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VOICE ONE:
Thousands of people gathered recently for an event thatcelebrates the traditions of many of the groups that have come toAmerica. I’m Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Faith Lapidus. We take you to the National Folk Festivalon the VOA Special English program, THIS IS AMERICA.
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VOICE ONE:
Music filled the air at thesixty-fifth National Folk Festival, held in Bangor, Maine. Maine isa small state on the northeastern Atlantic coast, on the border withCanada.
The festival offers music from many lands. Crowds heard Yang Weiand Betty Xiang [shee-ONG] play ancient Chinese instruments. LosCamperos de Nati Cano performed Spanish mariachi music.
Another group, Wylie and The Wild West, performed music of theAmerican West. And there was lots more.
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VOICE TWO:
The crowds had five stages tochoose from the entertainment. All this took place in Bangor’sRiverfront area. Many people sat on the grass under the hot sun. Butbreezes from off the Penobscot River cooled them.
Visitors looked at handmade crafts for sale. Penobscot Indians,for example, sold objects carved from ash trees. Women from Maineshowed knitted and woven clothing. They also sold sweets made fromthe syrup of the state’s maple trees.
Festival goers could also choose foods from Greece, Ireland,China and many other cultures. The smell of food made people hungry.
Seafood is one of the things that Maine is famous for, especiallyshellfish. People stood in long lines to buy rolls containinglobster. They also ate what seemed like tons of blueberries grown inMaine.
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VOICE ONE:
The National Folk Festival is a chance to show off many of thetraditions that have become part of American culture. These includethe traditions of the Indians who lived here first.
The festival first took place in nineteen-thirty-four. It hastaken place almost every year since then. At first, the NationalFolk Festival was held in the same city each year. As time passed,it became a traveling event. It now moves every fourth year.
The National Council for Traditional Arts is the main organizer.The festival is free of charge. Financial support comes frombusinesses, individuals and collections at the event.
VOICE TWO:
Julia Olin is an official of the National Council for TraditionalArts. She praises the support that citizens in Maine have given theNational Folk Festival. She points out that only aboutthirty-eight-thousand people live in the city of Bangor. But, lastyear, about eighty-thousand people attended the festival.
Julia Olin says eight-hundred local citizens offered to work atthis year’s festival. Some of these volunteers answered questionsfrom visitors. Others served as “artist buddies” to assist theperformers.
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VOICE ONE:
Now let us meet and listen to some of the artists who performedat the sixty-fifth National Folk Festival.
Yang Wei and Betty Xiang, his wife, grew up in Shanghai. Yang Weiis an expert on the ancient Chinese instrument called a pipa(PEA-pah). This is a string instrument similar to a lute. BettyXiang plays the erhu (er-WHO), a kind of violin.
They have performed in the United States with cello player Yo-YoMa and the Silk Road Ensemble. They also have played at the RaviniaInternational Music Festival near Chicago.
VOICE TWO:
Yang Wei tells us about the two-thousand-year history of thepipa. He also talks about how his family arrived in the UnitedStates in nineteen-ninety-six. He says he and his wife and son knewlittle English at the time. He expresses pleasure that they canspeak the language now.
But now is the time for music. Here Yang Wei and Betty Xiang play”Rainbow Dance.”
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VOICE ONE:
Next, we meet the members of Los Camperos de Nati Cano. Theirhomes are in Los Angeles.
Mariachi music came from Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenthcenturies. Around eighteen-hundred, farmers and day laborers inMexico began to develop mariachi music into its present form.Special guitars along with trumpets and violins produce the sweetand lively sound.
VOICE TWO:
“Los Camperos” means “The Countrymen.” Nati Cano is a musicianwho came from a family of day laborers near Guadalajara, in westernMexico. He was born in nineteen-thirty-three. His father andgrandfather also were musicians. He tells us that music helped themearn enough money to live.
Nati Cano came to the United States in nineteen-sixty. His group,and others, have helped continue and develop mariachi music inCalifornia.
Listen now as Los Camperos de Nati Cano perform “Se Me HizoFacil.”
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VOICE ONE:
Next we meet Wylie and The Wild West. Their spirited cowboy musictells about life in the American West. Cows and horses are bigsubjects.
Singer Wylie Gustafson should know. He owns a cattle farm. Everymorning, he wakes up at five-thirty to feed his animals. His ranchis near the town of Dusty, in the northwestern state of Washington.Dusty has a population of eleven people.
Wylie Gustafson has performed many times at the Grand Old Opry inNashville, Tennessee. He also has appeared at the Original CowboyPoetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, and other events.
VOICE TWO:
Wylie Gustafson is known for his yodeling. This form of singingjumps from normal sounds to extremely high notes. He says thetradition of the yodeling cowboy started in Hollywood movies of thenineteen-thirties. Today, he says, yodeling is very important tocowboy music.
Listen as Wylie and The Wild West perform “Lonely Yukon Stars.”
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VOICE ONE:
There are many different kinds of music to listen to during thethree days of the National Folk Festival. Robert Turner and theSilver Hearts Gospel Singers are from Indianapolis, Indiana. Theyperform Christian music in the African American tradition.
Another group is called Sounds of Korea. Its members play drumsand dance.
But it’s time we go. We leave you with some dance music. It’sbased on the Jewish folk music of eastern Europe, called klezmer.It’s by the group the Klezmatics.
(MUSIC: “New York Psycho Freylekhs”/The Klezmatics)
VOICE TWO:
Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by CatyWeaver. I’m Faith Lapidus.
VOICE ONE:
And I’m Steve Ember. The next National Folk Festival is Augusttwenty-seventh to the twenty-ninth, two-thousand-four, in Bangor,Maine. Next week, listen for another report about life in the UnitedStates, on the VOA Special English program, THIS IS AMERICA.