Take a look at who’s coming to the 30th Lowell Folk Festival!
July 29-31, 2016.
Lowell, MA – In celebration of the 30th Lowell Folk Festival, a new, fresh look has been added to this year’s festival to mark the occasion. The Lowell Folk Festival continues to provide the finest in traditional music, craft, floodways and more in downtown Lowell. This year, the theme of the festival is passing the torch. Numerous performers, who have signed on, continue to represent the finest in traditional folk music and their efforts to continue the tradition of performing and sharing their knowledge to the next generation.
“This year marks the 30th Festival in Lowell,” said Craig Gates, Executive Director of the Lowell Folk Festival. “The lineup will be a mix of new performers and returning favorites from the festivals 30-year history. This community has embraced a festival that has drawn millions of people over the last 30 years. We’re very excited to present the 30th festival this July.”
Look for the following performers to make the Lowell Folk Festival the place to be July 29 – 31, 2016.
Debashish Bhattacharya & Family – Indian slide guitar
Kolkata, India
Gibson Brothers – bluegrass
Upstate New York
Deacon John’s Jump Blues – jump blues
New Orleans, Louisiana
Rahim AlHaj – Iraqi oud
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Sri Lankan Dance Academy of NY – traditional Sri Lankan dance
Staten Island, New York
Savoy Family Cajun Band – Cajun
Eunice, Louisiana
Lurrie Bell’s Chicago Blues Band – Chicago blues
Chicago, Illinois
Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy – Cape Breton
Cape Breton by way of Ontario
King Sunny Adé & His African Beats – Nigerian jùjú
Nigeria
Plena Es — bomba y plena
Sunrise, Florida
Spencer Taylor & the Highway Q.C.’s — gospel
Washington, D.C.
Jason D. Williams — rockabilly
Memphis, Tennessee
Dennis Polisky & Maestro’s Men — Polish polka
Colchester, Connecticut
Old Bay Ceili Band — Irish
Baltimore, Maryland
Rebecca McGowan — Irish dance
Lexington, Massachusetts
Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera — Peking Opera
Woodhaven, New York
Charlie Walden — Missouri old-time fiddle
Evanston, Illinois
Oi Pontoi — Pontic Greek
Tewksbury, Massachusetts and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Tarniriik — Inuit throat singing
Ottawa, Ontario
To recognize the 30th Lowell Folk Festival, a new, special logo has been commissioned to mark the occasion.
At the Folk Craft Area, you can walk about and observe master craftspeople carving letter forms in stone, working clay, marbling paper, and carving fruit so stunningly it deters eating. Watch musical instrument makers plane a plank of spruce or insert a decorative inlay. Marvel at the material culture of Lithuanian mid-summer. Pose in one of the Crazy Hat Ladies Fiesta’s creations as you learn how one venerable tradition spawns a new one. You will even have the chance to sit down and personally experience cultural traditions of folk beauty that originate in Africa, India, and the American South.
To celebrate the Festival’s 30th Anniversary the Foodways area will be 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! Make sure you stop by and have a “Taste of Tradition!”
The Lowell Folk Festival is presented by Lowell National Historical Park, Lowell Festival Foundation, the National Council for the Traditional Arts, the City of Lowell, the Greater Merrimack Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce. For more information, contact Phil Lupsiewicz at 978-275-1705 or phil_lupsiewicz@nps.gov.
