My World Tuesday = Folklife Festival

My World Tuesday = Folklife Festival

2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

In Washington D.C.

It Looks Like An Ohio Country Fair

Between The Capitol Building and The Washington Monument.

This year's fair was good but not the greatest festival we have seen. I was sorry that there was not a highlighted U.S. state and there was just one country featured in depth and that was Wales. The biggest attractions were not individual states or countries but conglomerate places related to either Latin American countries or the oral traditions of African America.

We did get to see some good talent but almost all the entertainers were wearing just jeans and Tshirts. You couldn't tell that they were from a foreign land. I really like to see lots of colorful costumes of homeland countries but I didn't find it this year. Maybe the economic downturn has hurt the festival---not enough funds to do it right? I don't know. But here are some photos I snapped Saturday at the Folklife Festival in D.C.

Just like a county fair everything is in a tent. But you get a reality check when you look out and see the Washington Monument with all its American flags waving.

Peruvian Harp Music With Guitar Accompaniment

This Was The Best Act That We Saw Saturday.

Folk Music of the Americas:

One Act Featured Was A Group From Venezuela.

This Was A Donkey Dance

For A Christmas Song About The Donkey That Carried Mary.
Later The Audience Was Invited To Don The Donkey and Dance.

The Kids Are Always The First To Jump Up and Dance.

They Haven't Developed Any Inhibitions Yet.
Did Jack and I Dance?

No Way, We Are Too Shy!

Someone commented that it looked like there were not many people. That's because Jack and I went early in the day---like we got there at 9:30 and the festivites just started at 11:00 when I took these pics. More people came in the afternoon. We went early to avoid the heat and left when things were just really beginning to get lively.

Final note: The festival runs through July 5'th so if you are in the area try to explore it. It is a lot of fun. Now go visit some other My World Tuesday memes by clicking here: http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2008

This couple was one of the few adults willing to try some Texas swing dancing on the dance floor in the Texas Dance Hall tent. The lady who had to be in her middle seventies danced with all the willing old guys. Her t-shirt said Oklahoma but the Texas band let her dance. In fact, they dedicated a number to her.

This black folk group was from Austin, Texas and was called Le Amis Creole and as the name implies they sang in French songs that you would more expect to hear in Louisiana than Texas. But I guess music travels and knows no borders. The gentleman in the middle with the little squeezebox could really sing and hit the high notes.

Click on pics to get a better view of the people.

Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2008

Click on pictures for more detail in the pictures.

Every year around the time of the Fourth of July Celebration on the Washington D.C. Mall the Smithsonian Museum hosts the National Folklife Festival. Each year's festival highlights at least one foreign country and one U.S. state. Last year's festival was outstanding. Northern Ireland, the four countries that border the Mekong River (China, Vietnam,Cambodia and Laos) and the state of Virginia were the themes for the food, music, dance and displays. This year's featured places all in some way have a connection to Texas the featured state for this year. Texas I assume was chosen as a tribute to President Bush's last year in office. I didn't know NASA was a country or state but it was chosen because of its 50 anniversary this year. And of course, it has a Texas connection with the Houston Space Center.

The one foreign country featured this year is the little known country of Bhutan which is wedged between China to the north and India to the south and which stretches from tropical jungles in the south to cold Himalayan mountain passes in the north. And if you want to go to a place in the U.S. to learn about Bhutan, go to the University of Texas at El Paso where all the campus buildings are built in the style of Bhutan Buddhists architecture. (Who knew! Not me!) In the pictures posted here you see the U.S. Capital and the Mall and a replica of a Bhutan Buddhist Temple. A brochure I picked up shows the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) with the same style of architecture. Kathleen Worrell, UTEP's first dean, had the campus's first building built in this style in 1917 and nearly all other UTEP buildings followed this style of architecture. The top photo shows a group of Bhutan dancers doing a skull dance. We also had the opportunity to see an antler dance and the Buddhist monks black hat dance.

The fifth picture down was taken inside the tent labeled the Texas Dance Hall. Jack and I were transposed in our minds back to 1975 when we attended the wedding of an army auditor at El Paso whose post wedding reception was held at El Paso's Red Dog Saloon. The two artists up on stage playing and singing are Lloyd Maines and Teri Hendrix. Lloyd Maines besides being a Texas country artist in his own right is now probably best known as the father of Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks who had a few strong comments to make about President Bush's invasion of Iraq when she performed in London in 2003. Final note. We try to attend the Folklife

Festival each year. On a scale of one to five stars I would give the 2008 festival four stars and the 2007 just five stars plus. Jack and I both noticed that while there were many local people and tourists in town for this annual event there seemed to be a lot less then in previous years. I think gas prices and food costs are having a big impact on tourism.

2007 Folklife Festival and Live Earth

This is going to be a great weekend for both folklife and entertainment. The annual D.C. Folklife Festival has been going on since before July 4'th. Jack and I went by car and then Metro to the festival last Friday-June 29'th. We arrived on the mall via the Smithsonian Station Metro Stop at 11:15 A.M. and we found enough to keep us busy until 7:30 P.M. This is one of the better folklife festivals. Two years ago the festival focused on food prep around the world and we got to watch Emirl Legasse kick it up a notch or two. But the festival that year was a little confusing. This year there are three distinct places to explore:

Northern Ireland

The Mekong Delta

Root of Virginia Culture

When we arrived at the festival last Friday we made a beeline to the Mekong Delta which represents four countries that border the Mekong River. Anyone who lived during the Vietnam War era must remember hearing repeatly on the evening news reports of so many Americans killed today along the Mekong Delta. We quickly learned that the Mekong not only runs through Vietnam but the Yunnan Province of China plus Laos and Cambodia. The first thing we watched were the Cambonese dancers and singers who sang and danced a wedding celebration. The great thing about this festival is that all the acts are straight from the country and culture they represent so these attractive young dancers and actors were from Cambodia and looked like the men and women were putting a little extra spice in this wedding dance. After watching this and checking out the Mekong culture tent where we saw Thai silk weaving and Asian wood carving we headed to the Mekong food tent where we decided on what we wanted to eat. I decided to sample the ground chicken salad from Laos with a Thai beer to share with Jack. Jack opted for the Vegan Pad Thai. The Laos salad was tasty but very very hot. (Hotter than any Mexican food I have tried!) The Pad Thai was excellent! The yellow noodles and fried tofu in the dish were so delicious!For dessert we shared a portion of fresh sliced mango with sticky rice. Very very good.

After lunch we headed to the Northern Ireland Pavilion to watch and hear Irish music and dance. Our favorite Irish group was Four Men and A Dog.

I thought the group should have been called Four Men and A Little Girl. There was a girl about eight years old who knew how to do the Irish dances

like in River Dance. She would come out and dance to the music and the men would acknowledge her presence. After this more and more people came out to try to do an Irish jig either solo or with a partner. And I never did see the dog? After this we checked out the Northern Ireland culture tents where we saw how the world famous Guinness beer is made from roasted barley and water. We also saw Irish cathderal stone carver demonstrations.

After this we headed to our own state of Virginia Pavilion and watched the Virginia Native Tribes do native dances. One of the girls wore a jingle dress that had hundreds of metal jingles sewn to the dress. This dancer told us that her dress weighed about seven pounds! Seems to me it would be hard to walk let alone dance in a dress that heavy.

Soon it was time for dinner and more Irish music so we headed to the Irish food tent and had Shepherd's Pie with a glass of Guinness before heading back to the Irish Pavilion to hear the drummers that accompany the Irish bagpipers. Finally we headed back to Haymarket at 7:30 via Metro and car.

It was so much fun. We are hoping to head back to the festival tomorrow for more good food and shows. All the shows are free so you only need money for transportaion and food. Also, this Saturday the National Museum of the American Indian is having an all day Indian Summer Showcase to coincide with the the Live Earth Concerts that will be happening all across the globe. You can look up Live Earth on the web and find out who is performing on each continent for this worldwide event. Should be a great weekend for food, fun and entertainment even though it will be very hot outside.