A Midwinter Festival of Folk ArtsOld timers may call it a "MiniFest," but there's nothing "mini" about it, and the focus this year is on youth -- traditional folks arts aren't just for old folks. The Folklore Society of Greater Washington (FSGW) is pleased to present its annual indoor Mid-Winter Festival at Takoma Park Middle School, 7611 Piney Branch Road, Silver Spring, on Saturday, February 4 from noon to 6 pm, followed by a festival concert and dance from 7:30 to 10:30. Join us for a day featuring traditions in music, dance, and storytelling!Eight rooms during the afternoon hours will provide opportunities to hear music and to make music, to dance, to listen to stories or to tell them, to pursue crafts, and to eat and drink: -- The gym features participatory dance during the day, including Eastern European dances, clogging, tangos and waltzes. Instruction is provided, so here?s your chance to learn some new steps! There are also some expert demonstrations of clogging to watch while you catch your breath.-- Storytellers have a room of their own, starting with the Twinbrook Tellers, a group including youngsters who congregate at the Twinbrook Library to hone their telling skills and spin yarns. Many of our favorite local tellers will entertain you throughout the day, and the afternoon ends with a swap hosted by Bill Mayhew. -- The Roots Americana room offers both concerts to listen to and jams to participate in, including camp-meeting gospel, country music, fiddle styles, and a participatory American Roots jam where everything goes!-- Two rooms will offer singers, both traditional singers and contemporary singer-songwriters. Some are well-known local performers, and some are folks you haven't heard of, who don't usually promote the wonderful repertoires they will share with us.-- Another room is dedicated to participatory music-making -- there will be a Sacred Harp sing (shaped note hymns), a gospel music session, a blues jam led by the crew at Archie's Barbershop, a Pub Sing led by a couple of guys who grew up in the folk society, and an Irish music jam lead by the Irish Breakfast Band.-- The Mish-Mosh room is hard to categorize, quite deliberately, but offers everything from programs designed for young children to some quiet listening for adults (scheduled at those hours where we've got suitable entertainment designed for the little ones on another stage). There's even a Mongolian throat singer--(he's very famous in Mongolia!)The Cafetorium offers everything from Eastern European music with Sarenica and Lyuti Chushki to Welsh and Breton Music with Moch Pryderi. The Barrelhouse Brawl plays its take on New-Orleans style bordello music. The All New Genetically Altered Jug Band offers the lighthearted fun that only a skiffleband can provide, and the Pyrates Royale might well outdo them in inspired antics even while they present some not-silly maritime music.Food and drinks (from Subway and Mayorga Coffee) and crafts will be available for purchase all day in the Cafetorium, and some of the best purveyors of folk music and CDs will set up shop there as well. The evening's events:The evening concert features music by young people -- not chosen just because they are young, but because they are outstanding performers!The Rent Party Band are two Kinniburgh teenagers (Mary and Charlie) accompanied by their old man (Mark), firmly rooted in traditional folk and blues, but influenced by everything a youngster can hear today. Justin Metcalf-Burton (aged 14) is one of the Twinbrook Tellers, and he'll spin a story or two in the evening concert. The Kiltics spend their days attending classes at Montgomery Blair High School, but will provide energetic Celtic music for our concert, with English and Gaelic vocals, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, dance, and percussion (including vocal percussion). And Elizabeth LaPrelle is a great ballad singer from Virginia whose plaintive voice has been heard on A Prairie Home Companion, even though she's only a freshman at the College of William and Mary.At the same time, an Evening Dance Party runs in the gym, featuring music by A.P. and The Banty Roosters with contras, squares, and mixers called by Janine Smith. And you're welcome to bop back and forth between the dance and the concert -- if you can't make up your mind which evening event to choose, sample them both!
