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Photo by Shanbehzadeh Photo
Shanbehzadeh Ensemble
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Courtesy of National Council for the Traditional Arts
Holmes Brothers
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Courtesy of National Council for the Traditional Arts
Boban and Marko Markovic Orchestra
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Courtesy of National Council for the Traditional Arts
Jesse McReynolds
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Courtesy of National Council for the Traditional Arts
Chaksam-pa
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 10 years since the National Folk Festival arrived in Richmond, but it’s true. After three years of playing host for the national event, the city has put on the Richmond Folk Festival since 2008, continuing to draw amazing musicians from around the globe.
For this year’s festival, which runs from Oct. 10 to 12, some of the audience favorites from the past decade are returning (a complete list will be posted at richmondfolkfestival.org). Here are some of the highlights, courtesy of Blaine Waide, programming manager of the National Council for the Traditional Arts, which assists with planning and booking for
the festival.
This year’s event will showcase traditional African-American music genres — R&B, gospel and hip-hop — with a breakdancing battle, the return of the Holmes Brothers from Middlesex County, Virginia State University’s gospel chorale, William Bell of Stax Records fame and the go-go band Trouble Funk. Waide is especially excited about VSU’s group; it’s their first time playing the festival because homecoming usually conflicts. “It’s a very visually enriching experience along with the music,” he notes.
From Serbia comes the Boban and Marko Markovic Orchestra, a dynamic and award-winning Balkan brass band.
The West African Highlife Band, led by Babá Ken Okulolo, will bring energetic polyrhythms. Now based in California, Okulolo has “deep family roots in Nigerian music,” Waide says.
Returning to the festival after last playing in 2005 is the Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, a groundbreaking mariachi band that has worked with Linda Ronstadt and exposed many to the Mexican style of folk music.
Mandolin player (and friend of the late Jerry Garcia) Jesse McReynolds is originally from Virginia’s coal country and has been a staple on the Grand Old Opry. The White Top Mountaineers, hailing from the Blue Ridge Mountains, will perform duets.
The Tibetan folk group Chaksam-pa will bring singing, dancing and acting to the stage, and coming from India will be the slide-guitar player Debashish Bhattacharya.
Finally, according to Waide, Iran’s Shanbehzadeh Ensemble (now based in Paris) will deliver “trance-inducing music” on percussion and the ney-anban — an Iranian version of the bagpipes. And that is something you don’t see every day.
