comparisons to Jerry Lee come right in,” he says. “But truly, it was Moon Mullican who did that first.” SCHEDULE: Saturday, Dutton Street, 12:15 p.m., Boarding House Park, 3 p.m.; Sunday, 3:15 p.m.

Old Bay Ceili

OLD BAY CEILI BAND Irish Baltimore’s Old Bay Ceili Band is a traditional dance band that has been one of the mainstays of Irish-American music in the cities of the East Coast and Great Lakes. Céilí bands reinvented traditional Irish music as lively dance music, with

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piano and drums anchoring the beat. The word céilí refers refers to gatherings where Irish set dancing — with couples dancing within groups of various formations, similar to square or contra dance — is common. In the wake of the folk revival, many boomer Irish-Americans looked for their own music roots and found them in kitchen “seisuns” and parish-hall dances of their parents’ generation. Maryland gave birth to two of the best boomer groups, the Irish Tradition and Celtic Thunder. The Old Bay Ceili Band represents a third-generation of Irish-Americans.

It’s led by button accordionist Sean McComiskey, son of the Irish Tradition’s Billy McComiskey. The band is filled out by more of Billy’s protégés: fiddlers Jim Eagan and Danny Noveck, flutists Laura Byrne and Brendan Bell, banjoist Bob Smith, pianist Matt Mulqueen and drummer Josh Dukes. The group’s name is a pun not only on the famous New York group, the Kips Bay Ceili Band, but also on the Chesapeake’s famous spice, Old Bay Seasoning. SCHEDULE: Saturday, Boarding House Park, noon, Dutton Street, 3 p.m.; Sunday, JFK Plaza, 5 p.m.

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FOLK FEST 2016

music


ANGKOR DANCE TROUPE Traditional Cambodian dance During the Khmer Rouge holocaust of the 1970s, more than 90 percent of Cambodia’s artists perished or fled the country. Dance and its associated narrative dramas, rituals and beliefs became a way for Cambodians to reconstruct a sense of community and culture, particularly for refugees who resettled in such places as Lowell. Tim Chan Thou, foun ding program director, formed the Angkor Dance Troupe in Lowell in 1986 with a small group of dancers who learned traditional Cambodian dance in refugee camps along the Thai-Cambodian border. They brought with them a strong desire to practice and perform Cambodian dance and a passion to teach others, establishing a regular schedule to rehearse the correct postures and movements. Classical or court dance is central to Cambodian national and cultural identity, a source of pride that represents the beauty and spirituality of Cambodian people. Folk dances, meanwhile, enable displaced Cambodians to remember their homeland and teach their children about the forces that shape the lives of Cambodia’s rural population. The Angkor Dance Troupe will be accompanied by an ensemble of Cambodian musicians, led by master musicians Song Heng and Chum Ngek, a 2004 recipient of The Angkor Dance Troupe performs the Blessing Dance in a celebration of Cambodian music in 2011. the Bess Lomax Hawes National Heritage Fellowship SUN FILE PHOTO from the National Endowment for the Arts. SCHEDULE: Sunday, Boarding House Park, noon

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FOLK FEST 2016


music


RAHIM ALHAJ Iraqi oud Rahim AlHaj is keeping a 5,000year-old musical tradition from the heart of Mesopotamia alive in Albuquerque. AlHaj, an Iraqi oud virtuoso, is a 2015 recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship, the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. The oud, a short-necked fretless lute, is central to traditional Iraqi music, which is organized into maqam, or modes. Each mode has a distinctive scale made up of several pitches and specific melodic formulas, often associated with a mood or season. AlHaj studied from the age of 9 at Baghdad’s Conservatory of Fine Arts and emerged as one of the world’s foremost oudists. But his refusal to

write music in praise of Saddam Hussein got him into trouble and a composition based on a poem by a friend who was wounded in the IranIraq War, landed him in prison. He was tortured and beaten. Rahim’s mother sold almost all of her belongings to fund his escape. He was granted political asylum in the United States, landing in Albuquerque, where he got a job as a $6-an-hour security guard. Missing his world, AlHaj rented a music hall and organized his first U.S. solo concert. It was a sell out. Since then, he has collaborated with the likes of guitarist Bill Frisell and REM and his solo work has won two Grammy awards. SCHEDULE: Saturday, Market Street, 1:45 p.m., St. Anne’s, 5:15 p.m.; Sunday, St. Anne’s, 3 p.m.

Foodways

Rahim AlHaj

The stories, smells, memories, and tastes of beloved foods are the things that people hold on to longest in their lives, despite changes through time, geography, and even language. Whether foodways are adapted by immigrants long settled or those newly arrived, we all can share generations’ worth of techniques and wisdom in every bite, along with cooks’ stories from some of the cultures that make up the American foodscape, such as African American, Chinese, Jamaican, Polish, Puerto Rican, and beyond. To celebrate the festival’s 30th anniversary, the Lowell Folk Festival is featuring cooks who have adapted their traditions ranging from small islands to regions of large continents, and how they found their way to America and to the Lowell Folk Festival. Come have a taste of tradition.

Lucy Larcom Park, Saturday and Sunday, noon-5 p.m. Noon: Dottie N. Flanagan, Polish pierogi 1 p.m.: Jeanette Rodriquez, Puerto Rican surprise 2 p.m.: Charles Coe, West African chicken peanut stew 3 p.m.: Nicola Williams, Jamaican fish tea 4p.m.: Max Gow, Chinese soba noodles for salad & soup Curated by Millie Rahn, folklorist & foodways specialist

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FOLK FEST 2016


Everybody dance!

The Lowell Folk Festival spurs people to hit the floor and show off their cool moves

Klezmer music got dancers into line at last year’s Lowell Folk Festival. Last year’s parade band, The Original Pinettes Brass Band from New Orleans, got people dancing in the streets.

Halina Nowak and her friend, Kevin Martin, both of Lowell, do the polka.

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SUN FILE PHOTO

FOLK FEST 2016

WE KNOW MORE SO YOU CAN WORRY LESS Directions By car: Take the Lowell Connector from Interstate 495 or Route 3 (Exit 30A) to Thorndike Street (Exit 5B). Follow “Lowell National and State Parks” signs to parking areas. There is parking at the John Street Garage, Roy Garage, Lower Locks Garage and the Early Garage on Middlesex Street. By train: Service is available from Boston’s North Station to Gallagher Terminal in Lowell, where shuttle service is provided to downtown Lowell. The shuttle fare is $1. Event locations: All events are free and open to the public.

THE SUN THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2016 S23

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Boarding House Park

Boarding House Park

JFK Plaza

Noon-12:45 p.m. Old Bay Ceili Band (Irish)

Noon-1 p.m. Dennis Polisky & the Maestro’s Men (Polish polka)

6:30-6:55 p.m. Parade, Aqua String Band 6:55-7:15 p.m. Festival kick-off 7:15-8 p.m. Savoy Family Cajun Band (Cajun) 8:15-9 p.m. Ana Laíns (fado) 9:15-10:15 p.m. Deacon John’s Jump Blues (jump blues)

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FOLK FEST 2016


1-1:45 p.m. Debashish Bhattacharya & Family (Indian slide guitar)

LOWELL FOLK FESTIVAL 2016

1:15-2 p.m. Ana Laíns (fado)

2-2:45 p.m. Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera (Peking Opera) 3-3:45 p.m. Jason D. Williams (rockabilly)

St. Anne’s Churchyard

12:10-12:30 p.m. Tarniriik (Inuit throat singing)

12:15-1 p.m. Oi Pontoi (Pontic Greek)

12:45-1:30 p.m. Charlie Walden (Missouri old-time fiddle) 1:45-2:45 p.m. Rahim AlHaj (Iraqi oud)

2:15-3 p.m. Louisiana Dance Hall Party! - Savoy Family Cajun Band, Deacon John Moore

4-5 p.m. Deacon John’s Jump Blues (jump blues)


5:15-6 p.m. Spencer Taylor & the Highway QC’s (gospel)

3:50-4:45 p.m. Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy (Cape Breton and Ontario fiddling)

Dutton Street Dance Pavilion

Market Street Stage


12:15-1:30 p.m. Jason D. Williams (rockabilly)

1:15-2 p.m. Sri Lankan Dance Academy of NY (traditional Sri Lankan dance)


1:45-2:45 p.m. Dennis Polisky & the Maestro’s Men (Polish polka)


SUNDAY, July 31 Boarding House Park Noon-1 p.m. Angkor Dance Troupe (traditional Cambodian dance)

SATURDAY SUNDAY JFK Plaza

Market Street Stage

12:15-1:15 p.m. Spencer Taylor & the Highway QC’s (gospel)

12:15-1 p.m. Sri Lankan Dance Academy of NY (traditional Sri Lankan dance)

St. Anne’s Churchyard


Noon-12:20 p.m. Tarniriik (Inuit throat singing) 12:30-1:30 p.m. Plena Es (bomba y plena) 12:35-1:30 p.m. Gibson Brothers (bluegrass)

1:50-2:45 p.m. Sri Lankan Dance Academy of NY (traditional Sri Lankan dance)

1:30-2:30 p.m. Debashish Bhattacharya & Family (Indian slide guitar)

1:15-2 p.m. BoogieWoogie Piano: Jason D. Williams, Wilson Savoy (Savoy Family) 2:15-3:15 p.m. Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera (Peking Opera)

1:45-2:45 p.m. Fiddle Masters: Joel Savoy, Charlie Walden, Natalie MacMaster, Clayton Campbell, Jim Eagan

1:45-3 p.m. Lurrie Bell’s Chicago Blues Band (Chicago blues)

2:45-3:30 p.m. Oi Pontoi (Pontic Greek) 3-4 p.m. Songs of Praise, Hope, and Longing: Anandi Bhattacharya, Eric and Leigh Gibson, Ana Laíns, Lurrie Bell, Spencer Taylor & the Highway QC’s 4:15-5:15 p.m. Sri Lankan Dance Academy of NY (traditional Sri Lankan dance)

5:30-6:30 p.m. Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera (Peking Opera)

2:50-3:45 p.m. Charlie Walden (Missouri old-time fiddle)

4-5 p.m. Global Strings: Debashish Bhattacharya, Rahim AlHaj, Kosta Fetfatsidis & Evan Karapanagiotides, Jesse Brock

5:15-6 p.m. Rahim AlHaj (Iraqi oud)

6:15-7:10 p.m. Savoy Family Cajun Band (Cajun)

9-10:15 p.m. King Sunny Adé & His African Beats (Nigerian jùjú)

SATURDAY EVENING Boar ding House Park

FOLK FEST 2016


3-3:45 p.m. Old Bay Ceili Band (Irish)

7:10-7:30 p.m. Parade, Aqua String Band 7:30-8:15 p.m. Gibson Brothers (bluegrass) 8:30-9:15 p.m. Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy (Cape Breton and Ontario fiddling) 9:40-10:30 p.m. King Sunny Adé & His African Beats (Nigerian jùjú)

3-3:45 p.m. Rahim AlHaj (Iraqi oud)

3-3:45 p.m. Spencer Taylor & the Highway QC’s (gospel) 3:45-4:45 p.m. Gibson Brothers (bluegrass)

3:30-4:15 p.m. Charlie Walden (Missouri old-time fiddle)

4-5 p.m. Savoy Family Cajun Band (Cajun) 4-5 p.m. Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy (Cape Breton and Ontario fiddling)

5-6 p.m. Plena Es (bomba y plena)

7:15-8:30 p.m. Lurrie Bell’s Chicago Blues Band (Chicago blues)

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4:30-5:15 p.m. Oi Pontoi (Pontic Greek)

4-4:45 p.m. World Rhythms, Percussion Traditions: Subhasis Bhattacharya, Issa Malluf, David Lucca & Pierre Antonio Ramos, Chum Ngek, Sovann Chum & Song Heng (Cambodian)

5:15-6:30 p.m. Lurrie Bell’s Chicago Blues Band (Chicago blues)

7:30-8:30 p.m. Deacon John’s Jump Blues (jump blues)

3:15-4:15 p.m. Jason D. Williams (rockabilly)

4:30-5:45 p.m. Savoy Family Cajun Band (Cajun) 5:15-6:15 p.m. Lurrie Bell’s Chicago Blues Band (Chicago blues)

5-6 p.m. Old Bay Ceili Band (Irish)

5-5:45 p.m. Debashish Bhattacharya & Family (Indian slide guitar)

Ethnic Food Booths, JFK Plaza, Boarding House Park, Dutton Street Dance Pavilion. Crafts, Looking Back at 30 Years of Craft Traditions, Lucy Larcom Park, 12-5 p.m. Family Activity Area, Shattuck Street, 12-5 p.m. Art in the Courtyard: Fine arts and crafts in the Market Mills Courtyard, between the Market Street and Dutton Street stages. Street Entertainment: The Street Performance Area at John and Merrimack streets will feature tap the Aqua String Band and Hung Gar Kung Fu and Lion Dance.

9-10 p.m. Plena Es (bomba y plena)

Celebrating America’s greatest free folk festival…and our 23rd year in Lowell! Local Beer Garden, Hot Grills, Casual Dining, Live Music “After Hours”

New England Inspired Beer Garden, Hot Grills, Specialty Drinks Live Music “After Hours” Friday thru Sunday, Roots—Rock—Reggae—Funk

You don’t have to go home, but you CAN stay here! (91 Dutton, Opp JFK Plaza on map)

When the band shows up, til the man shows up (91 Dutton, Opp JFK stage on map)


FOLK FEST 2016

THE SUN

We specialize in servicing your needs for vinyl, ceramic, hardwood, linoleum and laminate flooring, along with a wide array of colors and materials in carpeting including area and braided rugs. We have a complete line of specialty products & the capability to produce custom carpet inlays containing high quality images, logos and artwork such as the one we recently produced for the City of Lowell for their City Counsel Chambers. We also have a highly qualified upholstery, matting and drapery workshop staff at the ready to finish off your interior project. Our list of manufacturers include Mannington, Armstrong, Congoleum, and Bruce for Vinyl and wood flooring. Hunter Douglas & Kirsch, for window treatments, Carole & Charlotte for upholstery fabrics and Mohawk, Shaw, Beaulieu & Karastan for carpeting. No interior problem is exactly the same, but it is very likely that Durkin’s has gone down most all roads over the past 68 years. When it comes to estimating, selection of materials, coordinating colors, budgets, scheduling and helping you get the job done ...We’ve been there before! Yes, we can save you time and money the Durkin’s way! The team at Durkins inc Carpeting & interiors, and Merrimac Rug @ Durkin’s is thankful for our many long-time customers and friends, who have indeed made our business grow. We believe you should buy products and services from people you can trust so that you may receive the service and support necessary to make your purchase an enjoyable one.

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FOLK FEST 2016

crafts


Lowell Folk Festival highlights crafts from the masters

The Lowell Folk Festival is celebrating 30 years of presenting craft artists at work. Along with several new artisans, there will be familiar faces, as the festival welcomes some of the most skilled and engaging individuals who have demonstrated over the years. Their work is inspired by the human urge to celebrate, to commemorate, to worship, to adorn, or to delight the senses. Like the music heard on festival stages, these craft traditions have been handed down within families, ethnicities, occupations or apprenticeships. Visitors will find master craftsmen carving letterforms in stone, working clay, marbling paper, and carving fruit so stunningly it defies eating. They can see musical instrument makers plane a plank of spruce or insert a decorative inlay or marvel at the material culture of Lithuanian mid-summer. They can even pose in one of the Hat Ladies of Fiesta’s creations or experience culture-specific traditions of folk beauty that originate in Africa and India, and continue in American communi- Fatima Vejzovic of Hartford, Connecticut, demonstrates Bosnian rug weaving at last year’s Lowell Folk Festival. SUN FILE PHOTO ties.

Experience all that the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center has to offer! Stop on by for a bite at 50 Warren, sit out on the patio and watch the waterfall while enjoying our signature lobster roll or Locks Burger! Check out our weekly seasonal specials including our “famous” 3-course prime rib dinner for only $25!

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crafts


CHRIS PANTAZELOS Greek bouzouki and oud making A luthier for the past 30 years, Chris Pantazelos specializes in building and repairing the stringed instruments heard in Greek, Armenian, and Turkish music. Bouzoukis, ouds, mandolins, and santouris line the walls and workbenches of his Lowell shop, Spartan Instruments. Some await repair; others are in the process of being created. Although bouzouki building is very widely practiced in Greece, it is rare to find a luthier in the United States who personally completes every step in constructing this instrument. Pantazelos takes great pride in doing just this. Born in Greece, Pantazelos

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immigrated to the United States at the age of 19. In 1985, he met master luthier and National Heritage Fellow Peter S. Kyvelos of Unique Strings, with whom he began an apprenticeship. At the time, the Belmont shop was known around the United States as the epicenter of instrument making by Greek, Armenian and Middle Eastern musicians. An inquisitive and inspired maker, Pantazelos is always looking for new ways to improve the sound of a musical instrument. Ask him how variations in wood thickness, joinery, and the number of frets can alter the tone of a stringed instrument — and those beautiful inlaid designs.

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crafts


WILLIAM CUMPIANO Guitars and Puerto Rican Cuatro Making Since completing his apprenticeship under master luthier Michael Gurian in 1970, William Cumpiano has created hundreds of individually-crafted guitars and other stringed instruments in the European, North American, and Latin American traditions. His work has become inseparable from an all-consuming quest to recover the social history, music, and traditional construction of the cuatro, a 10-stringed instrument that is the national cultural icon for Puerto Ricans all over the world. More recently, he has helped revive three native string instruments of Puerto Rico: the tiple, bordunua, and tres. Once ubiquitous in the Puerto Rican countryside during the 19th century, these musical

instruments all but disappeared during the first half of the 20th century. Cumpiano works with exotic woods, sourced from all over the globe. In recent years, however, he has undertaken the project of substituting renewable local timbers to replace endangered rainforest hardwoods. In addition to making instruments, Cumpiano has taught his craft for over 20 years out of his studio, in schools, during workshops and lectures, and through numerous publications. He has been awarded multiple traditional arts apprenticeship grants by state and federal arts agencies to pass the craft of cuatro making on to Puerto William Cumpiano Rican youth.

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crafts


STEPHEN EARP Redware pottery Redware is the common name for domestic pottery produced in New England between the 17th and 18th centuries. Redware was made primarily to meet the daily needs of preparing, serving, and storing food. On occasion, redware also served commemorative and decorative purposes. Stephen Earp is an accomplished ceramicist who has made the study and practice of making traditional pottery his focus. After completing an apprenticeship with the protégé of a Japanese National Living Treasure potter, Earp worked with traditional potters in Central America, Africa, and Europe. But it was while working at Old Sturbridge Village and encountering redware that he found his calling.

Earp’s pottery uses imagery inspired by the slip-trailed designs of New England redware potters. Other sources of inspiration include Pennsylvania tulip ware and the slipware pottery of Devon, England. Most of Earp’s pottery is thrown on a wheel that he designed and built. He uses local materials, including clay from a family owned pottery in Sheffield, which mines clay from a local seam. His glazes include ashes from the hay of a nearby farmer. Since 2007, Stephen has been included in Early American Life Magazine’s annual National Directory of Traditional American Crafts. Earp was named a Traditional Arts Finalist in the Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship Program in 2008 and 2016.

JESSE MARSOLAIS Carving letterforms in stone Before opening his own printing and letter carving business, Jesse Marsolais spent six years working alongside master letterpress printer John Kristensen at Firefly Press in Boston. Years of composing foundry and metal type for letterpress printing turned out to be excellent experience for embarking on the daunting task of designing and laying out letterforms to be cut in stone. A six-week apprenticeship under master letter carver and National Heritage Fellow Nicholas Benson at the John Stevens Shop in Newport, Rhode Island, didn’t hurt. Marsolais’ recent commissions include alphabets carved in stone, signage for businesses, memorial stones, and house numbers. His raw materials are stone: Vermont slate, pink Tennessee marble, or variegated beach stones. The letterforms are designed by painting with a chisel-edge brush. Next, the carving begins with chisel and mallet. Each character is created by a V-cut, which brings out the contrast between light and shadow. Chasing the edge of a chisel to form the letters takes a steady hand; one false move and the letter is ruined, hence the saying, “written in stone.” It is a time-consuming process. Once complete, the letterforms are either left unembellished or they can be painted or gilded and oiled.

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crafts


JONAS STUNDZIA Lithuanian summer solstice celebrations

Robyn and Amy Clayton

ROBYN AND AMY CLAYTON The Hat Ladies of Fiesta Sometimes an old tradition spawns a new one. Sisters Robyn and Amy Clayton are known around Gloucester as “the Crazy Hat Ladies of Fiesta.” Their outlandish hats have become an integral part of St. Peter’s Fiesta, which recently celebrated its 90th year. The annual festival, which honors the patron saint of fishermen, is part religious devotion, part ethnic pride, and part boisterous revelry. Throughout the five-day festival, greasy pole competitions, boat races, music and dancing engage visitors. Fiesta also features a carnival, a temporary altar and outdoor Mass, and a blessing of more than100 ItalianAmerican fishing vessels.

Each year, the Clayton sisters make new hats that replicate in miniature key elements of Fiesta — church facades, temporary altars, St. Peter, working carnival rides, and Ambie the sausage man. Sometimes, their hats serve as visual commentary on local political controversies. On Sunday of Fiesta, a parade lasting over three hours marches through town, featuring religious groups carrying elaborate statues honoring St. Peter, Mary, Jesus and others, while shouting prayers and salutations, “Viva! Viva! Viva San Pietro!” Robyn and Amy will be right there in the midst of it, more than happy to pose for pictures.

Jonas Stundzia is a Lithuanian folklorist active the Romuva movement, which is dedicated to the preservation of ancient Baltic folkways. He was mesmerized by the Lithuanian culture in which he grew up in Lawrence. His interaction with elderly immigrants was more than an ethnological study. It was an immersion that became a worldview and lifestyle. Wreaths and garlands are an important part of the summer solstice celebration known as Rasos or St. John’s Day. After long winters, the return of the sun is a major event and there are numerous references to the sun in folk songs and folk art. Water, fire, flowers, and the sun are important elements to the festival. Garlands of herbs, grasses, and wildflowers adorn people’s heads, waterways, structures, and gates. People float wreaths with candles on the water and burn garland figures on poles to guide the sun back through the short night. Garlands can tell the future and bring fortune, and even a spouse if it lands in a branch of a birch tree. Ferns mystically bloom at night while the sun skips in the sky by day. On this holiday, all people named Jonas are decorated with oak wreaths on their heads, for they are a special component of the feast day. This could be why Jonas Stundzia “Jonas” is the most common name in Lithuania.

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FREE In-Store Pickup Marlee Noonan, 4, of Lowell, got her face painted at the Family Activity Area of last year’s Lowell Folk Festival. SUN FILE PHOTO

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crafts


NOUREEN SULTANA AND DANISH KHAN Mehndi bridal art

Ruben Arroco

RUBEN ARROCO Fruit carving The art of fruit and vegetable carving is said to have originated in Thailand over 700 years ago. Ruben Arroco learned to carve during his training as a hotel chef in the Philippines. “There is a place in the Philippines where people there make a living carving wood. Some of those guys, I was lucky enough to work with in the hotel. If you can carve wood, you can carve (fruit) — so I kind of learned it from them.” Arroco went on to work as an executive chef for 30 years before starting his own business, Culinary Artworks, Inc., in Lowell. He regularly does carving demonstrations at regional tech schools and was recently recognized by the American Culinary Federation for mentoring the next generation of chefs. Ruben uses a specialized stainless steel to make most of his own tools. “Even just making simple Vcuts transforms it and gives it that nicer look,” he says. “Separation of the petals from the part that you carved, that's very important.” One might wonder how it feels to make art that is so stunning, yet so ephemeral. After delivering his carved fruit, Ruben often gets a call back from the host saying, “We have a problem. Nobody wants to touch it.”

It is customary in India, Pakistan, and parts of the Arab world for brides to decorate their hands and feet with intricate henna designs called mehndi. Traditional mehndi often include floral motifs, lines, dots, and paisley to create this remarkable “wearable” yet ephemeral art that is also used for religious and seasonal festivals like Eid ul Fitr, Eid ul Adha, Diwali, Navaratri and Karva Chaut. Noureen Sultana, who grew up in Hyderabad, India, is a master of henna art. She learned from her mother. Zaheer Unnisa Begum, who learned from her mother, Mehmooda Katoon. She has also begun teaching her two sons to do mehndi in order to carry on the family tradition. Working with her today is her son Danish Khan. Sultana prides herself on creating unique designs and is in high demand among Indian, Pakistani and Middle Eastern brides in New England, doing 85 to 90 weddings a year. While her mother practiced a very traditional style of henna, Sultana has been exposed to and embraced a multitude of cultural influences that inspire her to innovate. She has set her sights on expanding the realism of henna art, applying traditional techniques to a variety of new media.

whatdoUwannado contact info Editorial: Joanne Deegan, jdeegan@ lowellsun.com Advertising: Katelyn McNamara, kmcnamara@ mediaonene.com

The Folk Festival offers the best of Lowell. See us for the best in Greater Lowell commercial and residential real estate.

THE SUN

FOLK FEST 2016


crafts


SELLOU COLY, LUJUANA HOOD AND MARGY GREEN Hair Culture: Africa to America For Africans and African Americans, “Hair is power,” says Lujuana Hood, director of the Pan African Historical Museum USA in Springfield. In Senegal, the birthplace of master braider Sellou Coly, hairstyles can convey essential information about the wearer and her position in society. Cultural traditions also reinforce the power of hair braiding. The Senegalese believe that a person’s soul rests in the crown of the head, so when the braider is done, she will knock on the crown of the client’s head to make sure that her spirit hasn’t crossed over into the braider. In America, black hairstyles not only express personal aesthetics, but also

the historical struggle for cultural selfdetermination and power. In the wake of the civil rights movement, African Americans looked to Africa for inspiration. By the time master braider Margy Green was growing up in New York in the 1990s, African hair braiding had become an American tradition as well. Sellou learned her craft by braiding corn silk as a child in Senegal; Margy’s first client was her Barbie doll. As a devout Muslim, Sellou chooses only to braid with clients’ natural hair, while Margy often uses extensions to supplement the styles she braids. Together they demonstrate the diversity of this beautiful and powerful art.

TAMIL MAKKAL MANDRAM Kolam art: daily ritual

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Kolam art has been practiced by women throughout southern India for hundreds of years. These brightly colored rice flour designs adorn the thresholds of homes and temples every day, as well as streets and sidewalks at festival times. During the month of Margazhi Masam (mid-December to mid-January), many women wake up before dawn to begin preparing designs in front of their homes which take several hours to complete. Once finished, neighbors compare each other’s Tamil Makkal Mandram designs in an informal competition. Kolam designs range from highly organized to freehand. Geometric designs are started by laying down a grid of dots, which are then connected by drawing lines or curves using white rice flour or stone dust. Once all the lines are connected, colors are added to fill in the design. Some kolam are used specifically for holy days and locations, while others are more secular and celebratory. Though types and designs may vary widely, all kolam have deep symbolic meaning. Priya Karthigai, Sathya Ramesh and Sridevi Karthikeyan all grew up in Tamil Nadu in southern Indai and learned this daily but ephemeral art from their mothers. In India, the time spent creating kolam together is recalled fondly as being warm and social. Although American life does not make it easy, these women still use kolam here as a tool of connection, both culturally and spiritually.

THE SUN

FOLK FEST 2016


food


Food brings people together at the Folk Festival

Parker Fisher, 15, of Ayer, left, and Lilly Bolandrina, 13, of Douglas, serve at the Iskwelahang Pilipino food tent at last year’s Lowell Folk Festival. SUN FILE PHOTO

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VISIT OUR TAKE-OUT TENT “TAKE OUR DELICIOUS GREEK SPECIALTIES WITH YOU TO THE FOLK FESTIVAL VENUES”

Live Greek & Middle Eastern Music with Bellydancing Thursday, Friday & Saturday beginning at 8pm.

Outside Concerts on the Corner July 28: The Brown Boot Boys (8-10pm) July 29: The Band Thr33 (8:30-11:30pm) July 30: Mt. Pleasant Band (8:30-11:30pm) July 31: Folk Festival “After Party” featuring Reverend J.J. & the Casual Sinners (5:30-8:30pm)

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The community groups offering ethnic foods during the Lowell Folk Festival represent the diversity of the Lowell community and the willingness of the Lowell community to share its cultural traditions. Each group provides foods that will tempt and delight festivalgoers’ taste buds. Through these groups, hundreds of volunteers work behind the scenes to prepare food before the festival and to serve festival crowds during the festival weekend. All foods are prepared in inspected kitchens and food preparation and service follow strict Department of Public Health guidelines. Food sales’ net proceeds are returned in full to the community in the form of donations to charitable organizations and programs. Here’s what’s on the menu:

BUDDHACHAK INC. Dutton Street Vegetable Spring Roll, $2; Chicken on Stick, $4; Fresh Roll, $5; Pad Thai, $6; Chicken Yellow Curry, $6; Vegetable Curry, $6; Mango Fried Rice, $6; Fried Plantain, $3; Water, $2

EMMANUEL TEMPLE (Liberian) Dutton Street Cassava Leaf w/ Rice, $10; Jolloff Rice, $10; BBQ Chicken, $6; BBQ Spare Ribs, $7; Siskabar, $5 Meat on Stick with or without peppers; Goat stew, $7; Gizzards, $6; Liberian Potato Salad, $5; Fried Plantain, $5; Roasted Corn, $1; Rice Bread, $2; Donuts / Liberian Calla, $2; Liberian Milk Candy, $2; Coconut Candy, $2; Liberian Groundpee Candy $2

HELLENIC AMERICAN ACADEMY PTA ARMENIAN Boarding House Park RELIEF SOCIETY Gyro Sandwich (Gyro JFK Plaza meat served with tomaLosh Kebab Sandwich toes, onion and Tzatziki (Armenian-style hamSauce), $7; Lamb burger), $7; Losh Kebab Skewer, $8; Chicken Dinner (rice pilaf, salad, Skewer, $7; Spinach losh, & bread), $10; Pie, $5; Grape Leaves Rice Pilaf, $3; Salad in a (vegetarian), $4; Pouch, $3.50; LahmeBaklava, $4; Baklava joon (Armenian meat Sundae (Baklava, Vanilla pie), $3; Spinach Pita, Ice Cream, Whipped $3; Stuffed Grape Cream and Hot Fudge), Leaves, $1; Boorma, $7; Spring Water, $2 . $2; Gadaif, $3; Paklava, Please see MENUS/S38 $3; Coffee rolls, $2.

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FOLK FEST 2016


Menus reflect spice of life in ethnic communities

MENUS/From Page S36

$5; Fried Rice, $5; Chicken Wings, $2; Beef Stick, $2; Papaya Salad, $5; Watermelon, $1; Crab rangoon, $1; Combination Plate (Fried Rice, Pad Thai Noodle & Beef Stick), $8; Spring Water, $2.

Habichuelas y Ensalada (Rice with Chicken, beans and HOLY TRINITY GREEK Salad), $10. Agua / Spring ORTHODOX CHURCH Water, $2. JFK Plaza SATURDAY AND SUNDAY: Souvlaki Dinner (Lamb or Arroz Con Pollo, Habichuela y Chicken on a stick with rice, Ensalada (Chicken & Rice salad, roll), $10; Souvlaki Stick with beans and Salad), $10; only (Lamb or Chicken on a LOWELL LATIN CATHOLIC Arroz Con Gandules, Pernil o stick with bread roll), $6; Gyro COMMUNITY OF ST. PATRICK Pollo y Ensalada (Chicken or Sandwich (Tomatoes, onions, PARISH Roast Pork with rice, pigeon tzaziki-cucumber/yogurt Boarding House Park peas and salad), $10; Pernil spread), $6; Spinach Pie/Pita, FRIDAY NIGHT: Alcapurria Con Tostones y Ensalada $4; Greek Salad, $4; Baklava, (Fried mashed plantain and (Roast Pork, fried plantains & $2; Koulourakia (braided butter meat), $3; Papa Rellena de Salad), $10; Chicharrones de cookies), $4 per bag; Greek carne (Meat stuffed mashed Pollo Con Tostones (Deep Pastries, $2; Spring Water, $2. potato ball), $2; Pastelillos Fried Chicken with Fried PlanRellenos de Carne, de Pollo o tains), $8; Pinchos de Pollo o LAO UNITED Res (Meat pie stuffed with Cerdo (Chicken or pork CHURCH OF CHRIST ground chicken, beef or pork), kabobs), $4; Piononos (Sweet JFK Plaza $2; Bacalaito (Fried Codfish plantains stuffed with meat), Egg Roll, $1; Pad Thai Noodle, Dough), $2; Arroz con pollo, $4; Alcapurria (Fried mashed

A TRADITION

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plantain and meat), $2; Papa rellena de Carne (Meat stuffed mashed potato ball), $2; Pastelillos Rellenos de Pollo o Res (Meat pie stuffed with ground chicken, beef), $2; Bacalaito (Fried Codfish dough), $2; Plato de Arroz (Plate of Rice), $4; Tostones Fried Plantains 10 for, $2; Habichuelas solas (Bowl of Stewed beans), $2; Agua/Spring Water, $2.

LOWELL POLISH CULTURAL COMMITTEE JFK Plaza Pierogi (Ravioli-like dumpling filled with cheese or cabbage), $1. Kapusta (Cabbage Soup made with pork), $4; Kielbasa Sandwich, $5;

Ogorki (Fresh Polish Dill Pickle), $.50; Spring Water, $2; Rye Bread, $2.50; Babka (Sweet Bread), $3; Rosettes 3 for, $1.

OVERSEAS BURMESE CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP Dutton Street Fried Rice, $5; Fried Noodle or Vermicelli, $5; Chicken BBQ, $6; Burmese Noodle Salad, $5; Tofu Fritters, $5; Chicken Palata, $5; Bean Palata, $5; Tofu Salad, $5; Chicken Potato Curry w/Rice, $5; Myin Khwar Ywet Kyaw, $5; Pe Pin Pawk Kaw, $5; Buti Kywa, $5; Kyet Thun Kyaw, $5; Kayam Meatball, $5; Please see MENUS/S39

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THE SUN

FOLK FEST 2016

Food is a touchstone of culture

MENUS/From Page S38

tuguese Pastries), $1; Bottled Water, $2;


$8; Beef Shawarma (Slices of beef marinated in spices, served on pita Kayah Curry, $2; Banana Pudbread wrap, with tahini sauce, ding, $2; Sweet Sticky Rice, $2; tomatoes, parsley, Middle Eastern ST. GEORGE Fruit, $3; Water, $2; ANTIOCHIAN MIDDLE EASTERN pickles), $9; Kafta Wrap (Ground beef mixed with parsley, onions, Boarding House Park PORTUGUESE seasonings, drizzled with tahini Falafel (vegetable burger in pita AMERICAN VETERANS bread wrap with lettuce, tomatoes, sauce, sumac, red onion), $9; JFK Plaza Middle Eastern pickles, tangy thin Combination Plate (#1 Falafel, Pasteis de Bacalhau (Codfish sauce), $8; Fatoosh (tomatoes, let- Hommus & Fatoosh; #2 either Cakes), $1; Bifanas, (Marinated tuce, parsley, cucumber, fresh mint chicken or Kafta with rice pilaf and fatoosh), $14; Zalabee (fried Pork Loin on Portuguese Roll) $4; and toasted pita bread chips with dough), $4; Spring Water, $2. Linguica, $4; Cod Fish on Porfresh herbs, olive oil, and lemon tuguese Roll, $4; Carne de juice), $7; Hummus (dip with chick THE SEED Esperto Com Arroz (BBQ Sirloin peas, sesame paste, garlic, lemon (Indian and Jamaican) Tips Madeira Style with Rice), $8; served with pita bread & onion), Boarding House Park Favas Beans with Linguica and $5; Loobie and Rooz (Green Bean and JFK Plaza Smoked Ham, $5; Polvo Guisado & Sautéed onions in tomato sauce Indian Samosa (vegetarian), $3; (Octopus Stew with rice), $9; served over rice pilaf), $6; Chicken Jamaican Beef Patty, $3; Chicken Malasadas-Filhoses (Portuguese Kabob Wrap (Grilled chicken on pita curry, $8; Vegetable Curry, $6; Fried Dough), $1; Arroz Doce bread wrap with lettuce, tomatoes, Thla David, of Lowell, prepares fried rice at last (Sweet Rice), $1; Cajadas (Porand lemon-olive oil herb dressing), Please see MENUS/S40 SUN FILE PHOTO year’s Lowell Folk Festival.


THE SUN

FOLK FEST 2016

International flavors bring fun to the Folk Fest

MENUS/From Page S39

combination Chicken and Vegetable Curry, $12; Watermelon Wedge, $2; Jamaican Rum Cake, $3; Bottled Water, $2.

$5; Macaroni Salad, $5; Frozen yogurt, $1; Spring Water, $2

Sticky Rice, $3; Papaya Salad, $5; Fried Rice, $3; Spring Water, $2

ISKWELAHANG PILIPINO Boarding House Park Inihaw na Karne (Beef Barbecue), $5.25; Inihaw na Baboy (Pork Barbecue), $4.50; Inihaw na Manok (Chicken Barbecue), $4; Lumpia (Egg Roll), $3; Sinangag (Fried Rice), $3.50; Pancit Bihon (Rice Noodles), $4.50; Turon (Banana Roll), $2; Beef or Pork Barbecue, egg roll, fried rice, and rice noodle, $11; Chicken Barbecue, egg roll, fried rice, and rice noodle, $10; Spring Water, $2

NIGERIAN ASSOCIATION OF THE MERRIMACK VALLEY Goat Stew (+ 3 items), $14; Chicken (+ 3 items), $12; Fowl Stew (+ 3 items), $12; Goat Stew (+ 2 items), $12 ; Fowl Stew (+ 2 items), $10; Chicken (+ 2 items) $10; Jollof Rice, $5; Fried Rice, $5; White Rice, $5; Goat Stew, $8; Fowl Stew, $5; Chicken, $5; Spinach or Moi Moi, $5 ; Beans (Black Eye Peas) or FuFu, $5; DODO (Plantain), $5; Meat Pie, $3; Puff Puff, $1; Amala, $5; Amala, Fufu, Ewedu, Stew, $13 ; Spring Water, $2.

CHRIST JUBILEE INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES (African) Dutton Street Fried Rice with Fish or Chicken, $10; Torborgee with Rice (Beans & Kitterly), $10; Spinach with Rice, $10; Potato Greens & Rice, $10; Achekeh with Fish (with cucumber, fresh tomatoes and, $10; Check Rice with Gravy (Fish & Chicken), $10; Rich Dry Fish WAT LAO MIXARAYAM (With Fishand &/or Chicken), $10; Boarding House Park FEALMA BAZILIAN Collard Green with Rice, $10; CabBBQ Chicken Wings, $2.50; BBQ Beef Cachorro-quente (All beef hot dog, bage with Rice, $10; Pumpkin/Squash Stew with rice, $10; Teriyaki, $2.50; Fried Noodle, $3; Wat tomatoes, chopped onions, green and Banana or Corn Bread, $5; Samusa, Lao Mixayaram Special Egg Roll, $1; red pepper, corn and potato sticks),

$5; Espetinho de Frango Empanado (Breaded chicken kebabs on a stick), $4; Pastel de Queijo (pastel with mozzarella), $4; bottled water, $2. NEW LIFE KINGDOM INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES SIERRA LEONE Saturday: Cassava Leaves & Rice, $8; Potato Leaves & Rice, $8; Joloff Rice, $8; Checked Rice/Palm Oil Soup, $7; BBQ Chicken(2 pieces), $5; BBQ Ribs (2 pieces), $5; Bottled Water, $2; Sunday: Jollof Rice $8; Salad, $5; Pepper Chicken, $5; Roast Beef, $5; BBQ Chicken (2 pieces), $5; BBQ Ribs (2 pieces), $5; Bottled Water, $2

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THE SUN

FOLK FEST 2016


Destination Lowell an introduction to cultural riches

Destination Lowell is an introduction to the arts and culture of this creative city. Located on Merrimack Street, Folk Festival 2016 features a dozen organizations offering information, giveaways, and more. This year you can also help keep the Festival funded by stopping by the survey table and answering a few questions about what brought you to Folk Fest 2016. Here’s who’ll be there: Greater Lowell United Football Club: Greater Lowell United Football Club brings you high-level soccer done the right way, with integrity, dedication and a burning passion for

the game. Right here in the Merrimack Valley. GLUFC is a proud partner with Wolverhampton Wanderers. GLUFC has teams in the NPSL as well as a reserve team and is currently building youth and women’s teams. The Lowell Historical Society: The Lowell Historical Society’s mission is to collect, preserve and publish materials related to Lowell and to encourage and promote the study of the city’s history. LHS sponsor several lectures and workshops throughout the year. Lowell Celebrates Kerouac: Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Inc.: (LCK!) is a non-profit

organization whose mission is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of Jack Kerouac’s life and literature. Founded in 1985, LCK! sponsors literary programs year round, including a festival in the first weekend of October. They also produce a spring program tied to Kerouac’s March 12 birthday, as well as other educational and cultural activities. LCK! volunteers help maintain Kerouac Park and Jack Kerouac Commemorative in Downtown Lowell. Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust: The Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust (LP&CT) is a private, non-profit land

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trust located in Lowell, Massachusetts. LP&CT was founded in 1990 by residents with a vision to protect the natural resources upon which the city of Lowell was built. LP&CT provides conservation leadership and programs which focus on four major areas: land protection, stewardship, environmental education, and special places. Merrimack Valley Antique Bottle Club: The Merrimack Valley Bottle Club meets once a month in Chelmsford and organizes an annual antique bottle show and sale. This year the event will be held at the Westford Regency Inn and Conference Center. The event features more than 80 dealers of antique bottles and glass. Mill #5: Mill No. 5 offers loft spaces for tech start-ups, artists, and independent retail. It is a dining, shopping and entertainment destination with a farm-to-table cafe, a unique variety of shops and an independent movie theater. The interior of the mill is composed of salvaged historic buildings from throughout New England, arranged as an interior streetscape. The mill was built by an ancestor of Andy Warhol’s muse, Edie Sedgwick, in 1828. Merrimack Repertory Theatre: Merrimack Repertory Theatre produces vibrant contemporary plays that explore the heart, humor, and complexity of our relationships. The intimate 279seat theatre gets audiences close enough to the stage to

realize every nuanced detail of the acting and designs created by leading theatre professionals from around the country. Founded in 1979, Merrimack Repertory Theatre is a professional, nonprofit theatre company with a mission to “to advance the cause of human understanding through the art of theater.” Pollard Memorial Library Foundation: The Pollard Memorial Library is a vibrant community hub and Lowell’s gateway to knowledge, meeting the information needs and enriching the quality of life in our community. The mission of the library is to provide diverse collections, state of the art technology, appealing programs and services to Lowell’s diverse population in a safe and welcoming environment. The Gentlemen Songsters: The Gentlemen Songsters are devoted to enriching lives through singing. They perpetuate and celebrate harmony in the barbershop style and provide the opportunity to experience the joy of fourpart a capella singing. Western Avenue Studios: Western Avenue Studios is home to 245 working artist studio spaces, working in all mediums at all levels of experience. The artist community that has grown since its inception in 2005 is one of the largest on the East Coast. Western Avenue artists open their studios and lofts on the first Saturday of every month, inviting the public to explore and experience the creative process

and purchase art direct from the artists themselves. The Whistler House Museum: The Whistler House Museum of Art, birthplace of artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler, was established in 1908 as the permanent home of the Lowell Art Association. Founded in 1878, the Lowell Art Association owns and operates the museum as an historic site. Built in 1823, the Whistler House represents the richness of the history and the art of Lowell. This museum maintains its permanent collection of 19th- and early-20th-century New England representational artists and organizes contemporary and historical fine arts exhibitions in the adjacent Parker Gallery. Lowell Memorial Auditorium, Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell: The Lowell Memorial Auditorium and The Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell play starring roles in the region’s cultural and entertainment scene bringing internationally acclaimed musicals, performances and NCAA Division 1 sports to the Merrimack Valley. Grand architecture, a magnificent setting along the Concord River and elaborate renovations has made Lowell Memorial Auditorium the venue of choice in the region. The Tsongas Center features a beautifully landscaped outdoor area, a spacious lobby, and function rooms overlooking the Merrimack River. It is the perfect venue for a variety of events, from business meetings to major shows.

THE SUN

FOLK FEST 2016


A celebration of Americana

The Lonesome River Band performing bluegrass in 2008.

SUN FILE PHOTO

Proud Health & Wellness sponsor of the

2016 Lowell Folk Festival Visit the

Leroy Thomas and the Zydeco Roadrunners last year.

Lahey Health tent for FREE SUNSCREEN and other health and wellness essentials!

Wylie Gustafson and the Wild West at the Dutton Street Dance Pavilion last summer. SUN FILE PHOTO

THE SUN

FOLK FEST 2016


Music from the whole world over

The Mythili Prakash Dance Ensemble performs last year.

SUN FILE PHOTO

Los Cambalache, from left, Juan Perez on bass, Chuy Sandoval, founder SUN FILE PHOTO Cesar Castro, and Xochi Flores at last year’s Lowell Folk Festival.

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The Polka Country musicians at least year’s Folk Festival.

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THE SUN

FOLK FEST 2016


All dressed up

Trice Mahoney and her son, Thomas, all all Bunny Callahan is all smiles after Roseline Accam Adwadjie wrapped her head at the African Textiles, SUN FILE PHOTO Headwrap & Fashion craft booth last summer. dressed up for dancing last year. SUN FILE PHOTO

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