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FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
First Performers, Sponsors Announced for ‘07 American Folk Festival 3/23/07 (BANGOR, Maine) – Organizers of the American Folk Festival on the Bangor Waterfront announced details of the Festival, including the first ten of over 20 performing groups who will be featured at the event in August. They are: The Quebe Sisters, the Tibetan Monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery, the Dixie Hummingbirds, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and the Golden Eagles, The Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band, Wilho Saari, Bernard Allison, Larry Johnson, Eddie and Alonzo Pennington, Nukariik, and GreenFields of America. The Quebe Sisters originally appeared in Bangor at the 2004 National Folk Festival. This trio of talented fiddlers has since added a wide range of vocals to their Texas fiddling repertoire, and will be bringing this new show to the AFF in August. Larry Johnson is one of the finest living exponents of the southern acoustic blues tradition, and is heir to the legacy of his mentor, the legendary Rev. Gary Davis. Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and the Golden Eagles are a group of Mardi Gras Indians from New Orleans. Joseph Pierre “Monk” Boudreaux is one of the most respected leaders of any of the traditional New Orleans groups, revered for both his music and commitment to the tradition. He and the Golden Eagles have been in the forefront of bringing the Mardi Gras Indian tradition to wider audiences. Bruce Daigrepont has long been regarded as one of the finest accordionists in Cajun music. He is also one of only a handful of musicians writing French-language songs in traditional settings and many of his compositions have already entered into the repertoire of other Cajun bands in Louisiana, as well as Acadian musicians in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia For over three-quarters of a century, the Dixie Hummingbirds have been at the forefront of Gospel music in America, exerting an enormous influence over the country’s musical culture. In 2000, they were awarded a National Heritage Fellowship award from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Lamas of the Drepung Loseling Monastery are cultural and spiritual ambassadors from their monastery-in-exile. Eleven Tibetan lamas will perform compelling ritual music, dance and chant from their occupied homeland. Over the past twenty five years Wilho Saari has received both regional and national recognition for his playing of the kantele (a Finnish lap-harp), but perhaps his most important contribution comes from his willingness to play for numerous community events in his the local Finnish-American community, keeping an awareness of the instrument and its long tradition in the minds of Finnish- Americans who otherwise would have no knowledge of this extraordinary symbol of their culture. Bernard Allison totes the same smokin’ six string shooter that his late father Luther Allison assaulted the blues with. And he is blessed with his father’s soulful voice, spiritual devotion, and a musical freedom which experiments with the blues. Eddie Pennington. This guitar-playing county coroner is today’s leading practitioner of a complex style of thumb-picked guitar made famous by Merle Travis. Nukariik enthusiastically preserves and shares Inuit culture and music through a traditional and contemporary repertoire. Through entertaining performances, Nukariik provides explanations of and demonstrates throat singing, drum dancing, ajaja songs and traditional Inuit games. Founded in 1978, The GreenFields of America was the group that started it all – that sparked the glorious renaissance of traditional Irish music and dance that continues to this day. Coming to the AFF this summer are a special reunion of musicians who have been part of GreenFields over the years, including founder Mick Moloney on banjo, mandolin and vocals, Joanie Madden on whistle and flute, Billy McComiskey on button accordion, singer Robbie O’Connell, and fiddlers Athena O’Loughlin and Dana Lyn. These are just the first of nearly two dozen groups who will perform on the five stages of the American Folk Festival on the Bangor Waterfront on August 24th, 25th and 26th, 2007. The American Folk Festival continues to celebrate the roots, the richness and the variety of American culture through music, dance, traditional crafts, storytelling and food. And the entire weekend’s entertainment is free to the public! Free admission, however, doesn’t come cheaply, according to organizers. It costs $1 million each year to bring these top-notch performers to the Bangor waterfront, and to present them at no charge to the public. In order to continue to present the American Folk Festival free of charge to the public, significant financial support is required. The Festival is pleased to announce significant support from: The City of Bangor, Eastern Maine Healthcare System, the Bangor Daily News, Bangor Savings Bank and LL Bean. Each of these organizations is a renewing sponsor of the Folk Festival, helping to keep the American Folk Festival free and available to all.
For more information about the 2006 American Folk Festival on the Bangor Waterfront, please visit www.americanfolkfestival.com or contact the American Folk Festival at 40 Harlow Street, Bangor, Maine 04401, 207-992-2630. ###
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