Seven artists, groups join growing number of folk festival performers

BANGOR – Organizers of the 65th National Folk Festival have announced the latest round of artists selected to perform at the free, three-day festival Aug. 22-24. Seven new performance groups are joining the growing list of artists scheduled to appear.

The Chinese Folk Art Workshop from Boston, a youth group whose members range in age from12 to 17, will perform a variety of Chinese traditional arts, including a dragon dance, lion dance, Chinese yo-yo and Taiwan’s aboriginal dance.

The members of Springfield Exit hail from Tennessee and Vermont, and play country and Americana music. The veteran musicians bring with them a variety of experience and influence. Their sound stems from Appalachia and combines elements of bluegrass and country.

Robert Turner and the Silver Hearts Singers of Indianapolis, Ind., have performed African- American gospel music for more than 40 years. Rooted in the religious songs of the late 19th century urban revival, gospel emerged early in the 20th century. The singers are an Indianapolis institution, performing at churches, reunions and community gatherings.

Mountain Heart offers the finest in bluegrass music. Mountain Heart achieved the nearly impossible feat of earning an International Bluegrass Music Association award for Emerging Artist of the Year before their first recording was released.

The Bronx New Heaven Shout Band is an African-American Gospel Brass Band from New York. The band has its roots in the groups that gathered at church on Sundays to play brass band repertoire. Many in the group remember a father, uncle or other relative who played gospel brass. They think of their current endeavors as a continuation of that long tradition.

Sensacion Vallenata con Gustavo Nieto will perform Colombian Vallenato music at the National Folk Festival. Vallenato, the music of Colombia’s coastal region, has become one of that country’s most popular styles. Local Colombian folktales attribute the invention of vallenato to Francisco “El Hombre,” a man who once beat the devil in an accordion-playing duel. Vallenato has South American Indian, European and African influences.

Wawali Bonane and Yoka Nzenze from Seattle, Wash., will perform Congolese soukous, also known as rumba. Emerging from the urban centers of the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire, soukous has been one of the most globally influential music styles to emerge from Africa in this century. It is heard in dance halls and concert venues throughout Africa.

With the addition of these seven new artists the total of Folk Festival performers, representing traditions from Armenian to Zydeco from across America, is now at 24.

The National Council for the Traditional Arts, The Greater Bangor Convention and Visitors Bureau, the City of Bangor, Eastern Maine Development Corporation and the Maine Folklife Center at the University of Maine are the producers of the National Folk Festival.

Sponsors of the 65th National Folk Festival are Eastern Maine Healthcare, Key Bank, Snow & Nealley Co., The National Endowment for the Arts, the Bangor Daily News, the Maine Office of Tourism and other friends of the Festival.

Representatives from the 65th National Folk Festival will hold a series of meetings to familiarize regional businesses with the cultural event and how it can make a positive impact on their businesses.

In addition to an overview of the festival and the changes that are being made this year, such as street closings, traffic patterns and shuttle bus routes, business leaders also will be encouraged to develop marketing programs that will attract festival-goers to their individual businesses during festival week. Members of the Folk Festival marketing committee will be on hand to share promotional ideas and information.

The meeting dates and times are: 8 a.m. Friday, Tuesday, Aug. 5, and 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 12, at the Sea Dog Restaurant. For more information about the meetings, call the Greater Bangor Convention & Visitors Bureau at 947-5205.