Saturday: 1 p.m. Heritage

Demonstrating Maine’s diverse cultural makeup, the National Folk Festival is proud to present the Alan Shavarsh Bardezbanian Middle Eastern Ensemble. Performing Armenian music from the Ottoman tradition, this group’s vibrant dance music is sure to delight festival audiences.

Alan “Al” Shavarsh Bardezbanian’s Armenian grandparents were born in Anatolia (part of present-day Turkey) and Syria. After immigrating to New England, home to many large Armenian communities, they and their children paid special attention to preservation of their Armenian heritage.

Coming from such a family, it’s not surprising that Bardezbanian fell in love with Armenian music. After being exposed to such famous musicians as George Mgrditchian and Richard Hagopian, he chose to play one of the music’s principal instruments: the oud, or fretless lute. He studied this instrument and the classical makam system of Ottoman music (a set of melodic scales and modes) with eminent musician Kanuni Esber Koprucu. He later studied the Arabic modal music system at Simon Shaheen’s Arabic Music Retreat and added music from other Middle Eastern communities to his repertoire. In addition to being a master of the oud, he is an accomplished player of the G clarinet, a baritone member of the clarinet family often used in Armenian music.

Other members of the ensemble are Beth Borgerhoff, Bau Graves, Mike Gallant, David Hillian and Eric LaPerna. Borgerhoff plays accordion with the ensemble. She is a founding member of the Yale Slavic Chorus and is a Balkan music expert. Graves, of the Center for Cultural Exchange in Portland, joins in on guitar. A player in many genres from Cajun to Balkan, Gallant plays violin. Jazz musician Hillian plays bass, and Arabic Music Retreat student LaPerna performs on percussion instruments.