More acts revealed for Folk Festival Jazz band from New Orleans to perform

BANGOR – The second round of performers for the American Folk Festival on the Bangor Waterfront was announced Tuesday morning by festival organizers.

Heather McCarthy, executive director for the AFF, and Brad Ryder, chairman of the festival board of directors, announced that such diverse styles as classic New Orleans jazz, Zimbabwean music and traditional Cape Breton fiddling were among the genres represented by the seven new performers scheduled to play the festival, slated for Aug. 25, 26 and 27.

“This is the second year of the festival, and we want to let people know that if they are looking forward to another special event that that is what we have planned,” said Ryder.

After Hurricane Katrina, the national spotlight shone on the rich musical traditions of New Orleans, and this year, festival organizers made sure to include performers from the Big Easy. Bob French and the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band have for nearly 100 years played raucous, infectious New Orleans jazz, and according to McCarthy, they were looking for a chance to regroup after members were displaced by the disaster.

“This group was waiting for a reason to get back together,” said McCarthy. “This music is so popular anyway, that it made sense to continue to focus on [New Orleans] music, and help them out.”

As always, the festival seeks to feature not only American music, but also global traditions.

“As in prior years we have some entirely new performers,” said McCarthy. “But this year we have six entirely new genres as well.”

Some of the new genres include Tuvan throat singing, performed by the group Huun Huur Tu. Tuva is an autonomous region located in between Mongolia and Siberia, and its native people have developed an entirely unique and striking vocal tradition, wherein one person produces two or more simultaneous pitches, featuring a low fundamental note and a higher series of harmonic notes.

“It is such a unique tradition,” said McCarthy. “It is a traditional music that has been isolated for so long, and Huun Huur Tu have spent the past four or five years touring the world bringing this absolutely unmistakable music to people.”

Grand Master Seiichi Tanaka and the San Francisco Taiko Dojo will bring the ancient Japanese form of drumming known as Taiko to the AFF, an exciting ritual percussive music accompanied by physically demanding choreographed movement. Tanaka, one of the first Taiko performers to come to the United States, and his dojo will work with a New Hampshire-based dojo to bring the huge drums used in the performance to Maine.

Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi, a best-selling artist in his home country of Zimbabwe, will make a rare U.S. appearance when he performs his contagious, upbeat music that combines the mesmerizing rhythms of the African thumb piano, the mbira, with pop influences and the traditional Zimbabwean drumming known as kateke.

Always a festival favorite, fiddle music will be represented this year by Beolach, a young Cape Breton band that brings a new twist to the island’s Scottish heritage. Rodney Miller, one of the foremost exponents of the New England style of fiddling that accompanies contradancing, is also slated to perform. Contradancing, a descendent of British country dancing and the cousin to square dancing, will be featured on the Kenduskeag Dance Stage at the festival, where Miller will perform with the band Airdance.

Also announced on Tuesday was a special performance by three American piano masters: Jeff Little, Dave Bourne and Daryl Davis will highlight three very different ways to play the piano, including boogie woogie and country and western. Cowboy poet, singer and storyteller Glenn Ohrlin will bring to life the spirit of the Old West with his tall tales and traditional western songs.

In a special addition to the festival, McCarthy said magician, storyteller and ringleader Jim Alberti will bring his renowned flea circus to the waterfront.

“[Alberti] performed at the National Folk Festival in Richmond last year,” said McCarthy, referring to the festival that was held in Bangor in 2002, 2003 and 2004 before moving on to Richmond, Va., for another three years. “He is just fabulous. He really brings those fleas to life. He’ll perform in the children’s area, and in other areas.”

McCarthy and Ryder said that most of the aspects of the festival from years prior will remain the same – five stages, a whole host of food and craft vendors and a children’s area.

“Some aspects of the layout we aren’t sure about,” said McCarthy. “Things will depend on the development of some new projects on the waterfront that may affect the festival. We are waiting to see.”

The first round of performers was announced in February, and includes the Bahamas Junkanoo Revue, a Caribbean parade; Geno Delafose and the French Rockin’ Boogie, a zydeco group; the bluegrass and country sounds of the Whites; No Speed Limit, an up-and-coming bluegrass band; the upbeat German polka of Karl and the Country Dutchmen; Franco-American singer Michelle Choiniere; and the pan-Latin dance band Grupo Fantasma.

When asked if she could say anything about what the final round of performers, scheduled to be announced in May, would sound like, McCarthy gave a little hint.

“I’ll just say that gospel and blues are two of our most popular genres, and we wouldn’t think about doing a festival without them,” said McCarthy.