Not sure if the full list of Smithsonian Folklife Festival concerts has been posted. All events are free. The locations listed refer to different tents set up on the Mall for the festival.
http://www.festival.si.edu/visitor/evening.aspxWednesday, June 27, 2012
Justin S. Morrill Performing Arts Center, 6 p.m. ? 7:30 p.m.
West Virginia University?s Steel Band Drum Ensemble featuring Ellie Mannette
This group of forty WVU students with Band Director Dr. Michael Vercelli are joined by NEA National Heritage Fellow Ellie Mannette to perform the traditions of Trinidadian Steel Band music as well as classical and popular arrangements and transcriptions.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Panorama Room, 6 p.m. ? 9:30 p.m.
National Museum of African American History and Culture presents Bring Back the Funk featuring George Clinton, Ivan Neville and Dumpstaphunk, and Meshell Ndegeocello
These legendary and accomplished artists will show how funk music has influenced hip-hop, soul, and rock. In between sets, popular radio personality Tom Joyner will talk to performers and museum experts to get their impressions on funk and the impact it has had on music.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Justin S. Morrill Performing Arts Center, 6 p.m. ? 7:30 p.m.
Azerbaijani Music with Imamyar Hasanov and Pezhham Akhavass
Hasanov plays the kamancha, a stringed instrument known for its tender and melodic sounds, and Akhavass plays percussion in this evening of traditional mugham improvisations and love songs from Azerbaijan.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Justin S. Morrill Performing Arts Center, 6 p.m. ? 8 p.m.
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings presents Quetzal and
La Sardina de Naiguatá
These two Smithsonian Folkways recording artists have just released new albums. Quetzal combines shades of East L.A.?s soundscape, traditional son jarocho of Veracruz, salsa, R&B, and more to express the political and social struggle for self-determination and self-representation. La Sardina de Naiguatá fuses traditional Venezuelan parranda music with more diverse and progressive instrumentation in a way that has revolutionized and reinvigorated the genre.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Panorama Room, 6 p.m. ? 8 p.m.
The Music of Monticello and the Blue Ridge
The Ebony Hillbillies, banjo and guitar duo Sparky and Rhonda Rucker, and guitarist Amythyst Kiah perform the African American folk music tradition of the Virginia Piedmont. Other program highlights include calling by Herschel Tolson and square dancing by the South Side Squares.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Red Hot, 6 p.m. ? 8 p.m.
An Evening of Song with In Process... and the Rock Creek Singers
In Process... is a women?s vocal group who sing about issues of concern to African American women, including HIV/AIDS and songs about The AIDS Memorial Quilt. The Rock Creek Singers, an ensemble of the Gay Men?s Chorus of Washington, D.C., will perform songs of home and family.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Panorama Room, 6 p.m. ? 8 p.m.
Ralph Rinzler Memorial Concert: Celebrating Worth Long?s Legacy
This year?s concert honors Worth Long, folklorist and civil rights worker. A friend and colleague of Ralph Rinzler, Long founded the Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival, curated multiple Smithsonian Folklife Festivals, and documented traditional arts and culture throughout the Southern United States. This concert features performances by the Sweet Heaven Kings led by Norvus Butch Miller, the premier Washington D.C. shout band, based in the United House of Prayer in Anacostia, and the Rising Star Fife and Drum band from Northern Mississippi led by Sharde Thomas, the granddaughter of NEA National Heritage Fellow Othar Turner.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Justin S. Morrill Performing Arts Center, 6 p.m. ? 7:30 p.m.
Hungarian Roma Music with Kálmán Balogh
The Kálmán Balogh Gypsy Cimbalom Band joins the Karavan Familia to showcase the wide stylistic varieties and distinctive virtuoso sounds of Roma musical traditions from Hungary and Central Europe.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Justin S. Morrill Performing Arts Center, 6 p.m. ? 7:30 p.m.
Azerbaijani Music with Imamyar Hasanov and Pezhham Akhavass
Hasanov plays the kamancha, a stringed instrument known for its tender and melodic sounds, and Akhavass plays percussion in this evening of traditional mugham improvisations and love songs from Azerbaijan.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Justin S. Morrill Performing Arts Center, 6 p.m. ? 7:30 p.m.
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings presents University of Texas-Pan American?s Mariachi Aztlán and Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano
Two mariachi ensembles?based in Texas and Los Angeles, respectively?showcase the best of this dynamic musical style as interpreted in the United States. Mariachi Aztlán comes out of the award-winning UTPA Mariachi program and is one of the most respected groups both on and off campus. Long considered the foremost interpreters of mariachi music, GRAMMY award-winners and Smithsonian Folkways artists Nati Cano's Mariachi Los Camperos showcases their skillfully arranged versions of classic melodies and styles of traditional music from many regions of Mexico.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Justin S. Morrill Performing Arts Center, 6 p.m. ? 7:30 p.m.
University of the District of Columbia Jazz Ensemble
The University of the District of Columbia Jazz Studies program has produced premier jazz ensembles with a rich history of involvement in outreach activities in the D.C. metro region. An invaluable cultural resource for the city, they have performed at the Calvin Jones BIG BAND Jazz Festival, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Blues Alley, among other venues.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Red Hot, 6 p.m. ? 8 p.m.
Evening Cabaret
The NAMES Performers will celebrate in music the victory of the human spirit as is evidenced in The Quilt. Favorite song selections will be featured to honor healthcare workers, people living with HIV/AIDS, and families and friends who provide care on this journey of life.
