Norman Kennedy (Monthly Program)

Singer of unaccompanied songs, teller of tales, culture bearer of Scottish traditions, and expert weaver, Norman Kennedy is an old friend of the Folklore Society of Greater Washington. January's Program brings him back for the first time since he's been declared a National Heritage Fellow. It also marks our return to the Washington Ethical Society for the first time since the conclusion of major road reconstruction of 16th Street, NW.Norman comes out, sits down, and begins a conversation that weaves traditional wauking songs and ballads and tales of his native Scottish hills, and of how he collected songs live from the sources, or of how he's discovered a trove of Scottish recordings in the vault of our local Library of Congress. His style is informal, and his enthusiasm is contagious--the same enthusiasm that compelled him from childhood to learn everything he could about traditional Scottish culture and that now compels him as an elder master to impart that knowledge to anyone who will take it.Norman Kennedy grew up in Aberdeen, Scotland, and was already a well-respected singer by the early 1960s. He befriended Jeannie Robertson and he clearly learned a good deal from the great singer. He travelled to the Hebrides to absorb as much as he could of Gaelic language and culture. He learned from friends and family. He even learned to card, spin and weave wool, waulking the tweed in the traditional manner with the singing that accompanies it. He first came to the United States for the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, spent a few years as the weaver at Colonial Williamsburg, and then settled into Vermont, where he resides today, though he hasn't lost his Aberdonian accent.In January, the month of Robert Burns celebrations, put on your warm woolen garments and come hear this National Heritage Fellow share Scottish culture with you as nobody else can. As Norman explains it: "These songs are my roots; they're older and more important than I am."This November monthly program is FREE to members of FSGW, and $15 for non-members, though you're welcome to join FSGW at the door. It will be held at the Washington Ethical Society.