Andrea Hoag & Chris Ousley
Maryland Traditions Apprenticeship Program Team The fiddle is the main instrument in Swedish folk music, a richly harmonic tradition that goes back four centuries, with yet older influences from medieval Europe. After a decline in the mid-20th century, Swedish fiddling now enjoys widespread popularity at home and abroad, both as an accompaniment to traditional dance and concert music in its...
Yves Lambert Trio
Accordionist and singer Yves Lambert is a towering figure in the traditional Québécois music revival. In 1976, he was a founder of the legendary ensemble La Bottine Souriante and was, for 26 years, the heart and soul of this innovative, internationally renowned Québécois band. Regarded as a “leading light in the traditional aesthetic of [Québec’s] cultural heritage,” he has led...
West African Highlife Band
West African Highlife Band is an all-star group of distinguished West African music veterans who bring the classic sounds from highlife’s golden age. Originating in Ghana in the late 19th century, highlife is a fusion of indigenous dance rhythms and melodies with Western sounds. The style spread to Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and nearby areas in the 1920s and ’30s, and...
Tremé Brass Band
Central to the musical traditions of New Orleans are the African American brass bands that play for traditional funerals and street parades. Among the most beloved of these is the Tremé Brass Band from the venerable and storied Tremé neighborhood. The group is led by a New Orleans institution, drummer Benny Jones, Sr., who has been parading for nearly 60...
Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys
Thirty years ago, inspired by the renaissance of Louisiana French music in the 1960s and ’70s, accordion master Steve Riley and fiddler David Greely started a band that today is widely acknowledged as one of premier ensembles in the tradition. Widely celebrated for its drive and creativity, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys apply tradition-steeped sensibilities and skills to music...
Sounds of Korea
Since her arrival in the United States in 1982, Sue Yeon Park has been a major force in the preservation and celebration of traditional Korean performing arts in her adopted country. In 1993, she founded Sounds of Korea, a world-renowned dance and music ensemble she directs to this day. With their exquisite traditional attire, powerful choreographed drumming, lush music, and...
Red Trouser Show
The Red Trouser Show is a never-before-seen combination of precision acrobatics paired with daring feats, such as knife and fire juggling, and a breathtaking final act that ends high in the air. Based in the centuries-old tradition of street performance arts and busking, the Red Trouser Show features Tobin Renwick and David Graham. Street performance and busking traditions date back...
Rahzel
Beatboxing is a form of vocal percussion considered the “fifth element” of hip hop culture, along with DJing, MCing, graffiti, and breakdance. One of the biggest names in beatboxing today is preeminent master Rahzel, whose artistry has redefined the limits of the human voice. Examples of the voice as an instrument are widespread in the African diaspora; as a 20th-century...
The Quebe Sisters
When Texas sisters Grace, Sophia, and Hulda Quebe (rhymes with “maybe”) take to a stage to fiddle, and sing, in three-part harmony, they delight audiences with their sparkle and verve as well as their instrumental and vocal virtuosity. It’s as if the Andrews Sisters had joined up with Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys in musical heaven. Before any of...
Phil Wiggins Blues House Party
The blues of the Piedmont, the hilly region stretching from Georgia to the Chesapeake, is one of the oldest forms of the blues. It draws heavily on earlier fiddle and banjo string band music that served as a staple at country parties, hoedowns, and square dances. While country blues began as dance music, it is today most often heard in...
