Orquesta SCC
The members of Orquesta SCC, a powerful 11-piece salsa ensemble from the Bronx, are lauded as “the new kings of salsa dura.” The “who’s who” of New York’s Latin music scene, they are leading the renaissance of driving, socially conscious Latin dance music. Today salsa enjoys worldwide popularity, but its roots are in New York’s Spanish-speaking barrios. Salsa emerged here...
Nukariik
Kathy Kettler and Kendra Tagoona are Nukariik, a duo that carries on the rarely heard Inuit throat-singing tradition and other age-old forms of Inuit entertainment such as drum dancing and a ja ja songs. A vocal game used to amuse children and women while men were out hunting, Inuit throat singing is an art practiced almost exclusively by women. Two...
Nicolae Feraru
Nicolae Feraru is a revered musical master in Chicago’s Romanian and Hungarian communities. Now 68, he retains the same undiminished love of the cimbalom (hammered dulcimer) that he exhibited as a child, when he ate while practicing so as not to waste time on meals. “The music, this is my life,” says Feraru. “When I start on the instrument, I...
Michael Winograd & the Honorable Mentshn
Klezmer is the traditional celebratory music of the Eastern European Jewish diaspora. With roots that pre-date the Middle Ages, klezmer incorporates cantorial melody, ancient folk tunes, Yiddish poetry, Hebraic ritual, and Greek and Ottoman influences. By the 1880s, klezmer was firmly established as the secular, vernacular music of the community, and arrived in the United States with the wave of...
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
One of the foremost fiddlers of his generation, 37-year-old Michael Cleveland has charted an award-strewn course from child prodigy to leader of one of bluegrass’ most exciting groups, the five-time International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Instrumental Band of the Year, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper. Michael Cleveland grew up in Charlestown, Indiana—just across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky—surrounded by bluegrass...
Marquise Knox
If there is an artist who truly connects the past, present and future of the blues, it is 27-year-old bluesman Marquise Knox. Born and raised in St. Louis, Marquise burst onto the scene at age 16, astonishing veteran bluesmen and audiences alike with powerful performances displaying a musical spirit and depth of understanding far beyond his age. “The blues was...
Mariachi Los Camperos
The Los Angeles-based Mariachi Los Camperos is considered by many to be the finest mariachi ensemble in the world. Undoubtedly, it has played a central role in the United States in raising both the artistic standards and the public perceptions of mariachi music, which is now recognized by UNESCO as a masterpiece of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Mariachi was...
Liz Carroll & Jake Charron
Chicago-born fiddler Liz Carroll is one of America’s most significant Irish traditional musicians. From astounding the Irish music world in 1975 at age 18 by winning the Senior Division of the All-Ireland Championships, to being named a National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellow two decades later, Liz is widely regarded as one of the best to ever play...
Jeghetto
After working for years as a poet, visual artist, and barber, Tarish Pipkins was inspired to take up the art of puppetry after a conversation with Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. He chose the stage name “Jeghetto,” a portmanteau of Geppetto and ghetto, to reflect his childhood in the projects of Pittsburgh, and their influence on his artistic vision....
Jason Samuels Smith
Jason Samuels Smith is recognized as one of the finest tap dancers of his generation. In 2004, at age 23, he won both an Emmy and the American Choreography Award for his tribute to the late tap master Gregory Hines, who two years prior had proclaimed the young dancer as “… the next ‘Greatest,’” a prediction that Samuels Smith has...
