MUSIC AND PERFORMANCE
Click here for 400 years of Music and Dance program sign (pdf format).

Click here for Music and Dance program sign (pdf format).

Anansegromma, Burke, Virginia,
    and Laurel, Maryland
Native Ghanaians Kofi Denis and
Kwame Ansah-Brew, collectively
known as Anansegromma, are
instructors at Goucher College and
the University of Maryland, where
they have organized numerous
workshops and seminars for the
university's dance department.
With "call-and-response" songs,
games, rhythms, and authentic
instruments, the two performers
explore the rich heritage of West
Africa. www.afrojazzanddance.com

Gerald Anderson,
    Troutdale, Grayson County, Virginia
Gerald Anderson was born and
raised near Troutdale, Virginia,
where he still lives. He learned how
to build guitars and mandolins from
Wayne Henderson (another Festival
participant). He has crafted over 100
instruments over the last forty years.

Dave Arthur,
    Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England
Dave Arthur is a musician, music
historian, and researcher. He was
born in Kent and has returned to
live and work there. He conducts
workshops for children, and
his repertoire includes Kentish
hopping songs, as well as songs
for seasonal celebrations. He has
also worked with Travellers and
knows many of their songs.

Husnu Aydogdu,
    Arlington County, Virginia
Husnu Aydogdu moved to
Arlington five years ago from
his native Turkey. A former
staff musician for the Turkish
Radio Television Corporation,
Aydogdu plays a variety of
stringed instruments. He is
also an instrument builder,
singer, and teacher of traditional
and popular music.

"Big Day Out" Powwow
Representatives from the eight
state-recognized tribes of Virginia
(Chickahominy, Chickahominy
Eastern Division, Mattaponi,
Monacan, Nansemond, Pamunkey,
Rappahannock, and Upper
Mattaponi) drum and dance as
they did at the Big Day Out in
Gravesend, Kent, in July 2006.

Gretchen Bulova and dancers,
    Gadsby's Tavern Museum,
    Alexandria, Virginia
Dancing made Gadsby's Tavern,
now a museum, the center of
Alexandria's social scene in the
eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. Dancers in eighteenthcentury
clothing demonstrate
and teach period dances.
www.gadsbystavern.org

John Cephas, Bowling Green,
    Caroline County, Virginia
Although he was born in
Washington, D.C., John Cephas's
family hails from the Piedmont
region, where he now lives. He has
been one of the major proponents
of the Piedmont-style blues guitar,
and he was awarded a National
Heritage Fellowship in 1989.

La Chanchona de los
    Hermanos Lobo, Northern Virginia
A spin-off of an award-winning
group in their home country,
El Salvador, Los Hermanos Lobo
perform at family events and
restaurants in the area. The
seven-piece ensemble, with its
two violins, two guitars, percussion,
and bass, takes its name from
its large bass, which resembles
a chanchona, or sow.

The Church of God and Saints
    of Christ, Alexandria, Virginia
Organized in 1896, the Church
of God and Saints of Christ is the
oldest Black Hebrew Israelite
congregation in the United States.
Church services are lively, filled
with symbolism, ceremony,
and a cappella music. Musical
selections include spirituals
and newly composed songs.

Cheikh Hamala Diabaté and
    Ensemble, Bambare, Mali, West Africa
Cheikh Hamala Diabaté is a
steward of the 800-year-old
tradition of the griot, the storytellers
of West Africa. He plays the ngoni,
a Malian traditional instrument
and shares the oral history,
music, and song of his Manding
culture. www.malimusic.net

Rex M. Ellis,
    Williamsburg, Virginia
Rex Ellis, historian, storyteller,
and scholar, is the Vice President
of the Historic Area of Colonial
Williamsburg. Ellis was chairman of
the division of cultural history and
curator of African American history
at the Smithsonian's National
Museum of American History.

Brien Fain,
    Stuart, Patrick County, Virginia
Brien Fain is a talented singer,
storyteller, banjo player, and keeper
of old mountain ballads, hymns,
and history from Patrick County,
Virginia, where his family has deep
roots. Fain's father taught him to
play the banjo claw hammer-style.
He learned many of his songs and
ballads from family members.

Scott Fore, Radford, Virginia
Scott Fore is a self-taught, flatpicking
guitarist with numerous
titles to his credit, including
the 2002 National Flat-picking
Championship, the 2002 Doc
Watson Guitar Championship,
and the Old Fiddler's Convention
Guitar Contest in Galax. In 2004,
he won the All-Star Competition at
the Wayne C. Henderson Festival.

Gospel Traveliers, Junior Traveliers,
    and Gospel Travelettes, Farmville,
    Prince Edward County, Virginia
Led by Reverend Wyatt Vaughn,
the Gospel Traveliers are all
members of his extended family.
The women also sing as the
Gospel Travelettes; the younger
members perform as the Junior
Traveliers. The Silvertones
was a Vaughn-family quartet
that performed in the 1940s.

Wayne Henderson and Friends,
    Mouth of Wilson,
    Grayson County, Virginia
Wayne Henderson is a well-known
southwestern Virginia guitarist
and guitar maker. His guitars are
highly sought; there is a waiting
list of many years. One of the
finest guitarists in the United
States, he was awarded a National
Heritage Fellowship in 1995 from
the National Endowment for the
Arts. www.waynehenderson.org

Madison Hummingbirds,
    Portsmouth, Virginia
Inspired by the words of Psalm
150, "Praise ye the Lord. Praise
Him with the sound of the
trumpet," the United House of
Prayer features brass instruments
at church services, baptisms,
funerals, and parades. The Madison
Hummingbirds continue the great
Virginia shout-band tradition.

Jim Marshall,
    Hillsville, Carroll County, Virginia
Musician and songwriter, Jim
Marshall is an expert on Virginia
ballads and the stories behind them.
Marshall has also written a number
of regional ballads on everything
from tractor-trailer wrecks to
preservation of the New River.

The Midnight Ramblers,
    Wise, Wise County, Virginia
The Midnight Ramblers combine
youth with talent and a burning
desire to play traditional bluegrass.
Known for their strong, clear vocals
and flawless instrument work,
they have a stage presence that
belies their youth. The band
plays a mixture of traditional
and original compositions.
www.themidnightramblers.net

The Millen Family,
    Bethersden, Kent, England
The Millen Family has been partsinging
for more than a century.
They draw from traditional folk
material and old-time "glees,"
four-part harmony songs for male
voices. Glee clubs became popular
in the mid-eighteenth century.

Lonesome Will Mullins &
    The Virginia Playboys, Clintwood,
    Dickenson County, Virginia
Will Mullins grew up in a family
of musicians in Skeetrock,
a community nestled on the
backwaters of the Flannigan
Reservoir. At fourteen, Will
began learning to play the banjo
in the three-finger style. To hone
his art, he played in small bands
around the community and for
friends and fellow students.
www.willmullins.com

Music for Change/Lucky Moyo,
    Canterbury, Kent, England
For sixteen years, before settling
in Kent, Lucky Moyo toured the
United Kingdom with his group
Black Umfolosi. He works with
Music for Change, an organization
that promotes inter-cultural
understanding through music
and dance. He is a native of
Zimbabwe. www.luckymoyo.com

Bou Counta Ndiaye Ensemble,
    Senegal, West Africa
Bou Counta Ndiaye is one of
the foremost practitioners of the
Senegalese xalam (ancestor of the
banjo) tradition. UNESCO named
his uncle, Samba Diabaré Samb,
a "living human treasure." His
great-nephew, Mamadou Ngoma
Ndiaye, is one of few young
people continuing the tradition.
The ensemble includes Sidy
Ndiaye, riti player, and Bassirou
Seck, vocalist and historian.

New Ballard's Branch Bogtrotters,
    Galax, Virginia
New Ballard's Branch Bogtrotters
are one of the hottest string bands
in the area. They won the old-time
band competition at the 1999 and
2000 Old Fiddler's Convention in
Galax. Their name comes from the
original Bogtrotters, the famous
Galax-area band of the 1930s.

Reverend Frank Newsome,
    Haysi, Dickenson County, Virginia
An Elder of the Old Regular Baptist
Church, Reverend Frank Newsome
was a 2006-2007 Master Artist of
the Virginia Folklife Program.
Elder Frank sings sixteenthcentury
religious songs of the Old
Regular Baptist denomination.

No Speed Limit, Galax, Virginia
No Speed Limit has played with
The Lonesome River Band and
The Del McCoury Band and has
plans to tour with Ralph Stanley.
At his January 2007 inaugural
concert, Virginia Governor
Tim Kaine joined the band on
harmonica for a rendition of
"Will the Circle Be Unbroken."
www.nospeedlimitband.com

Vera Oye Yaa-Anna, Washington, D.C.
Vera Oye Yaa-Anna, affectionately
known as "Auntie Oye," is a
traditional cook and storyteller born
in Liberia whose Virginia family
resettled on the African continent
after the Civil War. Her greatgrandmother,
Charlotte Gibson,
was born in Richmond, Virginia.

The Paschall Brothers,
    Chesapeake, Virginia
The Paschall Brothers stand firmly
in the great tradition of religious
a cappella groups in Tidewater,
Virginia. Reverend Frank
Paschall, Sr. and his five sons
formed the group in 1981. The
current members include
Tarrence Sr., Tarrence Jr.,
Frank Jr., and William Paschall,
as well as Renard Freeman Sr.,
Renard Freeman Jr., and Johnny
Lewis. www.paschallbrothers.com

Buddy Pendelton and
    Robin Kauffman,
    Basset, Henry County, Virginia
Buddy Pendleton is a retired rural
mail carrier who once played with
Ralph Rinzler and the Green
Briar Boys. He has won countless
firstplace awards at fiddle contests,
and he plays regularly with friends
and family, including his daughter,
Robin Kauffman.

Powhatan Red Cloud-Owen, Charles
    City, Charles City County, Virginia
Powhatan Red Cloud-Owen
serves on the Chickahominy Tribal
Council and has produced public
tribal events for more than twenty
years. Currently, he is the Tribal
Liaison for Jamestown 2007. His
father taught him how to dance.

Sonia Ritter and Tim Laycock,
    Kent, England
Ritter and Laycock wrote a play
about the Weald of Kent based
on the work of Vita Sackville-
West. Their acting troupe, The
Lion's Part, performs this play,
as well as traditional English
entertainments and seasonal
festivities. www.thelionspart.co.uk

Kinney Rorrer and
    The New North Carolina Ramblers,
    Danville, Virginia
When you ask Kinney Rorrer about
the name of his band, The New
North Carolina Ramblers, you
quickly learn that Charlie Poole
and Posey Rorrer are great-uncles
and that Charlie's wife lived with
them for a while when Kinney was
growing up. Kinney keeps alive
the old-time music of his family's
original North Carolina Ramblers.

The Sama Ensemble,
    Vienna, Fairfax County, Virginia
The traditions of the tombak
(goblet drum) and the daf (frame
drum) go back 1,500 years. After
the Islamic Revolution in 1979,
Iranian pop music was banned,
and classical instruments, such as
the tombak, grew in popularity.
The Ensemble's music represents
breathing and brings about
relaxation and concentration.
www.sama-ensemble.com

Uvaldo Sanchez Hernandez,
    Arlington, Virginia
Alfombra, made of sawdust and
flower petals, are ceremonial
carpets used in Lenten processions.
Uvaldo Sanchez Hernandez and
a small group of Guatemalan
immigrants still create them.

Jeffrey Scott,
    Culpeper, Culpeper County, Virginia
Blues guitar player and singer,
Jeffrey Scott, nephew of the
late legendary Piedmont Blues
musician John Jackson, has
mastered guitar playing in the
Piedmont style. Piedmont Blues,
which has its origins in the music
of the African American string
bands of Colonial America, is
the oldest form of the blues.

La Sensual, Northern Virginia
La Sensual is a popular Virginia
dance band that specializes in
salsa, one of the most popular,
contemporary pan-Latino social
dances. Like many salsa groups,
they appeal to a wide range of
Latino dance tastes by playing
many types of Latino dance music.

Ron Short,
    Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Virginia
Ron Short is a native of the
Appalachian Mountains in
Dickenson County. His powerful
vocals, proven songwriting skills,
and accomplished musicianship
on multiple instruments
were nurtured by the central
Appalachian Mountain culture
and strengthened by collaborations
with artists from other cultures.

Thongtanh Souvannaphanh,
    Lao Heritage Foundation,
    Springfield, Virginia
Souvannaphanh plays the saw
in the tradition of Ban Phanom,
Laos. The village was the source
for performing arts for the Laotian
royal court. Traditional Laotian
orchestras include saws, wooden
xylophone, kong vong, drum,
mini cymbals, flute, kaen, kim,
three-string guitar, and vourt.
www.laoheritagefoundation.org

Spencer Strickland,
    Troutdale, Grayson County, Virginia
Spencer Strickland was twelve
when his father took him to Gerald
Anderson to have a mandolin
made. He eventually became
Gerald's partner in building fine
instruments. The two of them
record and perform regularly.

Los Tecuanis,
    Manassas, Virginia
In Manassas, Mexican immigrants
from Acatlán de Osorio, Puebla,
dance in front of All Saints Church
on December 12, the feast of the
Virgin of Guadalupe. Tecuanis
is Nahuatl for tigers, characters
often found in this Western Sierra
Madre–region dance genre.

Speedy Tolliver,
    Arlington County, Virginia
Fiddler Speedy Tolliver moved
from Green Cove in Virginia's
southwestern highlands to
the Washington, D.C. area in
1939. Tolliver quickly mastered
the violin after joining The
Lee Highway Boys. A multiinstrumentalist,
he has played
regularly with a succession of
professional "Hillbilly" bands.

The Spiritual Seven,
    Wirtz, Franklin County, Virginia
Larnell Starkey & The Spiritual
Seven Gospel Singers have been
singing together for thirtynine
years. The nine-person
intergenerational group and large
support crew are, for the most
part, family members. This is
an "anointed group" of official
representatives from the Chestnut
Grove Baptist Church in the southcentral
Virginia town of Wirtz.

Whitetop Mountain Band,
    Mouth of Wilson, Grayson County,
    Virginia
The Whitetop Mountain Band
is firmly rooted in the heart of
the Crooked Road, Virginia's
Heritage Music Trail. Whitetop
is a family band comprised of
Thornton Spencer, his wife Emily,
and their daughter Martha.
They play traditional music
from southwestern Virginia.
whitetopmountainband.tripod.com

Phil Wiggins,
    Takoma Park, Montgomery
    County, Maryland
John Cephas and Phil Wiggins met
at the 1977 Smithsonian Folklife
Festival and have been playing
together ever since. Wiggin's
harmonica complements Cephas'
powerful guitar. Together, the
duo has performed throughout
Europe and the United States.
They have released nine CDs.

Yarawi,
    Sterling, Fairfax County, Virginia
Yarawi combines Spanish
and ancient Andean musical
traditions. They use the Spanish
guitar, charango, and fiddle, as
well as traditional Andean wind
instruments like the zampona, quena,
and moseno. www.yarawi.com