NATIVE BASKETRY NEW ORLEANS W'ms

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ALBERTA LATINO CHICAGO NATIVE BASKETRY NEW ORLEANS W'ms.

40th Annual Smithsonian Foli

Alberta

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Carriers of Culture

LIVING NATIVE BASKET TRADITIONS

Nuestra Musica

LATINO CHICAGO

Been in the Storm So Lon

SPECIAL EVENING CONCERT SERIES

Washington, D.C. june 3o-july n, 2006 The annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival brings together exemplary practitioners of diverse traditions, both old and new, from communities across the United States and around the world. The goal of the traditions Festival is to strengthen and preserve these by presenting them on the National Mall, so that with the tradition-bearers and the public can connect and learn from one another, and understand cultural

differences in a respectful way.

Smithsonian Institution

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage 750 9th Street NW, Suite 4100 Washington, D.C. 20560-0953

www.folklife.si.edu

Editor: Frank Proschan

Art Director: Krystyn MacGregor Confair

Production Manager: Joan Erdesky

Graphic Designer: Zaki Ghul

Design Interns: Annemarie Schoen and Sara Tierce-Hazard

Printing: Stephenson Printing Inc., Alexandria, Virginia Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The Festival is supported by federally appropriated funds; Smithsonian trust fijnds; contributions from governments, businesses, foundations, and individuals; in-kind assistance; and food, recording, and craft sales. General support

for this year's programs includes the Music Performance Fund, with in-kind support for the Festival provided through Motorola, Nextel, WAMU-88.5 FM, WashingtonPost.com. Whole Foods Market. Pegasus Radio Corp.,

Icom America, and the Folklore Society of Greater Washington. The Festival is co-sponsored by the National Park

Service. The 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival has been made possible through the generosity and support of the following donors and partners.

_Smithsonian Institution Partners National Museum of African American History and Culture National Museum of the American Indian Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Fund Smithsonian Women's Committee

Lead Partner Government of Alberta, through the Alberta Foundation for the Arts

Major Donors Caterpillar, Incorporated City of Calgary City of Edmonton Michigan State University Museum W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Donors Athabasca Regional Issues Working Group (RIWG) ConocoPhillips Enbridge Corporation EnCana Corporation National Endowment for the Arts Old Town School of Folk Music Suncor Energy Incorporated

Contributors Alberta Beef Producers Canadian Forces Institute of Museum and Library Services Nova Chemicals Corporation PetroCanada

Supporters Alaska State Council on the Arts Fairmont Washington D.C. Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs

In-Kind and Collaborative Support Alberta Canola Producers Commission Australian Outback Collection (Canada) Limited City Lumber Corporation Cultural Institute of Mexico KitchenAid Weatherford International Ltd. r^

6 The Festival as Cultural Partnership Lawrence M. Small

8 On the Occasion ot Our 40th Festival Diana Parker

10 We Are Very Much Still Here! Richard Kurin

24 Alberta at the Smithsonian Al Chapman and Nancy Groce

42 Alberta, Oanada: Frontiers and Fusions in North America's "Last Best West" Max Foran

46 "Oarriers ot Oulture": Native Basketry in America C. Kurt Dewhurst, Marsha MacDowell, and Marjorie Hunt

64 Latino Ohicago: Oonverging Cultures Juan Dies

76 Chicago Latino: Culturas Convergentes Juan Dies ^^- -''^•^'-

86 New Orleans Music: Spirit of a Community

92 "So Muoh of My Life, Well, Drowned' Edna Gundersen

94 Joe Wilson and His Crooked Road Richard Kennedy

96 Staff

100 Sponsors and Special Thanks Cii:^ 104 Festival Participants

130 Festival Schedule

150 General Festival Information

151 Related Events

154 Site Map The Festival as Cultural Partnership

Lawrence M. Small, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution

Welcome :o the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival! This year we feature three programs—Alberta at the Smithsonian; Carriers of Culture: Living Native Basket Traditions; Nuestra Mi'isica: Latino Chicago—as well as a special concert series, Been in the Storm So Long. The Festival, now celebrating Its 40th year on the National Mall of the United States, presents a compelling, research-based sampling of the diverse traditions of America and the world to large public audiences in an educational, respecthil, and profoundK' democratic wav. Employing a format it has both pioneered and mastered, the Festival illustrates the vital, living aspect of cultural heritage and provides a forum for discussion of issues of contemporary concern.

And, it's fun: a great place to eat, sing, dance and meet artisans, musicians, and N'isitors from across the country and around the world.

For the first time, the Festival features a Canadian province—Alberta, v\'hich just completed its own celebration of its centennial. Albertans have created a dynamic home for diverse peoples—aboriginal inhabit- ants, settlers, and later immigrants— in a varied and dramatic landscape. They've built large world-class industries—oil and gas, ranching, farming, forestry—as well as two large, modern metropolises, Calgary and

Edmonton, all the while being incredibly creative in the arts and sciences.

On the Mall we'll learn how Alberta's scientists excavate dinosaur bones, see how the famed oil sands are mined and processed, witness ranching skills, appreciate fine Native craftsmanship, hear ballads from talented singer-

songwriters, and e,\perience their contemporary "Theatresports. " Our work with key departments of the provincial government, the Royal Museum, the

University of Alberta and other cultural institutions, researchers, scholars, and educators has produced not only the Festival program, but also recordings on Smithsonian Folkways, an exhibition, a series of programs with the Smithsonian Associates, concerts at the Kennedy Center, features on our Smithsonian Global Sound website, other events, and even an Alberta-

Smithsonian internship program that will continue as a legacy of the partnership. Our collaboration is a testament to how good will and common purpose can effectiveh' cross borders and serve the educational and cultural interests of Canadians, Americans, and a broader visiting public.

This kind of engaged collaborative partnership is also illustrated through the Carriers of Culture program that has brought together the

Festival, the National Museum of the American Indian, Michigan State

University' Museum, and a network of Native basket makers' organizations around the United States. The collaboration is built upon the needs of basket makers themselves, who face various challenges to their living heritage. Basket makers need access to trees, bushes, and plants untainted by pollutants; they need recognition, appreciation, and access to markets as well as opportunities to train the next generation. At the Festival, you «'ill —

see scores of basket makers from dozens ot series of Latino recordings, the Smithsonian Native communities trom every part ot the helps provide a means for Americans to United States. They will be demonstrating understand each other, to speak, listen, and their masterful techniques, making baskets ol be heard—ever more important in uniting our meaning and delight in every imaginable shape diverse, complex nation. and texture. Their participation in the Festi- Finally, the Been in the Storm So Long val, including sales at the marketplace and re- concert series at the Festival represents an impor- lated public programs and consultations at the tant collaboration between the Festival and the National Museum of the American Indian, new National Museum of African American

itself is part of a cultural self-help strategy. That History and Culture. The Festival grows strategy, shaped by participatory research led in part from events on the Mall during the Civil by Michigan State University in concert with Rights Movement, and thousands of leading Native basket makers' organizations, aims to figures of African American culture have graced assure the vitality of long-lived traditions. The its stages and illustrated their traditions through wonderful alliance with those organizations, its programs over the past four decades. It is MSU, and the Smithsonian enhances Native fitting that the Smithsonian Regents chose an abilities to achieve that worthy purpose. area of the Mall nicknamed "old Folklife" (so

Nuestra Musica: Latino Chicago reflects an- called because Festivals took place there from other substantive partnership. The Festival joins 1977-81) as the site for the new museum. To the Smithsonian Latino Center and Chicago's initiate the partnership, the Museum and the Old Town School of Folk Music to present a Festival feature musicians from New Orleans: small sampler of Chicago's Latino cultural heri- folks who were hit with the devastation of nonetheless tage. More than a million Latinos—largely from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but Mexico, but also from Puerto Rico and just strive, with determination and grace, to continue

about every nation in Latm America hixe made the cultural traditions that give their communi-

the Chicago area their home. Less known nation- ties their unique character and uplifting spirit

ally than the Latino communities of California, so admired and appreciated around the world. Texas, Florida, and New York, the Chicago Concerts will feature New Orleans jazz, rhythm

community has a storied past and a dynamic & blues, and sacred music. It's a great beginning

present. Institutions such as the Mexican Fine for a partnership that will yield future Festival Arts Center Museum, the Mexican communi- programs, a series of Smithsonian Folkways

ty's Fiesta del Sol and the Puerto Rican People's recordings, websites, and many other programs. Parade, dozens of community-based dance The Festival thrives on partnerships and

groups, and myriad shops, clubs, and restaurants collaborations, programmatically with the

indicate the growth and vitality of the commu- featured artists, logistically with like-minded

nity. Music IS both a measure and symbol of organizations, fiscaUv with supportive sponsors,

that vitality. On the Mall, visitors will join in practically with the National Park Service, and

Mexican folk and contemporary dances, hear the most significantly, with you the visiting public.

beat of Puerto Rican hcmha and plena, and enjoy The Festival is at heart a large, grand, wonderfU, Andean music and song. Through the Festival's and complex cultural expression of a participa-

live performances, as well as through its related tory democracy. Thank you for coming, and

Grammy nominated Smithsonian Folkways enjoy all the Festival has to offer.

SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL On the Occasion of Our 40th Festival

Diana Parker, Director, Smithsonian Folklife Festival

On July I, 1967, the Smithsonian welcomed visitors to the Festival of-

American Folklife. The four-day event was held on the National Mall,

on the lawn between the U.S. National Museums. With performances, demonstrations, workshops and panel discussions, the Festival presented

some 60 craftspeople and 20 performance groups, all free of charge, to

an appreciative audience. The artists were largely from the Southeastern

United States, but also included Navajo, Hopi, and Osage from the

Southwest, and an Alaskan ivory carver. By the time the Festival closed on

July 4, the event had attracted over 431,000 visitors, more than doubling previous peak attendance to the Smithsonian on the holiday weekend.

The public wrote letters of praise to the Institution, and Members of

Congress and journalists, both print and electronic, called for the Festival

to become an annual event.

And so it did. For its second year the Festival added a state program

(Texas) and a printed program book, similar to the catalogues produced

for other Smithsonian exhibitions. In succeeding years culinary, occu-

pational, and children's traditions were added. But it is a tribute to the wisdom of the founders of the event that as we prepare for our 40th

Festival, little has changed.

We have experimented with different sites, different lengths of time, and different times of year, but we have settled back where we started—on the Mall, on the 4th of July weekend. The Festival had been presenting international programs since the early 1970s, and in 1998, we

changed the name to Smithsonian Folklife Festival to reflect that global

scope. Technology has given us some wonderful new tools for production, sound reproduction, and creating evocative contexts for presentations,

but the basic elements of the Festival have remained. Its power still comes

from personal interactions between artists and visitors, and we still spend

Huge crowds attended the a great deal of time exploring ways to enhance that interaction. 2002 Festival, walking a While each Festival has its own importance, we seem to have had sinnulated Silk Road along or so. In the Festival was chosen as the the Mall. Photo by Jeff Tinsley. a milestone each decade 1976, Smittisonian Institution centerpiece of the U.S. Bicentennial celebration. The Festival ran for three

months, and featured the cultures of every region of the United States.

In addition, there were programs highlighting Native American, Working

American, and Children's culture. Family Folklore collected stories from

thousands of families attending the event. Old Wiys in the New World

brought together American artists and tradition bearers from their mother countries. The extraordinary African Diaspora program united

African Americans with people sharing a common culture from Africa

and the Caribbean. On any given day at the 1976 festival, there were some 600 musicians, cooks, craftspeople, ritual practitioners, workers, storytellers, ballad singers, and others sharing of hope, as American visitors embraced our Tapestry by Mississlppian their artistic personal histories guests with enthusiasm. excellence and warm Attendance Ethel Mohamed with large and enthusiastic audiences. Most of records were set, and the critical response was captures Festival activities on the Mall these prograins brought in new participants overwhelmingly positive. The event received for the Bicentennial. every two weeks, creating a gargantuan produc- unprecedented international press coverage. Smithsonian Institution

collections tion challenge. Thousands of airline reser- The Festival has also become a model for vations, visa requests, supply needs, dietary large-scale content-based commemorations. requirements, honoraria, and more had to be Festival staff have been asked to produce the processed. But in the end. what is remembered Smithsonian's own 150th "birthday" celebra-

IS that tor one beautiful summer people met tion in 1996, the Atlanta 01}Tnpic Arts Festival and shared their songs, food, artistry, stories, that same summer, inaugural celebrations for and hopes for the future. all but two U.S. presidents since Jimmy Carter,

In 1985. the Festival was part of the larger the grand opening of the National Museum Festival of India. Our office produced the of the American Indian in 2004, and the

Folklife Festival, which featured Louisiana. commemoration for the dedication of the

India, and a program on strategies for cultural World War II Memorial, also in 2004, among conservation, and co-produced Aditi: The others. Each of these events has called for

Living Arts of India, a two-month-long thoughtful programming, sophisticated tech- living exhibition in the National Museum nology, and careful production. But most of of Natural History. Both were huge popular all. they have needed that special element that successes, drawing record crowds to the Mall, has made the Festival the unique event that it and in the process, affecting the way exhibi- IS. They have required us to present the partic- tions are envisioned. ipants in a dignified, respectful way; to create

Summer 2002 brought Silk Road: for them a stage from which they can share Connecting Cultures. Co-produced with with the public their particular perspective on

Yo-Yo Ma and his wonderful Silk Road who we are at any given point m our history as

Project, the Festival brought artists from a a nation, and as citizens of the world. broad swath of the earth extending from Italy I cannot imagine where the Festival wiU go to Japan, including people from Central Asia. m the next 40 years, but I am sure it wlU contmue

Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and more. In to challenge and engage us, and to remind us the post-9/11 environment, it was a moment from time to time who we are at our best.

SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL We Are Very Much Still Here!

Richard Kurin

This summer we mark the 40th Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Decades of thought and work have gone into making the Festival the longest-lived,

largest, and preeminent educational event on the National Mall of the

United States. We relish that presence, but more so, are proud to have helped

to enable people and communities to declare for themselves in the most

public way to their fellow human beings that "We are very much still here!" The Festival As might be imagined, the arrangements for the Festival—legal, logistical, fiscal, and bureaucratic—are formidable. Each Festival must be created and produced anew. Given the contingencies, the Festival has had a remarkable staying power. This was perhaps not so obvious when the

Festival was first invented by lames R. Morris and Ralph Rinzler back

in 1967. The Festival began as a somewhat counter-cultural e.xperiment during tumultuous times. Though located organizationally in the

Smithsonian and conceptually within the museum world, it featured

performances and demonstrations of cultural traditions by living, active

practitioners and exemplars. It challenged the authoritative curatorial

voice, foregrounding instead the authentic voices of its participants. In the years to come, sound disciplinary knowledge applied to

preparatory research and Festival presentations by folklorists, ethnomu-

sicologists, cultural anthropologists, and historians coupled with strong

collaboration with the represented cultural practitioners and communities

became its methodology. Its mission of encouraging the understanding

and vitality of diverse cultural traditions across the nation and around the

world emerged clearly and resonated strongly in Congress and numerous

communities back home. Year after year, the public has flocked to the

Festival, engaging and enjoying the presentations. Visitors have learned from these thousands of culture bearers, and purchased their crafts, recordings, books, and other products. Media coverage has been nearly

universally positive. And its impact upon cultural workers and the tens of

thousands of participants has proved helpful in actually preserving and

revitalizing numerous cultural traditions, encouraging cultural enterprise,

and bridging cultural differences. The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, spawned by the

Festival, has flourished. It has grown over the years in size, scope, and

stature, producing not only the Festival but its restagings in communities

both domestic and abroad. The Festival became the model for producing other national celebration events—cultural programs for Olympics in Mexico City, Montreal, and Atlanta; festivals for presidential inaugu-

rals; and major events on the National Mall including the Smithsonian's own 150th anniversary; America's Millennium on the Mall; and most

10 recently, the National World War II Reunion Having become a well-regarded, even iconic and the grand opening events tor the National program within the Smithsonian, the Festival is

Museum of the American Indian. Film, video, a mainstay of" the Capital's cultural life and is recordings, and materials generated from widely known around the nation and the world. the Festivals and other events constitute an The Center's approach and achievements are archival collection, formally named the Ralph well regarded among cultural workers, museum

Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. professionals, and cultural scholars. The Festival

Over the years, those collections have been has been the subject ol several monographs, mined to produce a number of publica- numerous studies, and scores of scholarly tions, exhibitions, recordings, and hlms. articles; it has also been the subject of various

Additionally, in 1987, the Center established healthy debates about the wisdom, strategy, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings—based and tactics of public cultural representation. upon the acquisition of the historic Folkways Much credit for the Festival's success goes to label and collection from the family of" Moses a talented and experienced staff—with more and Frances Asch. This provided a whole new than a dozen oi us having careers at the Center way to join the Festival's mission with that of and with the Festival and Folkways that now research, documentation, and publication oi span four decades. Fiscal support—a mixture the "voices of the people." In ensuing years, of Federal appropriations, Smithsonian trust

Smithsonian Folkways has distributed millions funds, revenue generated through sales ot food of recordings, paid millions of dollars of and crafts at the Festival and of Smithsonian royalties to musicians—thus encouraging their Folkways Recordings, gifts, grants, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave a talk to artistry, won numerous Grammy awards and contracts — has sustained our operations nearly 50,000 people nominations, and educated millions about the through thick and thin. And over the years, on the National Mall dunng the Tibetan Cul- world's varied music and verbal arts traditions. the Festival's methodology has permeated the ture Beyond the Land In 2000, the Center's collections were recog- Smithsonian, adopted and adapted by various of Snows program at the 2000 Festival. nized by a Save America's Treasures grant and museums, many of" which have partnered with Photo by Jeff Tinsley. designated a National Treasure. us on particular programs. Smithsonian Institution

SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL 11 Native American Programs as Paradigm The approach, impact, and future ot the American folklife studies has resulted from

Festival and Center are excinphfied in many a general ignorance of the abundance of

ways, and perhaps most vividly with regard to our traditional cultures. Related to the

their four decades of involvement with Native collections and based on the philosophy American communities. of the Smithsonian, an exposition of the

In his February 1967 memorandum to the folk aesthetic on the Mall accoinpanied by

Smithsonian's Board of Regents to establish the a seminar would be provocative. presenting traditional Festival, then-Secretary S. Dillon Ripley wrote: A program craftsmen and dancers as well as musicians would convincingly demonstrate the vigor A program sponsored by the Smithsonian folk traditions. should reflect the Institution's founding of our

philosophy and current role. Although it has the world's largest collection of The Smithsonian, through the Bureau of in led American folk artifacts, the Smithsonian, like American Ethnology founded 1880 and explorer, geologist, linguist all museums in our nation, fails to present by legendary and

folk culture fully and accurately. Through John Wesley Powell, had been at the institu-

the Bureau of American Ethnology, it has tional forefront of documenting American

pioneered the collection, archiving, analysis Indian lifeways. Powell made the case for

The Smithsonian's and publication of American Indian cultural federal funds to support ethnological research Frances Densmore data, [but] neither the Smithsonian nor on American Indians, arguing that their "orig- plays back a recording

" to IVIountain Chief, a any other research institution has employed inal habits and customs were disappearing and

Blackfoot, in front of the methods of cultural anthropology in an their languages were being modified and lost. the Smithsonian Powell's efforts, his colleagues, Castle in 1916. e.xtensive fieldwork program in Ainerican and those of Photo by Harris and folk cultures. produced numerous studies and, coupled with Ewlng. courtesy National The lack of museum expertise and the the collections of artifacts and human remains Anthropological Archives.

Smithsonian Institution absence of ade^juatc field programs in coming to the Smithsonian, resulted in the largest body of data on American Indian

cultures in existence. Included were early field recordings made of American Indian song,

story, and dance on wax cylinders invented by Thomas Edison and utilized by the Smithsonian's Alice Cunningham Fletcher and

Francis La Flesche. While most of the Smithsonian's ethno-

graphic efforts were directed toward the study

of American Indians, and while many of its scholars were sympathetic with Indian peoples,

their cultures, and histories, there was relatively

little use of this knowledge for the benefit of

Native communities. Smithsonian scholars saw

other scholars and specialists, not American

Indians, as their primary constituency.

12 SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL This chaiiijcd somewh.U when Ripley became Secretary in 1962. Ripley wanted to rationalize the study of human lite. He pointed out to staff, quite candidly, that

"defeat has a lot to do with who gets studied."

He brought in Sol Tax, a distinguished professor of- anthropology from the Universit}' of Chicago, to help plan a National Museum of Man. Tax was a pioneer in bringing together anthropologists internationally and founded the prestigious journal Current Anthropology. Festival Smithsonian Secretary Working in Wisconsin among contempo- The first festival —named the S. Dillon Ripley, led Folklife (until it officially rary Fox Indians, Tax and his students had of American by Lucille Dawson, Folklife Festival participates in an developed an approach called "action anthro- changed to the Smithsonian honoring ceremony in 1998)—was held from July 1-4, 1967, in two pology." This brand of anthropological work at the 1975 Festival; tents, one for crafts and one for sales, with Rayna Green with funneled knowledge about culture back into Ralph Rinzler follow. a music stage and performance area on the the community for its use and development. Photo by Reed & Susan terrace of the National Museum of History Tax was concerned not only with anthro- Erskine, Lightworks and Technology—now the National Museum pology in the museum, but also with contem- of American History. It drew national porary phenomena, with the responsibility of attention and a massive crowd. Among the scholars to the communities they study, and 84 participants were the King Island Eskimo with the collaborative use of knowledge. dancers from Alaska, Navajo sand painter This view, and similar ones held by folk- Harry Belone and Acoma Pueblo potter Marie lorist Alan Lomax, ethnomusicologist Charles Chino. The Festival was lauded as a success in Seeger, Folkways record producer Moses Congress and among the public, and plans Asch, and folk-singer activists Pete Seeger were put in place for another year. and Bernice Johnson Reagon, influenced Rinzler concentrated on lining up states Ralph Rinzler. Rmzler was a musician, record to be featured at the Festival—Texas in 1968, producer, manager, and dirccxor of field Pennsylvania in 1969, Arkansas in 1970. These programs at the Newport Folk Festival research were the primary Festival presentations. While operatic tenor and who had been hired by there were Lummi Indian performances and head music impresario James R. Morris, the Seminole crafts. Rinzler was well aware of his

of the Smithsonian's Museum Services office, own lack of knowledge with regard to Native

to direct the first Festival in 1967. Rinzler. who culnires. He had been dissatisfied with the presen-

specialized in old-time Appalachian, Cajun, tations of American Indian artists at Newport. and African American musics, had worked Given the status of the Smithsonian and the

with a number of American Indian artists location of the Festival in Washington in liter-

and craftspeople at Newport as well as with a ally the center of government power, he knew

number of contemporary musicians including the representation of Native cultures had to be

singer-songwriter Buffy' Sainte-Marie. handled carefully, knowledgeably, and ethically.

SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL 13 The Festival's Native American Program Rinzler hired Clydia Nahwooksy in 1969 to Creek, Cherokee, Eskimo, Acoma, Athabaskan,

establish what was first called the American Jemez, and Laguna communities. In 1975, the Indian Program and later became the Iroquois Confederacy was featured along with American Indian Awareness Program and then representatives of other eastern tribes, and

the Native American Program of the Festival. in a massive 1976 program for the American

Clydia, a Cherokee who had earned her B.A. in Bicentennial, Native Americans came from

anthropology a few years before, immediately scores of tribes and communities from every became the highest ranking Native American region of the United States. With the expan-

at the Smithsonian. sion of programs came more permanent,

Well connected in the American Indian temporary, and contract Native American staff community, Nahwooksy organized fuller, for the Festival. Lucille Dawson (Narragansett)

more comprehensive programs at the Festival, coordinated programs and went on to an featuring Southern Plains Indians in 1970, accomplished career in the U.S. Department

Northwest Coast Indians in 1971, Southwest of Health and Human Services. Rayna Green

Indians in 1972. and Northern Plains Indians (Cherokee) and Barbara Strickland (Lumbee)

in 1973. A Native Americans Advisory Group came to the Smithsonian for specific Festival chaired by prominent Native anthropologist programs and have played prominent roles Alfonso Ortiz and including such scholars continuing to the present day. Green went

as Dell Hymes, Barre Toelken, and William on to found the Native American Program at Sturtevant helped guide programs. Vine the National Museum of American History. Deloria and LaDonna Harris, among many Strickland has served continuously with the Veteran Festival staffer others, spoke from Festival stages. In 1974, Festival and the Center and is currently its Barbara Strickland

(center), witfi Navajo the Festival featured California tribes (Tolowa, assistant director for finance and administra- talkers Sam code Pomo, Hoopa, Yurok, Karuk, Luisefio, Maidu, tion. Helen Schierbeck (Lumbee), directing Smltti (left) and Keltti Cahuilla) Basin and Plateau tribes the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Little (rigfit) at ttie and and

National World War II (Paiute, Shoshone, Kaibab, Northern Ute, Department of Health, Education, and Reunion in 2004. Ute Mountain, Southern Ute, and Nez Perce), Welfare, chaired the Indian Education Task Pfioto by Ginevra Portlock,

Smithsonian Institution as well as traditional sports and games from Force of the American Indian Policy Review Commission and helped assure vigorous Native American programs for the Bicentennial

years. She came to the Smithsonian years later,

first as a board member and then as a staffer

to direct public programs at the National Museum of the American Indian. Rinzler also hired non-Native experts including anthropol-

ogist Thomas Kavanagh (an honorary member of the Comanche) who served as assistant

coordinator and later at Indiana University's Mathers Museum, and Thomas Vennum, a Harvard-educated ethnomusicologist who

specialized in American Indian musical and

performance traditions.

14 SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL Post-Bicentennial Programs AMERICAN INDIAN Though the Festival itself was much reduced in size after the 1976 extravaganza, Native LACROSSE American programs continued in 1977 with Ojibwa, Tolowa. San Juan Pueblo, Navajo, and

Seneca participation, and in 1978 with the San Juan Pueblo. In 1979, scholar Peter Nabokov r developed a program focused on Native American vernacular architecture. Vennum •^. developed an Ojibwa program in 1981, and ) published The Ojihwa Dance Drum: Its History and Construction the next year as part ol the Smithsonian Folklife Studies monograph and

film series, to accompany his award-winning 1978 documentary film. The Drumtnaker. A contemporary drummer—Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead—was captivated by these works, and established a friendship and professional collaboration with Vennum that

continues to the present and has led to a variety During the first two years of that program, of recordings and numerous other projects. the Fellowships were conferred at the Festival, Vennum was also "borrowed" by the and such Native artists as ribbon worker Library of Congress to serve as the initial Georgeann Robinson (Osage) from Oklahoma, director of its groundbreaking Federal basket maker Ada Thomas (Chitimacha) Cylinder Project. This project took the old from Louisiana, potter Margaret Tafoya from wax cylinder recordmgs from the Smithsonian's Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico. Eskimo Bureau of American Ethnology—that had mask maker Paul Tiulana from Alaska, and been transferred to the National Archives hula master Emily Kau'i Zuttermeister from and then to the Library of Congress—and Hawai'i were among the early honorees. reproduced them on cassettes with notes for Through the 1980s, scores of Native musi- distribution back to the tribes and commu- cians, artisans, storytellers, and other cultural nities that had originally generated them. exemplars were represented in a range of state Members of those communities, and in some programs—Oklahoma in 1982, Alaska in cases descendants of those originally recorded 1984, Louisiana in 1985, Tennessee in 1986, almost a century earlier, helped identify the Michigan in 1987, Massachusetts in 1988, and recordings and supplement them with precious Hawai'i in 1989. These programs all raised the additional details. visibility of Native American communities In 1982, the National Endowment for and cultural exemplars, both nationally and the Arts initiated its National Heritage back home in their respective states. Other Fellowships program under the direction of thematic programs such as one on Cultural Bess Lomax Hawes, who had been Rinzler's Conservation featured case studies of how assistant director for the Bicentennial Festival.

SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL 15 Native people were preserving their tradi- musical anthropologist Tony Seeger, led to

tions in a contemporary world. An American new opportunities. Folkways had more than a

Indian Access to Resources program curated hundred alburns in its historic American Indian

by Vennum in 1989 examined how Yaqui, collection, and the idea was to republish older,

Washoe, Paiute. Shoshone, Ojibwa, Mandan, archival recordings, as well as make new ones.

and Hidatsa utiHzed their natural and social Seeger, who specialized in the musical culture

environments and faced legal, political, and oi the Native people of the Amazon region,

was amenable to the symbolisin implicit in the

proposal that our first published Smithsonian

Folkways title should be an American Indian

one. The intention was to re-issue Navajo Songs,

based upon field recordings made in New

Me.xico and Arizona in 1933 and 1940 by documenter Laura Boulton. Getting permis-

sions, though, delayed the project. Instead, the

first Native recording was prompted by Festival research for the 1989 Hawaiian program, and

turned out to be Hawaiian Drum Dance Chants:

Sounds of Power in Time. The 1989 Festival was noted for another birth. As part of the Festival, Mandan and Hidatsa were demonstrating the reintroduc- tion of buffalo (bison) herding and herd management among Plains Indians. On the Mall, we had several buffalo and one, unbe-

known to us, was pregnant. In the early

morning hours of June 24, in a pen in sight of the Washington Monument and the National

Museum of American History, she gave birth. Named Nasca Nacasire (or Summer Calf) by

Mandan elder William Bell, the baby buffalo

received national media coverage.

The birth came at a time when the

Earl Nyholm, an technical challenges toward the continued Smithsonian had just completed a deal to Ojibwa Indian, and practice of their cultural Dwight Bowman traditions. Two more acquire the amazing Heye collection of from Hawai'i discuss books by Vennum, Wild Rice and the Ojibway Native American artifacts then housed in New comparative canoe People and America}! Indian Lacrosse: Little Brother York. Legislation authorizing a new National making techniques at the 1989 Festival. of War complemented this theme. Museum of the American Indian was pending Ptioto by Dane Penland, The acquisition of Folkways Records in in Congress, and was sure to pass. A new Smithsonian Institution 1987, and its transformation into Smithsonian museum building would be "born" on the

Folkways Recordings under the leadership of Mall, just as surely as the buffalo. Festival

16 SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL participants, seeing the linkage, wrote the following letter to Senator

Daniel Inouve, the leading advocate for the museum, and Robert McC. Adams. then-Secretary of the Smithsonian.

Dear Senator Inouye and Secretary Adams:

At 2:06 a.m. on Saturday, June 24, a calf was born to the buffalo cow

who was on the Mall as part of the American Indian Program of the

Folklife Festival. Mandan and Hidatsa people from North Dakota also had been singing buffalo songs, performing buffalo dances, tanning buffalo hides and making buffalo head dresses and bull boats as part of

this Festival. There is also a great exhibit about our people in the Native Museum of American History. The Indian presence this year is, we ^ji^^^^ Indian people hope, only a sign of what is yet to come. All of the Ameri who have been here—Yaqui. Ojibwa, Northern Paiute. Washoe, Western Shoshone, Mohawk, Onondaga, Tuscarora, Rappahannock, Cherokee, Sioux, Arikara—and the Mandan and Hidatsa people who prayed for this calf sang for her, and named her Nasca Nacasire

(Summer Calf), feel that this calf is a great sign of good for the

Indian people and for the Smithsonian. We believe our buffalo dance,

which calls forth the buffalo, contributes to the mystique surrounding

the birth of Summer Calf on the Mall. Mandan and Hidatsa people

will pray for her during her entire life, and songs will be made about

what happened here.

In that spirit, we are asking you to acquire her for the new Museum

which we understand will be built on the Mall. Her presence would be

a sign to all people that Indian people have been here and have a place

on the National Mall, and that there is great hope for the future of

this new museum and the Indian people. It would be a sign that this

place was a place of living people and living cultures. No symbol exists like that of the buffalo—perhaps only an eagle—for its significance among the Indian people of North America. She could remain with

her mother until weaned, then perhaps could stay in the National Zoo

until a place is made for her on her birthplace, the National Mall.

Though Summer Calf was not "acquired," the legislation estab-

lishing the new National Museum of the American Indian was signed

later that year by President George H.W Bush on November 28, 1989. A director had to be found.

In the late ig8os, issues of cultural diversity within the nation and

within the Smithsonian were coming to the fore. Ralph Rinzler, who had

SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL Native American Programs as Paradigm become the Smithsonian's Assistant Secretary Native American programs at the Festival

for Pubhc Service and Education, and his continued through the 1990s. Olivia Cadaval

assistant, James Early, had put together a curated a program at the 1991 Festival entitled

cultural education advisory committee to Land and Power in Native Ainencan Culture

help the institution diversify its staffing and and involving representatives from Tlingit, programs. The committee was composed Haida, Tsimshian, Hopi, Aymara, Quechua, of distinguished figures from outside the Chiapan Maya, Zapotec, Ikood, Canelos Smithsonian, among them Jeanninc Smith Quichua, Shuar, and Achuar communities,

Clark, Esther Coopersmith, Peggy Cooper stretching from Alaska to the Andes and the

Cafritz, Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne and Amazon rainforest. Another program in 1994

Hodulgee Muscogee), and a Washington- on Culture and Development, organized with area lawyer, W. Richard West (Cheyenne and Kevin Healy and Chuck Kleymeyer, demon-

Arapaho). The committee helped forward strated how Native peoples in Central and

initiatives concerning the representation of South America were utilizing cultural skills and

African American, Latino, Asian American, resources for the economic and social develop-

and American Indian culture and history ment of their cominunities. Vcnnum curated

in the Smithsonian. While Secretary a program on The Changing Soundscape in

Adams was amenable to hiring a Native Indian Country highlighting the ways Native

American as the founding director of musicians incorporated their own languages,

the new museum, he didn't have a candi- musical instruments, and traditional themes

date. Rinzler strongly recommended West, into contemporary styles of rock 'n' roll,

who took the job in iggo. blues, country, and folk. Native participation

in the New Me.xico program in 1992 spawned

a Smithsonian Folkways Recording produced

with Howard Bass and Rayna Green of the

National Museum of American History'. This

led to another Festival program in 1995 entitled Heartbeat: Voices of First Nations Women,

featuring a panoply of traditional and contem-

porary American Indian singers, among them

(Top) Founding Director Rick West addresses tens of ttiousands of guests and national and

international media during tfie opening ceremony

for the new Museum, Piioto Smitfisoman Institution

(Left) Tfie National Museum of the American Indian opened on the National Mall of the United States

in September 2004. Piioto Smithsonian Institution

18 SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL Suya chiefs from Betty Mae Jumper (^Seminole), Elena Charles others the Kiowa and Comanche American tfie Amazon rainforest the KuUi (Yup'ik), the Olla Maidens (Zuni), the Six Indian Music & Dance Show, Homa perform and discuss Nations Women Singers. Sharon Burch, and Tribal Dancers, The Plainsmen, and Walela tfieir culture at the First Americans Smithsonian (Rita Coolidge and family) in the program. Ulali. among many others. A Festival. Photo by Folkways Recording of the same title was Later that summer, the Center produced the Michael Thompson, the Smithsonian Institution published, and foUowed by a second volume. Smithsonian's 150th Birthday Party on Native American participation continued Mall. Highlights included a Native Nations the National to be strong in various state programs through Dance Procession organized with the 1990s with Iowa, the American South, Museum of the American Indian and perfor- Wisconsin, and New Hampshire. Native mances by the American Indian Dance Theater participation was also highlighted in various and Lakota Sioux Dance Theater. Buffy^ Sainte- Aretha special events produced by the Center. For the Marie gave a workshop and—with headlined Clinton inaugural festival "America's Reunion Franklin and Trisha Yearwood— for 150,000 people, on the Mall" in 1993, the Center invited the an evening concert some Hawaiian hula group Halau O'Kekuhi and culminating in fireworks over the Smithsonian the Badland Singers to perform, and Tlingit Castle and Washington Monument. The Indian carver Nathan lackson, lei maker Marie National Museum of the American MacDonald, regalia maker Vanessa Morgan. held a "Hear Our Nations'Voices" program on Pueblo potters Tom and Cliff Roller, and the designated museum site featuring Navajo, basket weavers Norman and Bernadine Iroquois, Andean, and other performances and to-ka stick DeLorme to demonstrate their traditions. The such activities as Tohono O'odham Center co-produced the Southern Crossroads games, Chicasaw stickball, and lacrosse. National Museum festival in 1996 in Centennial Olympic Park Cooperation between the Smithsonian for the Atlanta OH-mpics and included among of the American Indian and

SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL 19 Folkways continued, first under the leadership ending near the toot of Capitol Hill opposite

of Charlotte Heth, with albums produced the architecturally striking new museum. The

on a variety of Native traditions, and then in procession was led by Smithsonian Secretary more recent years with Helen Schierbeck and Lawrence Small, Deputy Secretary Sheila

Howard Bass. Annual concerts at the Festival Burke, Rick West, Senator Inouye, Senator Ben provided an important venue for highlighting Nighthorse Campbell (Northern Cheyenne),

and giving voice to Native traditions. and Alejandro Toledo (Quechua), the President

Given the Center's long history of of Peru. Inuit frorn Canada and Eskimo from

presenting American Indian traditions on the Alaska walked with the Suya of Brazil's Amazon

Mall, as well as a track record of coopera- rainforest and Aymara of the Bolivian Andes.

tion, the National Museum of the American Native Hawaiians walked with Navajo, Cheyenne

Indian called upon it to help with the produc- with Choctaw, Hopi with Lurnbee. This was

tion of" the museum's opening events on the not some hollow nostalgic display of costumed

Mall in September 2004. A Native Nations' and fabricated ethnicity, but rather an exuberant

Procession, Opening Ceremony, and six-day affirmation of identity in the symbolic center

First Americans Festival were planned. of the United States. The mood was poignant

The result was a stunning, amazing, and and joyous, celebratory and profound. One

poignant affirmation of Native American participant opined that "this is our march on

culture and identity. On September 21, more Washington," a sentiment shared by many. In

than 24,000 Native people walked down the this historic, stirring moment Native people

National Mall of the United States, begin- representing more than 600 tribal and cultural

ning with a call on the conch shell by Hawaiian groups announced to the world loud and clear

Calvin Hoe at the Smithsonian Castle and that "We are very much still here!"

The Native Nations' Procession on September 21, 2004, stretched the length of the Mall. Ptioto by Charlie Weber.

Smithsonian Institution

20 SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL —

The Hawaiian liula The Opening Ceremony, initiated with the Shenandoah (Oneida), Keith Secola (An- group Halau O'Kekuhi Nayea, Warparty (Cree), and Hopi Honor Guard and a Flag Song by Black ishinabe ), Star performs at the

First Americans Eagle, was attended by hundreds of Members others filled the Mall. Sessions at the Raven Festivai. Photo by dignitaries from around the world, stage featured Kuna, Schaghticoke, Lakota, of Congress, Michael Thompson. participants in the procession, and some 50,000 Kiowa-Apache, Sac and Fox, and Caddo- Smithsonian Institution crafts others who witnessed it on six video monitors Potawatomie storytellers, while dem- spread down the length of the National Mall. onstrations included the making of regalia by The Museum opened immediately afterward, and Cayuga, Jalq'a, Kamsa, Mashpee Wampanoag, stayed open through the night to accommodate and Tarabuco master artisans, as well as in-

visitors. The exhibitions in the Museum and the strument making by those from the Cochiti performances and demonstrations at the First Pueblo. Mayo de Sinaloa, Otoe-Missouna,

Americans Festival brought home the point that and other communities. Four concessions,

Native cultures were part of a heritage lived by operated by Onondaga, Lumbee, Algonquian, Native food real, contemporary human beings —indeed and Inka, served a variety of

millions of them across the Western Fiemisphere. from buffalo burgers, Indian tacos, and fry The First Americans Festival featured bread to turkey, venison, Peruvian corn, and hundreds of participants, performances, and pumpkin—to tens of thousands of visitors. demonstrations, and some 600,000 visitors An Indian Market was organized in front of attended. There were among them dances the Museum, with some 40 booths and a big

performed b)' the Inupiat Suurimaanichuat marketplace tent carrying thousands of Na- Dance Group, the Quechua scissors dancers, tive crafts, recordings, books, and other items

the St. Laurent Metis Dancers, and a Yup'ik- for sale. Well over a million dollars was gen- Inuit group, Pamyua. Concerts by Joanne erated in sales for these Native businesses.

SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL 21 The opening day evening concert was a ment, and of immense impact upon a visiting

rousing one, hosted by Charlie Hill (Oneida), and viewing public that could motivate profes-

and featuring Buffy Sainte-Marie (Cree), sional goals for decades to come. Lila Downs (Mixtec), Indigenous (Yankton Old Foundations, Sioux), and Rita Coolidge (Cherokee)—who New Beginnings was joined for some numbers by Grammy The involvement of the Festival and the Center winning flutist Mary Youngblood (Aleut and with Native peoples and their cultures did not Seminole) and surprise guest Mickey Hart. end with the opening of the new museum. The significance of the whole event was It continues. In 2005, Clydia Nahwooksy the strikingly public affirmation of Native was honored for her accomplishments at the American lifeways in our contemporary world. annual Ralph Rinzler Memorial Concert. New Broadcast around the planet, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings are being events were widely seen and produced. A special American Indian Heritage overwhelmingly appreciated. page was created for the Smithsonian Global The reaction of partici- Sound digital music website to reach teachers pants and American Indian and students with audio and video record- visitors was exceedingly ings of Festival participants and Folkways positive. For those in the artists—so they too mitjht hear those compel- Center, the opening events ling voices. And of course this year, the Festival also reaffirmed the value of brings together the National Museum of the the Folklife Festival. Here American Indian and long-time collaborator was the Festival as model and Smithsonian affiliate, the Michigan State and historical practice University Museum, in a partnership with providing the framework Native basket makers from across the United for the engaged participation of Native people States to feature their work, accomplishments, and challenges on the Mall, .ind .1 huge, broad audi- Certainly the case of helping to preserve ence interested in learning about and from them. For Native American culture by working closely older Festival veterans. with its exemplars is a special and important

Rick West's awarding of a one, meriting 40 years and more of effort.

certificate of recognition to But so too are other cases. Our work with the Native peoples and the National Museum of Manaan-Hidatsa flute Barbara Strickland at the conclusion of the last maker and player Keith performance wonderfully summarized careers the American Indian provides a model that we Bear with Gayle Hunt and struggles that gone on for decades to are anxious to follow with other communities during the 2005 Forest had Service, Culture, and recognize and represent Native people on the and colleagues. Over the past three years we Community program. Mall in Washington. For a younger generation have joined with the Smithsonian Latino Center Photo by Joe Furgal,

Smithsonian Institution of staff new to the Festival and such events, in producing the Nuestra Miisica programs

the effect was telling. Here was a world-class at the Festival and on Smithsonian Folkways standard of programming and production, of Recordings. Scores of performances, radio widespread and heartfelt community engage- broadcasts, and several recordings—including

22 SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL .

Further Reading

KURIN, RICHARD. 1999. Smithsonian

Follflife Festival: Culture Of. By.

and For ttie People. Washington; Smithsonian Institution.

KURIN, RICHARD. 1997. Reflections of a Culture Broker: A View from the Smithsonian. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.

VENNUM. THOMAS, JR. 1982. The Ojibwa

Dance Drum: Its History and Construction. four nominated for Grammy awards—have entertained and educated Smithsonian Folklife Studies 2. also join with the millions about Latino cultural traditions. This year we Washington: Smithsonian Institution. African American History and newly established National Museum of VENNUM, THOMAS, JR. 1994. Culture to produce a series of Festival concerts on the African American American Indian Lacrosse: Little Brother of War. Washington: musical traditions of New Orleans, as well as a series of Smithsonian Smithsonian Institution Press. Folkways Recordings. Given our historic commitment to the research and VENNUM, THOMAS, JR. 1989. Wild Rice will be a very strong presentation of African American culture, I expect this and the Ojibway People. St. Paul: and enduring partnership. Minnesota Historical Society Press.

There will of course be others as the Festival continues. For as long For Listening as there is a need for people on this planet and in this nation to under- Beautiful Beyond: Christian Songs in Native Languages. 2004. stand their fellow human beings and fellow citizens—ot the U.S. or the SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS SF=W 40480, enormous world—there is a need for the Festival. Fdere in a place of Borderlands: From Conjunto to in a spirit of tolerance national and global significance, people can gather Chicken Scratch. 1993. and respect with the aim of meeting, understanding, and even learning SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS SFW 40418. from their fellow man. James Smithson, whose bequest founded the Creation's Journey: Native American Music. 1994. Smithsonian for the purpose of the "increase and diffusion of knowl- SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS SFW 40410. edge among men," would, I think, have been pleasantly surprised, but Doc Tate Nevaquaya: Comanche Flute. quite proud of the Festival and what it has become. 200411979). Doc Tate Nevaquaya, SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS SFW 50403.

RICHARD KURIN Hawaiian Drum Dance Chants: Sounds of Power in Time. 1 989. Heritage, Rukard Kuril) is the Director of the Smithsonian Center for Folklifc and Cultural SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS SFW 40015. which produces the Festival, Smithsonian Folkways, Smithsonian Global Sound, and other Heartbeat: Voices of First Nations cultural programs and includes the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Women. 1995. Smithsonian FOLKWAYS SFW 40415 He first worked at the Festival m 1 9 76.

Heartbeat 2: More Voices of First Nations Women. 1998. SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS SFW 40465.

Mountain Music of Peru. Vol. 1. 1991. SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS SFW 40020.

Mountain Music of Peru. Vol. 2. 1994. SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS SFW 40406.

Music Of New Mexico: Native American Traditions. 1992. SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS SFW 40408.

Navajo Songs. 1992. SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS SFW 40403.

Plains Chippewa/Metis Music from Turtle Mountain. 1998.

SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS SFW 4041 1

Traditional Music of the World. Vol. 7: Ritual Music of the Kayapo-Xikrin, Brazil. 1995. SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS SFW 40433.

Wood That Sings: Indian Fiddle

Music of the Americas. 1 997. SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS SFW 40472, 23 ^mam^sm

. aONIAN

Al Chapman and Nancy Groce

This year marks the 40th annual Smithsonian 764 miles from the U.S. border (where it

Folklite Festival. It is also the first year meets the state of Montana) to the Northwest

of the second century for the province of Territories, and 412 miles east to west from

Alberta, which celebrated its centennial in Saskatchewan to British Columbia. With a

2005. Named after Queen Victoria's fourth total area of 255,213 square miles. Alberta is

daughter, Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, exceeded in size by only two of the United

but familiarly called "Wild Rose Country" States, Texas and Alaska.

by Its 5.26 million residents, Alberta is a land Alberta has the fastest growing economy

of contrasts. Its landscape is among the most in Canada, but its wealth extends beyond oil

diverse in North America, with badlands, sands and gas fields, beyond majestic Rocky

prairies, boreal forests, rolling foothills, enor- Mountains and rich agricultural plains, and

mous freshwater lakes such as the Athabasca, bevond its legendary ranches and thriving

and mighty rivers including the Peace and cosmopolitan, multicultural cities. Alberta's

the North Saskatchewan. Its western border true wealth is its people—a diverse, hard-

is defined by the spectacular ranges of the working, innovative population whose "can-do

Rocky Mountains; its eastern border by the spirit" has transformed a frontier territory into

Great Plains. Alberta is enormous: it stretches a prosperous province with a vibrant cultural

landscape. Its people are tremendously proud

of Alberta's past and increasingly confident of

Its future. Because of this rich and dynamic

culture, it is inost appropriate that Alberta is

the first Canadian province to be featured at the

Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

(Top) Calgary's Impressive skyline with the famous Calgary Tower When built In 1968, the Tower

dominated the skyline, but now it is only the fourth tallest building in town. Photo courtesy Travel Alberta

(Left) Calgary's and Edmonton's identical Jubilee Auditoriums—the "Jubes"—are the province's premier

arts centers. Photo by EIIis Brothers Photographers, courtesy Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium

(Right) The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel was established in 1888 by the Canadian Pacific Railway to attract tourists to Banff National Park. Photo courtesy Travel Alberta

'\LBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN ^^^ i-tv: h3^^»^ y. -,.1

of" QtOQ & tl B |< ^

I ffi ' H a a 1 1 1 •^ •. —

At first glance, Alberta might not impress the celebrated Rocky Mountain resorts of

Americans as being as exotic as some of the Banff and Jasper. Alberta is unique among

international programs that have educated Canadian provinces in that the bulk of its

and entertained visitors to previous Folkhfe population does not live immediately along

Festivals, but make no mistake: Alberta is very the U.S.-Canadian border. Many Americans

much its own unique place. The people of would be surprised by how many towns

Alberta pride themselves on being America's and cities dot Alberta's landscape. good neighbors—and they certainly are—but Not all Albertans are cowboys. There are still they might take exception to stereotypes some a lot of ranchers in Alberta, but a contem- Americans may hold about their province. So, porary Albertan is more likely to work in a for the record, let's begin by dispensing with a corporate office or retail store, be involved few misconceptions: in the energy sector, or he employed by one

While it is true that Alberta's climate can of the province's many high-tech research

occasionally dip to a frigid -4o°F and centers than to work with cattle.

snow is not unknown, it is equally true that The region's vibrant growth and devel- serious winter is balanced by three seasons opment have led Alberta's population to of enjoyably temperate weather. In southern become increasingly multicultural and multi- Alberta, winter cold is often mediated by national. The first Albertans were Aboriginal the chinook winds a front of warm air — peoples. (In Alberta and throughout Canada, blowing in from the Pacific that can raise American Indians or First Nations peoples temperatures by fifty degrees Fahrenheit in often refer to themselves as Aboriginals.) just a few hours. Throughout the province, Tribes settled on the Albertan plains at giant expanses of cloudless blue skies and least 12,000 years ago and were sustained by bright sunshine are the norm year-round. the natural resources and activities such as

Not all Albertans live on farms or ranches. buffalo hunting. Evidence of their activities

Despite enormous areas of wilderness, vast can still be seen at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo

national and provincial parks, and seem- Jump, now a World Heritage Site in southern ingly endless prairies, open ranges, and Alberta. Later, their descendants —who agricultural land, four of five Albertans included the Blackfoot, Blood, and Peigan are urbanites. Alberta's two largest cities tamed horses and adapted European weapons

are Calgary (population 1.06 million) and and technology, continuing their traditional

Edmonton (population i.oi million), the culture well into the nineteenth century.

province's capital located 400 miles north Other First Nations, including the Wood-

of the U.S. border. Both are corporate and land Cree, Plains Cree, and Dene tribes,

cultural centers with impressive skylines, settled the woodland areas of central Alberta,

lively cultural scenes, sophisticated restau- where they hunted caribou, moose, and deer,

rants and shops, and world-class universi- and fished the lakes and rivers. During the

ties. Alberta's smaller cities include Fort eighteenth century. Metis (descendants of

Macleod, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, French and Scottish traders and Cree, Ojibwa, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, and Saulteaux, and Assiniboine women) settled

26 \LBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN Young dancers in Alberta, drawn by the tut trade. The Metis in the early twentieth century brought pacifist compete at the were employed as interpreters, cartographers, groups such as the Hutterites, Mennonites, 2005 Stoney/Cree Powwow in Duffield and guides. Their descendants still play a and Dukhabors. whose descendants maintain in central Alberta. cultures and independent life- prominent role in contemporary Alberta. their unique Photo by Nancy Groce. Today, Alberta has 44 First Nations in styles on the Alberta plains. Smithsonian Institution Immigrants also arrived from the United 3 treaty areas and 123 Reserves. The most commonly spoken Aboriginal languages States. During the nineteenth and twentieth include Blackfoot, Cree, Dene, Sarcee, centuries, many American ranchers and farmers and Stoney (Nakoda Sioux). Members of moved to Alberta. Two groups of U.S. immi- Alberta's First Nations and Metis live in grants merit special mention: some American Reserves and Settlements as well as in urban Indians—most notably Sitting Bull and his and suburban areas. band of Lakota Sioux—found that many ot the Early European settlers included immi- conflicts they encountered in the United States grants from the British Isles and Germany as diminished as soon as they crossed the "Peace well as Ukrainians, Poles, and other Eastern Line" and entered Canada. There were also

Europeans who were all drawn by the promise several communities of: African American home- of inexpensive land and newfound freedoms. steaders and ranchers who moved to Alberta in

The need for specific skills attracted specific the nineteenth century seeking opportunities not immigrant groups: for example, the building available to them in a segregated United States. of the Canadian Pacific Railway attracted In recent years. Alberta's energy sector, Chinese and Irish immigrants in the mid- universities, high-tech laboratories, and nineteenth century. Many Sikhs immigrated booming economy have attracted people to the Crowsnest Pass region of the Rocky from around the world. From small towns to

Mountains to work in coal mines. Slightly Its largest cities. Alberta is now home to a later, Japanese settlers came from British sizable number of people from Asia, Africa, Columbia to larm the rich lands around Leth- South America, Australia, Europe, and the bridge in southern Alberta. Unrest in Europe Middle East.

ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN 27 —

Alberta at the Smithsonian: Festival Program

Performing Arts This summer's program showcases the music and dance of Alberta s

folk, country, and ethnic traditions, but it should be noted that Alberta

also supports equally vibrant jazz, blues, rock, world, and classical music

scenes. Identical Jubilee Auditoriums in Calgary and Edmonton, the Banff

Centre for the Arts, Francis Winspear Centre for Music (Edmonton),

and the Jack Singer Concert Hall (Calgary) are among Alberta's many outstanding performing arts venues. Internationally acclaimed events

such as the Edmonton Folk Festival, the Calgary Folk Festival, and the

Canmore Folk Music Festival have drawn prominent performers and large

crowds to outdoor venues each summer for decades.

The one thing shared by all this year's Festival performers is their

focus on Alberta. The lyrics of singer-songwriters Ian Tyson, Corb Lund, Dunn, Wort Hannam, Tim Hus, and Sid Marty celebrate FESTIVAL CD Maria John Alberta's history, people, and landscape. The bands Cowboy Celtic and Alberta: Wild Roses, The McDades draw from both Celtic and Western traditions to create Northern Lights their distinctive sounds. Traditional music also forms the basis of the In conjunction with the Aboriginal a cappella trio Asani; the music and dance of Ukrainian- Alberta at the Smithsonian Albcrtan supergroup Zabava; the Francophone-Albertan ensemble Allez program, Smithsonian Quest and dance troupe Zephyr; and the Aboriginal dance ensemble, Folkways Recordings Blackfoot Medicine Speaks. Master fiddler Calvin Vollrath from St. Paul is releasing two CDs. in the northeast part of the province begins with a thoroughly Albertan The first, Alberta: Wild mixture of Metis, Irish, Scottish, and American country music, then adds Roses, Northern Lights a dash of jazz to create a style all his own. Cowboy poets Dons Daley, (SFWCD 40538), a Tcrri Mason, and Don Wudel, along with Tsuu T'ina storyteller Hal collaborative effort with Eagletail, use words and rhymes to paint their visions of Alberta. the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, features Oral History and Theater contemporary music Cultural life in Alberta is also enriched by a vibrant theater scene. In by Albertan musicians fact, Alberta prides itself as being the birthplace of "Theatresports." celebrating their home Theatresports pits two teams of improvisers against one another on a province. The second, given topic. Judges then award points to the funniest team. During the Classic Canadian Songs Festival, members of two of Alberta's leading Theatresports companies from Smithsonian Folkways Calgary's Loose Moose Theatre and Edmonton's Rapid Fire Theatre (SFW CD 40539), produced will explain the unique cultures of their home cities (known to harbor a in collaboration with the bit of rivalry between them), draw attention to the distinctions between Canadian Centre for American and Canadian culture, and enlighten audience members on any Ethnomusicology at the of other topics. The only assurance we can offer in advance is University of Alberta, number unpredictable. contains historically that their performances will be funny and important Canadian Oral history has long been an important part of the Folklife Festival. recordings from the We arc fortunate to have the 2005 Grant MacEwan Author's Award Folkways archives. winner, oral historian Linda Goyette, at this year's Festival to introduce several community members who have come faced by these multi-generational ranching to Washmgton to share their family stories families include drought, land management and personal reminiscences. These speakers issues, and the fluctuation of beef prices—an include Junetta Jamerson, a descendant of issue exacerbated by the 2003-05 U.S. ban African American homesteaders and ranchers of Alberta beef after the discovery of bse

who migrated from a segregated post-Civil (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) in one War Oklahoma to follow their dreams in Alberta cow. The U.S. ban, while perhaps Alberta's Amber Valley; William Chee Kay,

the child of a Chinese father and Ukrainian

mother, who grew up in Edmonton durmg the

1950s and 40s; and Lethbridge native RocheUe Yamagashi, whose Japanese-Canadian farming

family settled in southern Alberta in the early

twentieth century. Ranching

Many of Alberta's earliest European settlers

were cattle ranchers, attracted b\- the province's fertile prairies and vast grasslands. Today,

ranching remains a major factor in Alberta's economy, and for many Albertans ranching and cowboy culture are the symbols of what

It means to be an Albertan.

Most ranching in Alberta takes place m southern and central parts of the prov-

ince and along the beautiful "Cowboy Trail" (Highway 22) that skirts the eastern foot-

hills of the Canadian Rockies. Cattle are the

most plentiful livestock, but bison (commonly

called "buffalo") and elk ranches are increasing merited in the interest of public safety, had a Alberta ranchers rely on traditional in number. The quality of Alberta beef is devastating economic impact on ranches and skills to manage legendary, and although the U.S. remains a small ranching towns throughout Alberta. livestock. Photo courtesy major market, beef raised on the plains of For tens of thousands of Albertans, ranching Travel Alberta Alberta is also in demand by fine restaurants is more than an industry—it is a way of life and serious gourmets across Europe and Asia. central to their culture and identities. The Organic and low-stress methods of raising Biggs family from the TK Ranch in Hanna, livestock, as well as the preservation and stew- southern Alberta, Terri Mason from Eckville, ardship of Alberta's fertile but frat;ile rough Don Wudel from Meeting Creek, and D.C. fescue grasslands, are of increasing concern in Lund from Tabor will be at the Festival Alberta, especially among family ranches like to speak about the realities of ranching in those featured at this year's Festival. Challenges contemporary Alberta.

ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN 29 Chuckwagon racing STAMPEDES, RODEOS, AND CHUCKWAGONS is a popular sport throughout Alberta. Each summer, the Calgary Exhibition Alberta. Each wagon or "chucky" Photo counesy & Stampede— a two-weel< long has a team of four "outriders," each Travel Alberta celebration of ranching and rodeo on their own horse. At the starting

town Calgary. Founded in 1912, props, although fake, are stoves and the Calgary Stampede remains an other equipment that were histori- important icon of Alberta culture, but cally used by working chuckwagon many smaller stampedes (the local cooks.) The wagon driver then takes term for rodeos) featuring competi- off at top speed and, after completing

tive ranching skills take place in cities a figure-8 starting maneuver around

and towns throughout Alberta. In several barrels, races the other addition to riding and roping events, wagons and teams around a track.

stampedes often feature livestock It is an exciting and dangerous judging, competitive cooking, sport. Many of the contestants come canning, and homemaking competi- from multi-generation racing fami- tions, as well as that most Albertan lies and follow the circuit around of sports—chuckwagon racing. Alberta from late spring to early fall. Chuckwagon racing grew out of Although our Festival takes place

the work skills of early cowboys. at the height of the chuckwagon Today, specially-built racing chuck- racing season, we are delighted wagons pulled by a four-horse team to have retired champion racer Dr. race for glory and cash prizes at Doyle Mullaney here from Okatoks stampedes and rodeos throughout to explain this very Albertan sport. —

Agriculture The Great Plains of the western United Bruderheim, New Norway, and Kirriemuir

States do not stop at the 49th Parallel but still proucUy bear the names of their early-twen- continue northward into Canada's western tieth-century settlers' Old World homelands. provinces. Early settlers to Alberta were quick Faster and better transportation has made most to see the possibilities for grain farming in of the old, gaily painted wooden grain eleva- the fertile, treeless plains of southern and tors obsolete, but their hulks remain important central Alberta. Despite cold winters, the landmarks on the Alberta prairies. In many rich soil and dry, sunny summers proved ideal communities, local efforts are underway to for crops such as wheat, barley, fla.x, oats, and preserve and restore these structures that evoke oilseeds (now called canola). Much ol this so many historical memories. land was developed through the coordination Over twenty years ago, the Alberta Wheat of government policies and the economic Pool established the Grain Academy Museum interests of the Canadian Pacific Railway. to preserve the history and memories of European homesteaders were attracted to Alberta's grain growers. The Grain Academy inexpensive western land, issued with a $10 in Calgary's Stampede Park is dedicated "to filing lee. Settlers came in great numbers, the farmers who grow all types of grain, scien- especially from Central and Eastern Europe. tists who develop worthy qualities of western

Small towns grew up along the railroad lines, Canada's crops, and those who operate our many around the strategically spaced track- grain elevators and terminals." This summer, side grain elevators, where harvests from the Academy staff members bring some of their surrounding countryside would be collected exhibits to the Mall along with their stories of and stored to await shipment. Political and elevators, fields, and the challenges of farming cooperative movements evolved as Alberta on the Alberta prairies. farmers fought for rights and protections against what they perceived as the railroads' and eastern government's interests. These conflicting interests became a formative theme in Alberta's early history.

Today, agriculture remains a major factor

in the Alberta economy. The small towns that grew up around the giant grain elevators remain. Many of them—such as Bergen, Vilna,

'W.

Farms and ranches dot the foothills of the Rocky Mountains along "Cowboy Trail" (Highway 22)

in western Alberta. Photo courtesy Travel Alberta

ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN 31 Alberta Foodways The earliest Albercans enjoyed a diet based and numerous other eateries do a brisk busi-

on venison, bison (or buffalo), elk, deer, and ness not only in Calgary and Edmonton, but

moose, numerous species of" freshwater fish, throughout the province.

wild grains, and the local favorite, saskatoon The Albertan cooks at this year's Festival

berries (Amelanchier alnijolia or inisaskwatomin in range from home cook Elsie Kawulych,

Cree). With the arrival of European settlers, who carries on the food traditions of her Alberta became famous for the excellent Ukrainian- Albertan community of Vegreville,

quality of its beef and its ample harvests of to chef Tim Wood, who blends sophisticated grain—particularly wheat, oats, and barley. In multicultural cuisine with local products at his recent years, these products have been supple- small Eco Cafe in the central Alberta village of mented by award-winning Alberta produce, Pigeon Lake. Wilson Wu, owner of the inno-

locally brewed beers, honey, cheeses, and (with vative Wild Tangerine restaurant in Edmonton, the occasional help of greenhouses) a year- draws on his Hong Kong youth, his training

round supply of locally grown herbs and vege- as a chemist, and his ^o years in Alberta to

tables. Alberta is also one of the world's major create such treats as a bison hot dog coated producers of mustard and mustard seeds. in toasted, crushed popcorn in honor of the Throughout the province, well-attended Chinese Year of the Dog. And chefs from the farmers' markets allow distinguished chefs internationally acclaimed Rocky Mountain

and dedicated home cooks to buy fresh, local resort, the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, and ingredients directly from the farmers and Calgary's River Cafe demonstrate their award- ranchers who produce them. Alberta's ethnic winning art using the very finest local food

diversity is reflected in the profusion of avail- products. The Foodways area will be facili- able restaurant cuisines. Chinese, Indian, tated and hosted by well-known Edmonton Greek, Ukrainian, Thai, Druze, Japanese, food expert Gail Hall.

Siblings Judy and Wilson Wu fuse Asian and Albertan cuisines at their Wild Tangerine restaurant in Edmonton.

Photo by Brian J. Gavnloff, courtesy Wilson Wu

32 ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN Crafts

Careful workmanship is highh' valued in

Albertan culture, and this might explain why artisans of all descriptions thrive throughout the province. At this year's Festival, we highlight several distinctive regional cratt traditions—those practiced by the First Nations peoples of Alberta, those practiced by immigrants to Alberta, and the western crafts that grew out ot Alberta's early ranching culture.

Alberta is home to numerous Aboriginal peoples with exceptional craft traditions. We are delighted to have participants from several of the province's First Nations— including Nakoda artisans Teresa Snow and Eli Snow. Woodland Cree artisans Margaret Cardinal and Ben Moses, Metis sash maker Laura McLaughlin, and artisan-presenter Melissa-

Jo Moses—to demonstrate and explain the distinctive history, crafts, and traditions of" their peoples. Although the arts and craftsmanship of Alberta's First Nations share some common techniques such as beading and quill work, they also reflect each nation's individual history and unique traditions. The work of many ot the First Nations

artists here at the Festival mirrors cultural change and adaptation. Many traditional Western Crafts Master saddlemaker Chuck Stormes in still valued taught, but their use The ranching culture that defined much of the crafts are and his workshop near has changed significantly over the years. For American West also shaped the lifestyles and Millarville. in southwestern Alberta. example. Margaret Cardinal, who teaches in material culture of Alberta. The province is Photo by Ron Marsh.

the Native Cultural Arts program at Northern still home to thousands of working cowboys Calgary, courtesy Chuck Stormes Lake College m Grouard, is a respected teepee and the industries that provide them with the

maker. Although once a common structure equipment and gear they need to follow their

in Aboriginal culture, teepees are now made profession. The work of some artisans tran- and used primarily tor summer retreats and scends basic craftsmanship and moves into

at powwows. (Powwows are tribal or inter- the realm of art. Saddlemaker Chuck Stormes

tribal gatherings featuring traditional music and silversmith Scott Hardy bring their world-

and dance, often in competitive settings.) The class designs and craftsmanship to this year's furnishings that Aboriginal Albertans bring Festival. Their work draws inspiration from the

for their teepees at powwows reflect their lives western ranching culture in which they were

as contemporary Albertans, as will the teepee raised and the beauty of the foothills region

that Ms. Cardinal brings to the Festival. of southwestern Alberta where they live.

ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAhi 33 Clay and Clay Industries The discovery of deposits of excellent expert on the history of Medicine Hat's clay pottery-grade clay, a large supply of natural industry; Basil Leismeister, who worked at the gas for firing kilns, and the arrival of the Medalta factory at its prime and continues to railway in i88^ made the southeastern Alberta demonstrate "jigging" at the Historic District; city of Medicine Hat the center of the clay and leading Albertan contemporary ceramic products industry in western Canada. By the artist Les Manning, the Artistic Director of early twentieth century, the Medalta Potteries, the Artists in Residence program. Manning's

Hycroft China, and other local manufacturers art combines the history of his region with an were supplying utilitarian but stylish crockery innovative style that echoes Alberta's landscape. for Canadian homes and prestigious commer- Wilderness cial clients such as the Canadian Pacific It is difficult to comprehend the sheer size and Railroad, as well as hotels and restaurants extent of Alberta's wilderness areas. In many throughout Canada. At its height in the mid- parts of northern Alberta, the population is twentieth century, thousands of workers were sparse. Some towns, even important ones such employed in Medicine Hat's pottery, clay, and as Fort Chipewyan (population 1200) on the brick industries. shores of Lake Athabasca, are accessible only Changes in taste and style and economic by "ice roads" in the winter. At other times setbacks forced local companies to close visitors must rely on water or air access. during the 1960s, but the pottery industry The responsibility of being stewards of a lease on life received second when the some of North America's most pristine and site was reopened as a within the museum extensive wilderness areas is one that Albertans

Medicine Hat Clay Industries National take seriously. Protection, management, and

Historic District. In addition to preserving sustainability of resources in wilderness areas the historic factory complex and establishing generate considerable public debate and are the an interpretive center celebrating the local focus of extensive government policies.

industry and its social impact, the Historic Alberta Sustainable Resource Development,

Clay District has also instituted the Medalta the government ministry responsible for the

International Artists in Residence Program, province's wilderness areas, employs biolo-

which draws leading ceramic artists from gists, foresters, fish and wildlife officers,

around the world. meteorologists, agrologists, forest officers. Summer lecieations technologists, and policy analysts. Their ice sports are particularly popular. Patrick include hiking and Professional Skate duties include assessing the impacts of wild- Francey from Edmonton's riding in many of has come to the Festival Alberta's 500 parks. fires, insects, or diseases; developing public Services (Pro Skate) Photo courtesy to explain how his shops serve skaters of all education and awareness programs; planning Travel Alberta children and supervising timber harvesting operations; kinds. Pro Skate's clientele includes all levels of hockey and conducting wildlife population studies. just learning to skate, and ringette players, as well as Olympic Gold Representatives of its Junior Forest Rangers Medal competitors and National Hockey program, together with a naturalist from League stars. Pro Skate is where Albertans the Foothills Model Forest working on the love ice sports come to "hang around," world-famous Grizzly Bear Research Program, who trade information, and reinforce their sports- have come to Washington to talk about their based community. programs and activities. When It comes to organized sports, Of course, not all Albertans involved with none is more closely identified with Alberta the wilderness are associated with the govern- than ice hockey. In addition to Alberta's ment. Other Festival participants include natu- two professional NHL teams—the Calgary ralist, guide, and author Ben Gadd, an acknowl- Flames and the Edmonton Oilers—the prov- edged authority on the Canadian Rockies, ince supports 215 hockey associations and and fly-fishing experts, authors, lecturers, and 200 clubs. Hockey Alberta, an organization teachers Jim and Lynda McLennan, who have established in 1907 to promote the sport, has made their living on Alberta's beautiful Bow over 150,000 adult volunteers involved in its River since the 1970s. programs. In addition to hockey, ringette, a

Sports and Recreation variant of ice hockey for women and girls, is

Recreation and sports are important aspects ot also popular. First introduced in 1963, ringette

life in Alberta. Many activities such as cycling, is a fast-paced team sport in which players

hiking, rock climbing, camping, and horseback use a straight stick to pass, carry, and shoot

riding take advantage ot Alberta's more than a rubber ring to score goals. Several coaches

500 parks and wilderness areas. Others such as join us at this year's Festival to explain their

skiing, snowboarding, sledding, snowmobiling, sports and discuss the important role amateur

ice skating, and heli-skiing, take advantage oi ice sports play in the culture of towns and

Alberta's climate. Amateur and professional villages throughout Alberta.

ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIA 35 Paleontology

It's difficult to think ot landlocked Alberta Today. Alberta is one of the world's leading

as having anything to do with the ocean, but sites for research in paleontology, and dino-

some 200 million years ago, things were very saurs are even considered a local mascot, so we

different. In the middle of the Mesozoic era, are highlighting the work of Alberta's paleon-

much of what is today Alberta was part of a tologists at this year's Festival.

vast, shallow inland sea. Dinosaurs lived along Southern Alberta is home to a dino- its shores, and when they died, their bones saur-related world heritage site—Dinosaur became part of the landscape. Millions of Provincial Park—as well as the Royal Tyrrell

vears later, their fossilized remains are a treasure Museum, an internationally renowned pale- trove for modern paleontologists. (Vegetation ontology center outside Drumheller. Other

and marine life from the inland sea were also major dinosaur finds have been discovered in

the source of Alberta's giant oil reserves.) the Milk River area in southern Alberta as

Among the pioneers of paleontology in well as Grande Cache and Grande Prairie in

Alberta was geologist Joseph Tyrrell, who northern Alberta. It is a rare paleontologist

discovered a large carnivore's skull in the who has not spent time in Alberta. Several

Drumheller vallev in 1884. On the occasion staff members of the Royal Tyrrell Museum

of Alberta's founding in 1905, this important in the Alberta badlands have come to the

discovery was named the Alhertosaiirits sarcoph- Festival to explain not only dinosaurs, but also

agus. Since then, numerous species have been the occupational folklore involved in being a

named after the province or places in Alberta. working paleontologist.

In Drumheller, home of the Royal Tyrrell Museum, dinosaurs are part of local cultural identity. Some are even found on downtown streets. Photo by Nancy Groce.

Smithsonian institution

36 ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN Royal Canadian Mounted Police When the American West was "wild." the Canadian West was considerably more stable, thanks m large part to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In 1869, the Hudson's Bay Company turned over control of its entire Northwest holdings to Canada, and in 1872. the region was opened for settlement. To support Its claim to the Northwest and to keep law and order in the region, the Canadian government formed the North-West Mounted

Police (NWMP) in 1873. later renamed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in

1920. The "Mounties," as they are more fondly known, established their first Alberta post in

1874 at Fort Macleod. The Mounties are an integral part of in Alberta culture. The province actually has first public broadcaster. It went on the air The musical ride, a complex perfor- two separate systems of law enforcement: the Edmonton in 1927 and has championed the mance by thirty-two RCMP, responsible for provincial law enforce- music and culture of Alberta ever since. Today, RCMP equestrians wearing their tradition- ment, and the local police employed by each It IS a thriving member-supported nonprofit al red serge uniforms, RCMP's K. Division main- eclectic, multi-genre playlist municipality. The station. CKUA's has been thrilling in- tains law and order throughout rural Alberta, draws listeners from throughout Alberta. Its ternational audiences since 1876. Photo including the province's sparsely settled recent ability to stream broadcasts via internet courtesy Royal Canadian

northern regions. Today, the RCMP recall is drawing enthusiastic listeners from around Mounted Police

their proud history and uphold their honored the world. Like all Canadian radio stations, traditions while meeting the challenges of law CKUA follows Canada's MAPL regulations the contemporary world. We enforcement in that require 35% of the music played between delighted that three members of Alberta's are 6 a.m. and midnight must have "Canadian Division are able to join us for the K RCMP content" by fulfilling at least two of the share their occupational culture. Festival to following conditions: M (music): the music Radio must be composed by a Canadian; A (artist): it be performed principally by a Canadian; In an area as vast as Alberta, bridging distances must music must be recorded in has been essential to creating a sense of P (production): the in Canada and broadcast community. No medium has done this more Canada or performed (lyrics): the lyrics must effectively than radio. Throughout the Festival live in Canada; and L

several prominent Alberta radio stations will be written by a Canadian. record and broadcast shows featuring the Alberta's CFWE "The Native Perspective" broadcasts province- vibrant local culture heard on contemporary is based in Edmonton and percentage Alberta airwaves. wide. In addition to playing a high Station CKUA, broadcasting today from of Native American music, its multilingual both Calgary and Edmonton, was Canada's programming strives "to preserve and promote

ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN 37 —

aboriginal culture" and address the concerns leave farming and ranching for work on the oil

of its largely First Nations audiences. Several rigs were Festival participants Dan Claypool other stations will also be making guest and model maker Vern Blinn. Concerned that

appearances during the Festival. the early history of the rapidly changing oil

industry was being lost, Claypool and some of The Energy Sector his colleagues founded the Canadian Petroleum The primary factor driving Alberta's economy Interpretive Centre in 1997 to preserve and today is the energy industry, or the "energy display oilfield and related artifacts of the past sector" as it is referred to locally. Every day, and give the public "a taste of what it is like Alberta produces an average of 630,000 barrels to be part of our oil industry." of crude oil through conventional drilling Since Leduc #1 "spudded in." drilling for and another million barrels through oil sands oil and gas has become much more compli- production. It exports over a million barrels cated. To ensure that Alberta maintains a a day to the U.S., accounting for 10% of U.S. workforce trained in the latest procedures oil imports. Nearly one in every six workers in and knowledgeable about health and safety Alberta is employed directly or indirectly in requirements, the Petroleum Industry Training the province's energy sector. Service (PITS) and the Canadian Petroleum In fact, there are several distinct energy Safety Council (CPSC) established Enform, a industries within the sector, each with its nonprofit training center in Nisku. Enform's own occupational folklore of history, tradi- Doug Gibson joins us to talk about the center's tions, and stories. Each industry also presents state-of-the-art petroleum training facility and Its own environmental risks and challenges his own experiences in the oil patch. matters ot great concern to energy producers, Alberta's Oil Sands to those working in the energy sector, and The oil sands in northern Alberta contain one to all Albertans. At this year's Festival, we of the world's largest known oil reserves. An are highlighting workers in three major estimated 174 billion barrels of oil are trapped components of Alberta's energy sector: oil in a complex mixture of sand, water, and clay. and gas drilling, the oil sands, and laying and This vast resource probably originated as light maintaining pipelines. crude oil from southern Alberta, formed by

Conventional Drilling vegetation and marine life from the Mesozoic

Geologists had long suspected that there was inland sea that was forced north and east by oil and natural gas in porous rock forma- the same geologic pressures that formed the tions deep below Alberta's farmlands. On a Rocky Mountains. Over time, the actions of

bitterly cold day in 1947, after years of unsuc- water and bacteria transformed the light crude

cessful dry holes, drillers struck oil near the oil into bitumen, a much heavier, carbon-rich,

small town of Leduc, about 40 miles south and extremely viscous oil. The oil-saturated

of Edmonton in central Alberta. Within a sand deposits left over from ancient rivers are

decade, there were 7,400 wells; today, there found in three main areas: Peace River, Cold are more than 52,000 active oil wells and Lake, and Athabasca.

55,000 active gas wells throughout the prov- In the Athabasca region of northern

ince. Among the first wave of Albertans to Alberta, where the oil is closest to the surface,

38 ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN —

Giant trucks used significant open pit mining for oil sands began Steamed Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), for oil sands dwarf in the late 1960s. The largest reserves were a new technique that pumps hot steam into regular pickups near McMurray in located under state-owned Crown Lands, the ground to extract bitumen in situ from oil Fort nortiiern Alberta. largely undeveloped wilderness areas with few sands, is gaining popularity. Photo by Nancy Groce, roads and fewer amenities. As the pace and Oil sands workers from several of the Smithsonian Institution size of oil excavation increased, nearby Fort largest companies in the Athabasca oil sands

McMurray, the largest city in the area, became Albian Sands, Suncor, and Syncrude—as well

a boomtown. Today, Fort McMurray (popula- as engineers and heavy duty mechanics from

tion 60,000) IS the headquarters of numerous Finning and Caterpillar, whose machinery

oil sands companies and the primary staging forms such an essential part of the oil sands, area for thousands of skilled oil workers who and interpretive staff from the Oil Sands spend rotating shifts in oil camps located even Discovery Centre have come to the Festival to

further north in the Alberta wilderness. explain their work, their occupational commu- for The complicated process of mining nity, and the Fort McMurray region.

oil sands begins by clearing trees, draining and Pipelines storing the swampy topsoil or "overburden" for Pipelines are used to transport Alberta's oil and reuse when restoring the landscape, and then natural gas to processing plants and customers removmg the top layer of earth to expose the oil throut;hout North America. Natural gas travels sands. After it is mined, the thick, stick)' oil through pressurized pipelines at speeds of up to sand is mixed with hot water to create a slurry. hour. Modern pipelines are major Hydrotransport pipelines carry the slurry 25 miles per construction projects, especially m Alberta where from the mine to a nearby extraction plant, they are often laid in remote wilderness areas. where it is separated into three layers—sand However, because pipelines are usually buried, settles on the bottom, water and clay settle in the amount of work and the engineermg inge- the middle, and bitumen floats on the surface nuity involved in laying them are rarely acknowl- as a bubbly froth. The bitumen is skimmed off pipelines are monitored contin- the top to be cleaned and further processed edged. Although technology and construction into the oil products we use every day. ually and modern number of leaks After the bitumen from the oil sands techniques have lessened the presented by pipelines has been "recovered" and the cleaned sands and accidents, the risks energy sector on returned to the excavation site, reclamation and the overall impact of the great concern to both specialists take over. It is their job to return Alberta's landscape are of producers. the mined area to a healthy boreal forest. environmentalists and energy

ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAh 39 Technology

"If we don't have it, we'll build it, " is a phrase Festival. To do so. we've invited researchers

heard frequently throughout Alberta. The from a few significant projects currently

frontier concept of relying on local ingenuity underway in Alberta:

and hard work for solutions to local challenges The Government of Alberta recently made a has transformed itself into what contempo- substantial commitment to the future by rary Albertans call their "can-do spirit." This supporting the SuperNet project, a high- open-minded approach to solving problems speed, high-capacity broadband network that might be the cultural e.xplanation of why links classrooms, provincial and municipal technology is so highly valued and nurtured government offices, health-care facilities, throughout the province. and libraries throughout the province. Today, there are approximately 4,700 SuperNet connections m 429 communities throughout

Alberta, including many m remote areas where internet access had previously been expensive

or inadequate. Throughout the Festival, staff from Alberta Education, the agency respon-

sible for SuperNet, will connect the Wild

Rose Stage on the Mall to selected classrooms throughout Alberta. Through interactive

video conferencing sessions, visitors will have

the opportunit)' to engage and ask questions

of Alberta students and teachers.

The Light Up The World Foundation (LUTW),

a project nurtured by and affiliated with the

University of Calgary, seeks to improve the

lives of the world's poor by bringmg "afford-

able, safe, healthy, efficient, and environ-

mentally responsible illumination to people

currently without access to proper lighting."

The SuperNet, a At major universities, private laborato- Like other Canadian provinces. Alberta has high-speed, high- ries, and government-supported "centers of a long and proud history of providing inter- capacity broadband national network, links more excellence," Alberta researchers and scientists humanitarian assistance, lutw has than 4,700 schools, coupled this national spirit are making major contributions in fields that of generosity government offices, with Alberta's pragmatic can-do spirit, and health-care facilities, range from medicine to chemistry, nanotech- and libraries today it is bringing solid-state through- nology to computer science. Excellent govern- lighting tech- out Alberta. support nology to communities in Peru, Sri Lanka, Photo courtesy ment and private research facilities Ghana, and many other countries. Alberta Education increasingly attract leading researchers and

dedicated graduate students from around the Also joining us to highlight research taking world. We are highlighting a few examples of place at the University of Alberta's

Alberta's thriving technology sector and the Faculties of Engineering and Science will

scientific community behind it at this year's be several AIBO robotic dogs and their

40 ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN Ti I iher Reading

BENSON, DARYL. 2004. Alberta: handlers. Getting a robotic dog to play soccer, as these do, is not Images. Edmonton: Culler Books. the ultimate point. They are used to demonstrate the practical appli- BERRY, SUSAN AND JACK BRINK. 2004. cations of more abstract technological innovations in areas related Aboriginal Cultures in Alberta: Five control, to sensors, locomotion, vision, localization, behavior-based Hundred Generations. Edmonton: and multi-robot communication and coordination. Researchers will Provincial Museum of Alberta.

e.xplain how these breakthroughs might be applied to future tech- DIXON, JOAN AND TRACEY READ. 2006.

nologies that will affect our daily life and work, as well as discussing Celebrating the Calgary Extiibition and Stampede: The Story of the Greatest what it is like to be part ol Alberta's high-tech research community. Outdoor Show on Earth. Canmore, Alberta: Altitude Publishing. Finally, we are pleased to welcome representatives from the Alberta Chapter of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, who have come GOYETTE, LINDA AND CAROLINA JAKEWAY ROEMMICH. 2004. to Washington to demonstrate how innovations in construction materials Edmonton in Our Own Words. and new approaches to design and urban planning are changing Alberta's Edmonton: University of Alberta Press. built environment. Their work combines a need to meet Alberta's climatic MEILI, DIANNE. 1991. Those Who challenges with increasing demand for "green," environmentally sensitive Know: Profiles of Alberta's Native Elders. Edmonton: NeWest Press. approaches to construction in Alberta's booming economy.

In its one hundred short years as a province. Alberta has grown in MELNYK, GEORGE AND TAMARA PALMER SEILER. EDS. 2003. The Wild Rose ways that would have astonished its earliest founders. From a frontier Anthology of Alberta Prose. Calgary: outpost, Alberta has transformed itself and its diverse population into University of Calgary Press.

a distinctive culture unlike any other. Drawing on its history, cultural PALMER, HOWARD AND TAMARA PALMER. strengths, and ingenuit)'. Alberta enters its second century poised to make 1990. Alberta: A New History.

increasingly significant contributions to Canadian, North American, and Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers.

international culture. The many talented participants who join us this PAYNE, MICHAEL, DONALD WETHERELL, AND CATHERINE CAVANAUGH. EDS. 2006. summer in Washington, D.C., draw upon the best of Alberta's past and Alberta Formed, Alberta Transformed. that wrll its future. present as they lay the cultural foundations shape We Calgary: University of Calgary are delighted to welcome them to the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Press and Edmonton: University of Alberta Press,

AL CHAPMAN REES. TONY 2004 [1995]. Hope's Last Home: Travels in Milk River Project Manager for the Smithsonian Project Office of Alberta Community Development, Country: A History of the Last Al Chapman has sixteen years of experience in the field of music as a musician, Short Grass Plains. Edmonton: Brindle & Glass Publishers. engineer, music educator, and arts administrator He holds a Music Diplomafrom

Grant MacEwan Community College, a Bachelor of Education degree in Secondary SHARPE, SYDNEY ET AL., EDS. 2005. Alberta: A State of Mind. Muskfrom the University of Alberta, and a Master of Education degree from the Toronto: Key Porter Books. University of Alberta. VAN HERK, ARITHA. 2001. Mavericks: NANCY GROCE An Incorhgible History of Alberta. Toronto: Penguin/Viking. Nancy Groce is a curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural WETHERELL. DONALD AND IRENE KMET Heritage, and curated the Alberta al the Smithsonian program. A folklorist, historian, 2000. Alberta's North: A History and ethnomusicologist, she holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the 1890-1950. Edmonton: Canadian

University of Michigan and has authored numerous books and articles on music, Circumpolar Institute Press & University of Alberta Press. folklore, and culture. Alberta, Canada: Frontiers and Fusions in North America's "Last Best West"

Max Foran

Alberta, Canada! Sunny, beautiful, brash, Hudson's Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico. Their

and rich. Home to over three million people, harnessed strength gives life to dry soil, and

Alberta is Canada's fourth largest prov- power to towns and cities. But below the fields

ince, larger than California and almost as of grain and prairie sod, beneath the stands of

big as Texas. It straddles the eastern slopes poplar, spruce, and pine, are the resources that

of the Great Divide and extends south to support Alberta's rise to global prominence.

the American border and north nearly to Fossil fuel deposits in the form of coal, oil,

the Arctic. Though one of the youngest of and natural gas are the forces driving Alberta's

Canada's provinces it is perhaps the most economic engine and enticing people from

dynamic, with a rich heritage and a promising around the world to this "last best West." future. Successive waves of frontiers—some Human activity in Alberta dates back at physical, some economic, some occupational, least twelve thousand years. Surviving teepee

and some cultural—have defined its character rings, pictograph art, and medicine wheels give

and forged a distinct identity. evidence of several distinct nomadic hunting

Nature has richly endowed Alberta. societies. Alberta's European heritage was first

Breathtakingly beautiful in its wide variety shaped by the fur trade frontier. Beginning in

of landscapes. Alberta is a land of contrasts, the late-eighteenth century, fur traders from where mountains give way to foothills and the Hudson's Bay and North-West Companies

prairie, where desert meets parkland, and traveled the northern river highways seeking

where agriculture yields to vast boreal forests. prime beaver pelts for a thriving European

Though hundreds of miles from the sea, it is a hat-making industry. From their fortified

land defined by water. Several impressive rivers, river-based posts, they established trading

headed by the mighty Peace, flow through rich partnerships with the Woodland Cree. The fur

farming country and semi-and rangelands, trade had seen its best days by the mid-nine-

linking the province with the Arctic Ocean. teenth century, but its legacy can still be seen

in the settlement patterns of many northern communities, the most outstanding example

being Edmonton, the province's capital.

(Top) Rosebud is typical of small prairie towns established along the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Photo by Nancy Groce, Smithsonian Institution

(Left) Coal was the earliest of Alberta's energy resources to be exploited. The Atlas Coal Mine In

the Drumheller Valley Is now a National Historic Site.

Photo by Nancy Groce. Smithsonian Institution

42 ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN Southern Alberta was subject to a very industry transformed itself into a billion Farmhouse and barn built by early settlers different frontier. Too far south to enable dollar diversified mixed-enterprise industry. stand amid canola a profitable fur trade, it was inhabited by The popular term, "good Alberta beef," is an fields in northern Alberta. Photo courtesy the Blackfoot Confederacy, whose nomadic enduring tribute to this legacy. Travel Alberta lifestyle was sustained by the buffalo (plains The construction of the Canadian Pacific bison). By the mid-nineteenth century, a lucra- Railway across Canada in the mid 1880s tive trade in buffalo robes had produced the enabled both the urban development and hunting patterns that ultimately led to the agricultural settlement of Alberta. Many near extinction of the "monarch of the prai- towns and cities in the province owe their ries." Smallpox, a whisky trade, and starvation very existence to Canada's railroad. Beginning contributed further to the decimation of the around 1900 and culminating in 1913, succes-

Blackfoot. The arrival in Alberta of the North- sive waves of immigrants from the British Isles

West Mounted Police in 1874 ended some of and Europe established homesteads across the the worst abuses of Aboriginal peoples by province. One early result was the achievement

European incomers. The "Mounties" estab- of provincial status in 1905. The new agricul- lished a network of forts, including one at tural frontier defied climate. Aided by extensive

Calgary, that became a nucleus of pre-urban irrigation projects and by early ripening wheat activity. Most important, their stabilizing pres- strains, it occupied marginal dry lands in the ence ensured a peaceable frontier and paved south and east, and opened up Alberta's Peace the way for future European settlement. River country. It was the continent's most

The disappearance of the buffalo led to northerly and last settled agricultural fron- an open range ranching frontier in the Alberta tier. In this new order, wheat was the domi- foothills in the carl\- 1880s. Characterized by nant crop. In spite of droughts and other soil sprawling ranch leaseholds financed in part and climatic variables. Alberta farmers were by British capital, and augmented by cowboy inspired by the lure of "King Wheat." This know-how from the United States, the early was further evidenced between the World Wars ranching experience laid the foundations of a by extensive railroad and elevator construction,

Canadian "western" tradition, and provided the creation of small town Alberta, and the the impetus for the world-famous Calgary consolidation of a rural order based around

Exhibition & Stampede. In time the ranching wheat that lasted until the 1960s.

ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN 43 Mining began in the late nineteenth The discovery and exploitation of Alberta's century. In the late i88os, the Canadian natural resources, which in recent years have

Pacific Railway Company opened up Alberta's also included an increasingly far-reaching

vast coal reserves around Lethbridge and in forestry industry, help explain development

the Crowsnest Pass in the southwest corner and human habitation within a historical of the province. Though the potential for oil context. They have also engendered fusions

in Alberta had been long recognized, it was and imbalances, both of which offer insights

not until 1914 that an important discovery into Alberta's character and identity. was made in Turner Valley, southwest of One can see the peculiar nature of

Calgary. This modest oil field was superseded Alberta's longstanding political conserva- tism as a fusion of sorts. The fur trade was in 1947 by the major discovery at Leduc near Edmonton that signaled the beginnings an important centralizing force and an agent imperial power. The powerful Hudson's of" the modern oil era. Since then, sizable of

discoveries of both oil and natural gas else- Bay Company was directed from England. Police where in the province have propelled Alberta Similarly the North-West Mounted institution in a into national economic prominence. Alberta's was another highly centralized powerful imperial oil industry today has a global reach, rein- country that still maintained forced recently by the commercial develop- connections. On the other hand, Alberta has significant American influ- Not all early towns ment of the petroleum-rich oil sands near always reflected a thrived. Dorothy, In Fort McMurray, where reserves are unrivaled ence, via the Mormon movement from Utah the badlands of south- late and ern Alberta, is today globally in terms of potential production. into southern Alberta in the 1880s largely a ghost town. The renaissance of coal as an energy source through the wave of American settlers into Photo by Nancy Groce, and i9i2.This Smithsonian Institution is a complementary current trend. central Alberta between 1909

44 ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN strong connection to the United States was live in Edmonton and Calgary, where more consolidated by the many American oil execu- than one in five residents were born outside of tives who lived in the province after 1947. The Canada. This new ethnic diversity has yet to be fusion of various influences is illuminating. widely reflected in Alberta's smaller towns and

British sentiment prevailed through an historic villages, but change is coming. attachment to the Mother Country and to Alberta is at a crossroads. As its economy

British institutions. Conversely, the province's grows by leaps and bounds, so do the chal- historic protest mentality and its reputation as lenges and opportunities created by affluence. a right-wing political maverick have their roots As waves of newcomers continue to arrive, in Midwestern American populism. Alberta's historic, unswerving adherence to

Alberta's rise to agricultural prominence individualism and free enterprise may become within Canada came through a fusion of increasingly contestable. For the present. agriculture and livestock raising. There was Alberta is a beckoning promised land. Those a a belated realization that wheat could never seeking growth and prosperity will find

energy in its urban places, on the be "King" in Alberta as it had been in more palpable

easterly Canadian provinces and the American drilling rigs, and in the mines and forests where Yet, Great Plains. Instead, optimum land-use prac- the tasks of tapping resources never cease.

is Alberta, in serene tices were tied to mixed farming based on there another many ways

specialty crops, oilseeds, and intensive swine and unsullied. One can find it in the quietude a parkland poplar woods, in the sweeping and cattle production. This realization changed of grasslands of the Milk River ridge, in the nature of Alberta's agribusiness. The large rolling the clarity of an alpine meadow, in the eerie number of what are now termed "cattle farms," magic of a northern lake at sunset, in the many on soils unsuitable for wheat, reflects this silent timelessness of the badlands, and m the transformation. Another fusion is evident in a haunting call of the loon and cheery trill of growing awareness of the importance of heri- the black-capped chickadee. Future leaders in tage and heterogeneity. An enduring commit- pursuing "the Alberta way" will want to value ment to progress amid social orthodoxy is the serenity as much as the energy. complemented by world-class heritage sites and

a proliferation of festivals that celebrate both MAX FORAN past achievements and diversity.

Max Foran ts a member the University of Calgary's Today, thanks to thriving agricultural, of Faculty oj Communication and Culture. He has written energy, and technology industries, Alberta is extensively on various western Canadian urban, rural, enjoying an economic boom. However, with and cultural topics with a particular focus on ranching, wealth has come disequilibrium. One imbal- Alberta and the Creat Depression, and the urban growth ance is an over reliance on the export of raw and sustainability process. materials. Current attempts at economic diver-

sification through tourism, high-tech, and information and knowledge-based industries,

are measured responses. Another is the changing demography created by widespread immigra-

tion. Around two-thirds of Alberta's population

ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN 45 r-wrr

k_^ L_^ r««« I w I riT I in *«ivi^r^i^^j

C. Kurt Dewhurst, Marsha MacDowell, and Marjorie Hunt

Across North America and throughout the of Native weaving in the United States and Hawaiian Islands, Native people are engaged the ways in which Native baskets—and their in artistic activities deeply rooted in the makers—are "carriers of culture." everyday and ceremonial traditions of their One of the most important developments

communities. In the face of dwindling or in indigenous basket weaving has been the

inaccessible natural resources, loss of elders formation of Native weaving organizations

and their specialized knowledge, the profu- over the past fifteen years, bringing together sion of cheap mass-produced goods, and weavers from diverse places to identify and the use-it and throw-away attitude of so examine problems, build a sense of shared

many, Native artists are nevertheless gath- experiences, foster communication and

ering natural materials and weaving them into networking, share knowledge and skills, and

objects of profound beauty and meaning. The begin to develop strategies to address some 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival program, of the most critical issues they face. At local Carriers of Culture: Living Native Basket and regional gatherings held by these organi-

Traditions, examines the contemporary state zations and at workshops or symposia hosted by other supportive agencies, basket weavers

began to find common voice as they articu-

lated their concerns and experiences. We spot-

light those voices here.

(Top) The Wa:k Tab Dancers perform a traditional Tohono O'odtiam basl

Michigan State University Museum

(Left) Choctaw basket weaver Norma Thompson of Bogue Chitto, Mississippi, makes a basket out of swamp

cane. Photo courtesy Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

(Right) Sabra Kauka. a Native Hawaiian basket weaver from Lihu'e, Kaua'i, makes a basket out of narrowly cut

lauhala (pandanus leaf). Photo by Anne E. O'Malley

CARRIERS OF CULTURE 5*«*rt;iy, '-• -/; ^4 In 1999. Michigan State University of Culture: Living Native Basket Traditions Museum began a series ot national meetings Festival program is one of- those strategies, that brought together directors and/or board and a national curatorial council has worked members of Native basket weaving organiza- to insure that those issues are at the core of tions, curators of Native museums, individual the Festival program.

Native artists, and a network ot tolklorists, Most exhibitions, festivals, or other public historians, cultural anthropologists, tribal programs have centered on the weaving tradi- elders, educators, craft business owners, and tions of a specific tribe or region, or focused other individuals involved in ettorts to docu- on baskets as either objects of history or ment, present, and support living basket tradi- emblems of cultures past. Typically, such tions. Through those meetings, participants documentation and presentation efforts identified a number of issues concerning the have been planned and implemented with current and future status of Native basketry little or no involvement of Native weavers. across America and pinpointed strategies to The Carriers of Culture: Living Native bring national visibility to them. The Carriers Basket Traditions Festival program, by

contrast, reflects the long-term involvement

of numerous people and provides an unprec-

edented opportunity to examine contemporary

issues across tribal and geographical lines. It

also presents a timely opportunity to reflect on recent efforts by Native basket weavers

and others to address these issues; the ways in

which weaving traditions continue to be passed

on; and the meaning weaving has for artists as

people and as members of distinct tribal or

Native communities. Most importantly, through

demonstrations and discussions at the Festival

and in the artists' own words helow—gathered at

project planning meetings and in interviews over

the last fifteen years— weavers themselves share

these perspectives first hand.

I've always loved basketry—the art of

basketry. I love the stories that go with

it—the gathering times, the families

coming together. It helps identify you.

It gives you a strong foundation. —Theresa Parker (Makah)

CARRIERS OF CULTURE — — — —

On the Importance of Weaving,

I've been making baskets for 46 years. You

might say it's in my blood. If they opened my veins they'd probably find them full of ash shavings. Sara Lund (Micmac)

There is archaeological evidence that indigenous peoples in North America wove and utilized baskets over 8,000 years ago. Baskets have served in perhaps every aspect of Native life. While modern technology and materials have reduced some of the Kmctional need tor handmade woven clothing, fishing and trapping gear, household furnishings, or various containers, baskets are still important both for traditional everyday uses and for Native ceremonies and rituals. As weaver Sylvia

Gabriel (Passamaquoddy) recalls, the process of making baskets provides an important mechanism to learn and pass on specific cultural practices and knowledge: "We grew up seeing my grandmother, mother, aunt

my whole family—make baskets. It's a part of our life. Not every Indian

knows how to make a basket. It's a tradition that's handed down, perhaps like people, is rooted like a family of lawyers or doctors. When you grow up in a family of Our work, our

basket makers, you just become a basket maker." in the ash and coastal sweetgrass the ash For some weavers, making baskets is an important emblem of their Our Creation says that from

identity as a Native person and a vehicle to express their affiliation with came the first pieople singing and

a specific cultural tradition. "Weaving is important to Native culture,' dancing. Theresa Secord (Penobscot)

explains Lmda Cecilia Thompson Jackson (St. Regis Mohawk), "because

each weave, no matter what kind, is locked in by another weave to make

some, weaving is it stronger and firmer—resembling the community." For

a means to express experiences, feelings, and beliefs that are inextricably

tied to both their Native past and current life. "The first hour of my

life I was put in a basket," Vivien Hailstone (Yurok, Karuk, and Hoopa)

recalls, "and we never got away from baskets. There were baskets for every occasion. There were baskets for cooking and for sifting, for drying, for

away. I became ill and ceremonial things.. . . They made baskets to give Say

somebody took care of my baby. When I got better I would make the best

basket I could, and I would be giving a part of myself to that person." For others such as Gladys Grace (Native Hawaiian), basket weaving is

the means to rediscover and nurture those connections: "Weaving lauhala (Left) Makah basket weaver Ttieresa Parker Is the . is together [pandanus leaves] is like weaving a relationship.. . It weaving educational curator of ttie Makah Cultural and through the older with the younger generation.. . . We are all connected Research Center In Neah Bay, Washington. Ptioto

Fritz Dent, courtesy Washington State Arts Commission weaving." And for some individuals, weaving is simply in their blood and by

something over which they have litde control: being a weaver is who they (Above) Penobscot basket nnaker Theresa Secord of Old Town, Maine, Is the founding director are. "It is a privilege to carry on a tradition, and to honor the memory of of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance. I because it is who I am, and what I my grandmother. But, mostly, weave Photo by Jennifer Neptune, courtesy Maine Indian carry inside of me," weaver Cynthia Kannan (Washo) concludes. Basketmakers Alliance

NATIVE BASKETRY 49 On Learning to Weave.

I learned to weave in 1931 when I was 11 years

old. As a child, I wanted to play, go swimming, and ride my horse. But my mom wanted me to learn to weave hala [pandanus], and she took

my horse away for three months until I finished

a hat. I kicked and cried. My mom took me to an orchard to learn how to pick hala. She

taught me to wipe the hala, soften it with a

damp cloth, how to roll it, how to pull it out of

the water to drip, and how to strip it. We had a stripper: my pa put phonograph needles on a board and we cut one strip at a time. At the

id of the three months I got my horse back. Emmaline Kaaualauloa Agpalo (Native Hawaiian)

Native basket makers point out that learning to make a basket starts with knowmg where, how, and when to gather and prepare the materials. Only

after those are mastered does one begin to learn to weave. Learning in

Native culture means having respect for the plants you gather, for your I learned to make baskets when I was teacher, for the traditions of your tribe, and for your ancestors' knowledge nine by carefully watching my mother. that has been passed along from generation to generation. I started using ye'ii and ye'ii bicheii Many weavers recount growing up with baskets, even being surrounded [Night Way] designs because my by them at times, learning to weave by watching and imitating the skills mother used to weave them m her and practices of community and family members, then applying their own rugs. And when the ye'ii bicheii come creativity and talent. One such weaver is Kelly Jean Church (Grand Traverse during a ceremony, they give you Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians), who recounts: "I began black ash a blessing. —Sally Black (Navajo)

weaving at the age of 33 after three years of 'trying to figure it out on my

own' after watching demonstrations by my dad and cousin — I am a fifth

generation basket maker. If you asked my grandma she would call it an

'unbroken line' of basket makers."

Learning to weave is not simply learning to weave: it is also learning to

live. The knowledge imparted by elders, the skills one gains through prac-

tice, and the care one puts into the work all contribute to the weaver's devel-

opment as an artisan and as a member of family and community. "You have

to develop the skill on your own, " explains weaver Joseph "Mike" Sagataw

(Hannahville Potawatomi). "It's like a dancer who is taught the basic steps

of dance," he continues, "That's what basketry is really all about. You learn

the steps and then you develop your own technique To make a good

basket, with fine splints and the right shape, just takes practice."

The latter part of the twentieth century saw a decline in weaving

in many communities for a variety of reasons. Today, thanks to the

50 CARRIERS OF CULTURE —

establishment of new progiams for structured formal and mtormal learning, there has been a revitalization of Native weaving. Programs offered through Native organizations, tribal governments, museums, and state and national arts agencies include classes with master weavers and traditional arts apprenticeship programs. Weaver Marques Hanalei "1 Marzan (Native Hawaiian) first studied in one such program: first learned weaving from Minewa Ka'awa at the Bishop Museum. My inspiration to learn came from my great grandmother's wTavings that my family cares for. The weavings made me want to bring back and awaken that knowledge in my family. Minewa Ka'awa was the beginning of mv journey." These programs are ensuring the transmission of weaving culture and contributing to a renaissance of Native weaving within many Native contexts in the United States. A new generation of young weavers is emerging, determined to "keep the chain ol traditional weaving unbroken.

I wanted to learn when 1 looked

around the reservation where I grew up and realized there were only a

handful of weavers left. I didn't want

it to die. Sue Coleman (Washo)

(Far left) Navajo basket weaver Sally Black, the eldest daughter of Mary Holiday Black, splits sumac, locally known as willow, in preparation for making a basket. Photo by Carol Edison, courtesy Utah Arts Council

(Left) Washo basket weaver Sue Coleman gathers willow to use for making baskets.

Photo by C.J. Coleman, courtesy Sue Coleman

NATIVE BASKETRY 51 —

On Transmitting Weaving Skills and Knowledge,,.

My kumu, Aunty Gladys Grace, says that for a weaver to be good, you also have to give back. She wants us to take in the knowledge that she's passing on to us, but she also

wants to pass it on to the next generation in a traditional way of learning.—Michael Naho'opi'i (Native Hawaiian)

Native basket makers not only recall how they learned to gather and

weave but also speak often about the importance of their revered teachers.

The words of mentors guide weavers, and their names are mvoked with

great respect for the knowledge they have shared.

Recent years have seen a growing awareness in Native communities that

weavmg practices and related indigenous knowledge systems are at risk.

Weavers and cultural leaders have stepped forward to ensure that weaving

knowledge is passed on to the next generation of weavers. Deborah E.

McConnell (Hoopa, Yurok, and Quinault) is one who has taken on

this duty: "Weaving has become a way of life for me and is always on

my mind," she e.xplains. "It keeps me

balanced and makes me feel like I have

a place in the world. I especially like

teaching basketry to youth because it is

an integral part of our culture and who

we are as people."

Basket making has been a large

part of" my people's past. It

provided a means of survival tor some families but not enough

recognition was given to this art.

I want to make sure it remains

strong in the present and in the future by teaching my daughters

and granddaughters this great tradition. Sheila Ransom

(St. Rkgis Mohawk)

52 CARRIERS OF CUL —

teachers Regional, state, and tnbal gatherings of 1 hope to continue to honor my Native weavers over the past fifteen years have by passing on the art of Cherokee brought new opportunities tor master teachers basketry. Teaching Native basketry is to share information within and across tribal now more important to me than actu- and geographic lines. The California Indian ally weaving baskets. What 1 hope my

past is Basketweavers Association is such an opportu- students remember is that their nity, explains weaver Jennifer Bates (Miwok): as important as their future, and what affects seven generations "This is what CIBA is all about: helping they do now weavers find support and understanding; not to come. Peggy Brennan (Cherokee) being alone in what you do; finding out that you don't have to feel isolated, there are others like yourself out there weaving and keeping the traditions alive.... We as an organization, and we as people coming together, should be very (Upper left) Navajo basket made of willow by effort, teaching, laughter, proud of the time, Sally Black of Mexican Hat, Utah. Pinoto by University Museum tears, song, and sharing that we once again Pearl Yee Wong, courtesy Michigan State accomplished through this gathering." Both (Left) Sheila Ransom, a St, Regis Mohawk basket weaving education and mastery of weaving weaver from Akwesasne, New York, holds one of her award-winning fancy baskets made of black ash and at times been taken for granted within have sweetgrass. Photo courtesy Sheila Ransom communities, but they are now more valued as (Above) Cherokee basket weaver Peggy Brennan symbols of Native identity. of Edmond, Oklahoma, teaches students about Cherokee traditional art and culture. Photo by Michael Vore, courtesy Union Public Schools, Tulsa, Oklahoma

NATIVE BASKETR 53 —

On Weavers as Indigenous Botanists,

To harvest red cedar I travel two or more hours up the mountain to elevations of two thousand

feet or higher. The cedar grove I am searching

for has a few alder trees in it and the grove is somewhat lacking in sunshine. The sunshine

causes many limbs to grow on the tree. I am looking for the tree with limbs beginning twenty

feet or higher so I will get a nice long piece of bark without limb holes. The tree must be healthy, straight, and the bark not twisting. The outer bark gives the tree nourishment and protection from disease. Pulling the bark off a tree with twisting bark will girdle the tree and the tree will die. You may strip one third of the perimeter of the cedar bark without harming

the tree, I choose to harvest only one quarter of the bark to be safe.—Lisa Telford (Haida)

Native weavers are indigenous botanists. To gather and prepare their

materials, they must have extensive knowledge in many domains: where

plants grow, when and how to harvest them in ways that will insure their

sustainability and provide the proper materials needed for particular

baskets, how to manage the land to sustain plant growth, and how to prepare materials for weaving. Joyce Ann Saufkie (Hopi) otters one

example: "The material I use tor weaving is yucca we pick from the You have to really dig hard, but the — inside part ot the yucca. And the yellow, green, and white are natural. We best place is along the river, where the spring waters have come down pick yellow in winter, when things freeze. We split it and dry it out in into Yosemite Valley and washed the sun, and when it's been snowed on, the sun makes it yellow. You pick the sand away. The bracken fern white in summer, in July and August. " It is not uncommon tor weavers to loves to have its teet in water and begin to learn basket making by first spending time—sometimes weeks near the wet soil, and so the soil or even years—learning how to gather and prepare materials. "The most is very soft and damp, and you'll important part is picking the right material, having the eye to see what pull away the soil. Julia Parker you are looking at," explains weaver Wolf Sanipass (Micmac). "I can walk

(Kashaya Pomo and Coast Miwok) in there and find trees. Looking at the bark tells you a lot; straight, very

straight grain tells the whole story." Through their artistry, the skilled

weavers transtorm simple natural materials into objects of beauty, as

Judith L. Jourdan (Oneida) observes, "I am impressed with what can

be done with a natural resource.. . . What is remarkable is that the week

betore, the basket was just a tree in the swamp."

54 ARRIERS OF CULTURE —

With their intimate and extensive knowledge of plant ecology, Native weavers are also among the first to notice changes in plant habitat and be affected by them. "I am extremely concerned about the lack of access to weaving materials," basket maker Leah Brady (Western Shoshone) remarks, "and environmental issues—such as pesticide spraying and toxic chemicals that are used by agricultural and mining companies in our area that affect the air and water quality also affect our willows." Environmental changes may be decades long and due to long-time encroachment by non-Natives on weave without launiu land that was once the home of Native peoples. For example. Robin We cannot McBride Scott (Cherokee) explains the impact of pioneer settlement [coconut palm leaves] or lauhala [pandanus leaves] or makaloa [sedge], in Indiana: "Finding sources for harvesting river cane is a great concern the aerial roots of the 'ie'ie [frey- to Cherokee weavers. Only a few patches of river cane still reside in or cannot practice our art Indiana. Southern Indiana once was the home of cane breaks. Now cinetia]. We those plants. We are related due to the early pioneer settling, farming, and raising cattle and pigs without plants. Our legends tell on the land, the river cane in Indiana has almost been eradicated." The to these certain of our plants changes may also be more recent, as in Hawai'i, where "finding laithala us that when disappear, we, too, will disappear. [pandanus leaves] on O'ahu is extremely difficult," according to Gwen (Native Hawaiian) Mokihana Kamisugi (Native Hawaiian). "In the past, it was abundant —Sabra Kauka on the windward coast. You have to climb mountains to get it now. Cities and counties in the state are planting lauhala, but it's next to the

freeways so it gets soot from the cars." The use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, construction ot developments where certain plants have long been harvested, and introduction of non-native and often invasive species have had profound effects not only on basketry but also on the health of the weavers themselves. Kelly

Jean Church discusses one current threat and the responses of Native

weavers: "In the summer of 2002, a foreign bug called the Emerald Ash (Left) Julia Parker, a Kashaya Porno and Coast Miwok basket weaver from Midpines, California, Borer was brought into Michigan by a ship from China. This proved demonstrates grinding lectiniques in Yosemite to be devastating to our people. The bug eats the inside of the black National Park where she works as a Master Cultural Demonstrator. Photo by Denise Guidi. ash tree, and bores its way throughout the tree, eventually killing the courtesy National Park Service tree altogether. We share what we learn with other Native communities (Above) Sabra Kauka, a Native Hawaiian basket in hopes of saving our black ash trees from dying out, which would weaver from Lihu'e, Kaua'i, makes a basket generations basket also take away our chances of teaching many future out of lauhala (pandanus leaves). weaving with our native trees. Photo by Anne E, O'Malley

NATIVE BASKETR I 55 —

On Stewardship of Resources and Knowledge. m « S £%!

We try to take care of the plants, to take care of the land, always remember that our people were the first caring for the land and remember that always, no matter what other people do, our duty is to take care of the plants. Theresa Jackson (Washo')

Native weavers are careful and concerned stewards of plant resources. They have deep and abiding respect for the land and extensive knowledge ot how to harvest and care tor plants m order to sustain healthv

growth and insure the availability of these precious resources far into

the future. "I never pick more than needed and leave the area looking

the same as upon arrival," explains Deborah E. McConnell. "I don't

gather in another tribe's area unless

invited. If the land is managed by public

land managers, I believe that it is the

right of the original people to say it is

okay to gather there." Similarly, weaver Gladys Grace emphasizes the impor-

tance of stewarding not just plants, but the knowledge of how to gather and use

them: "We need to be aware that we need

to protect the lauhala [pandanus leaves] and the weaving," she notes. "We need to be careful who we teach."

CARRIERS OF CULTURE On the Interrelationship of Basketry and Ceremonies, Language, Stories, and Other Practices.,,

I like to burn When I start to make my baskets,

sweetgrass and I always talk to my late grandmother, my mother (who was proud of me for doing baskets carrying on the tradition), and my godmother, and thank them for my skills—and

when my basket is complete I thank them again."—Sheila Ransom (St. Regis Mohawk)

The production and use of baskets are intrinsically linked to an array of other aspects of cultural knowledge, beliefs, and practices in Native communities. Baskets often figure prominently in creation stones and trickster tales, and in some communities the Basket Ogre or Basket

Woman is a being to be treated with respect, caution, and even fear. Traditional stories and clan s)mbols are woven into basket designs, as weaver Peggy Brennan (Cherokee) recalls, "The clan symbols woven into mats and baskets identified who we were. When we attended a council meeting, our mat with the clan symbols hung above us and we sat on a mat with our symbols. By keeping the designs alive in our baskets, we are remembering our past." Native beliefs often deter- mine the shape and form of the baskets. "Baskets must always have an opening in them—the spirit line," explains maker Agnes Gray (Navajo).

"For traditional ceremonies it's to let the bad stuff out. Story baskets Every ceremonial basket has a story. need spirit lines too." There are many basket stories. If we Basket dances incorporate choreography that mimics the motions stop making the baskets, we lose the of weaving, and the dancers hold special baskets or wear woven hats stories. —M.\ry Holiday Black (Navajo) and clothing. .-Xmong the Northern Paiute and Washo, Norm DeLorme

explains, "Traditionally the Basket Dance is taken from our traditional Spring Ceremony when Indian foods and seeds are offered and scattered family has a Spring Ceremony to back to the land.. . . In the spring my

bless family baskets." In other cases, as weaver Karen Reed (Chinook and

left) gourd basket woven from Puvallup) describes, songs and dances are part of the weaving process: (Upper Striped sweetgrass and black ash by Akwesasne I was taught to place "When I first learned to weave from Anna Jefferson, Mohawk basket weaver Florence Benedict and Luz Benedict of my plaited bottom on the floor and to dance on it and sing to it. I sing a with help from Rebecca Rooseveltown, New York. Photo by Pearl Yee Wong, song that came to mind and have sung it ever since." courtesy Mictiigan State University Museum Baskets are used as gifts or payment in weddings, purification ceremo- (Left) Robin McBride Scott weaves a Cherokee initiation rites, seasonal ceremonies, or nies, coming of age ceremonies, mat out of rattan. Ptioto by Gwen Yeaman. courtesy any ceremony where an object of value is required. They are also used in Robin McBnde Scott

some communities to hold the bones or ashes of the deceased. Indigenous (Above) Navajo basket weaver Mary Holiday Black of Mexican Hat, Utah, received a National languages are maintained in the Native terms for plants, weaving processes, Heritage Fellowship from the National Endow- as well as the songs sometimes sung while gathering and finished objects, ment for the Arts in 1 995. Photo by Carol Edison, or weaving, or when thanking Mother Earth for her materials. courtesy Utah Arts Council

NATIVE BASKETR\ 57 On Weaving and the Marketplace.

It's really hard to say how much time you've got into that basket. And you charge $25 or $30 for the basket and my God, they fall over. They don't realize how much time went into that basket. So when an Indian sells a basket,

he shouldn't feel bad if he gets a good price

for it. —Aubrey Tomah (Maliseet)

Making baskets for sale has long provided an important source—and sometimes the primary source—of income for many Native weavers. Basket maker Peter Park (Native Hawaiian) recalls how his lamily depended on

basketry: "When I was lo years old, my grandmother taught me to make

baskets for cotfee picking. When I was a child, if you wanted to play, you had

to weave first, because that's the way our life was. We took our woven hats to

the store to exchange for food, not money. A hat probably went for less than

30 cents. Every day after school I had to weave one ipu [container], and on

Saturdays, I had to weave six ipu before I could play." Park's experience—and

the price of his hats—is echoed by Harriet Shedawin (Ojibwa). "We used

to go down to Richard's Landing to sell baskets. Imagine 25 cents for one

market basket!" she remembers. "I had to make baskets when I wanted clothes.

I never had new clothes. Trading baskets for clothes—this was my way of

dressing. Some of them were made over. I still buy clothes off what 1 make

from baskets. I'm still clothed by iny baskets."

Even today, however, Native artists rarely receive a fair market value for

the special skills and knowledge and the hours of collecting, preparing, and

weavmg that their work represents. The issue of fair compensation contmues

to deter people firom weavmg, but efforts are being made to assess market value

more fairly and to expand sales opportunities through both non-Native and

Native agencies, including cooperatives, museum stores, festivals, powwows,

and even on-line marketing channels. "It's no picnic being a basket maker,"

weaver Donald Sanipass (Micmac) explains. "It's not what you call a good risk thing. But we get by—we keep the wolf man off the door." The marketplace has long influenced the forms and designs of Native

baskets. In order to appeal to new markets. Native artists have created new

products and designs, sometimes resulting in work that seems very discon-

nected from traditional forms. The abilit)' to adapt and respond to market

influences has enabled weavers to use their products as a means of vital income.

For weaver Ten Rofkar (Tlingit) and others, basketry serves as a primary occu-

pation: "I'm a fiill-time artist," she notes. "I have been selling my work since

1986. 1 often describe myself as a 'Basket Case'. . . I weave all the time, and the

rest of the tune I am out in the forest harvesting materials."

58 CARRIERS OF CULTURE On Tradition and Innovation..

i like to experiment with new ideas that you normally don't

see on baskets.... I almost always sketch out my designs before beginning, even though this is not traditional. My baskets are made from

yucca and bear grass. I use devil's claw and yucca root to

make the patterns. I sign my baskets on the bottom with my initials, although this is not traditional either. Sometimes

I have trouble pricing my baskets because my stuff is so different. —Annie Antone (TOHONO O'odham)

Tradition and innovation are often seen in opposition, but many Native weavers who work within their own cultural traditions also explore new directions. While tradition is both resilient and persistent, weavers e.xpenment with new forms, materials, and ideas. Sometimes, as for Eraina Palmer (Warm

Springs, Wasco, and Hoopa), limited access to natural resources encour- ages creative improvisation: "We can't make the root bags with Indian hemp [dogbane], because we can't get it anymore, so we use twine and cotton linen, and I even make my baskets out ot t-shirts—old tie-dyed t- shirts—and this one is out of a Pendleton blanket. I just try anything and everything I can get is a hold of" For others, experimentation embedded (Upper left) After the hard work of harvesting in their identity, as weaver Pat Courtney Gold (Wasco and Tlingit) spruce roots for use in making traditional Tlingit baskets, Teri Rofkar triumphantly shows off the explains: "I enjoy experimenting with new fibers and trying variations fruits of her labor. Photo courtesy Teri Rofkar on old designs. I'm sure if my ancestor basket weavers were transplanted (Left) A basket made by Wasco and Tlingit basket into this inspired is century they would be to do the same." Culture never weaver Pat Courtney Gold of Scappoose, Ore- static but always changing, and so too are the baskets made by Native gon, and a twined burden basket made of willow by Ardith Read, a Mewuk basket weaver from weavers in the United States. "Carmakers come up with new models Flournoy, in California's Yosemite Valley. Ptiotos by every year, and so will we!" Lorraine Black (Navajo) emphasizes. Pearl Yee Wong, courtesy Michigan State University Museum

look for inspiration in Weavers both traditional and new sources. (Above) This basket, made out of old ethno- "Today, my own baskets—both contemporary and traditional—often graphic film by Onondaga and N/licmac basket weaver Gail Tremblay, Is titled "Homage to Wild emerge from the dream process," explains maker Terrol Dew [ohnson Strawberries." Photo by Pean Yee Wong, courtesy (Tohono O'odham). "New designs and styles haunt my sleep, calling me Michigan State University Museum

NATIVE BASKETRY 59 to weave them into the waking world, one ordinary, and static craft. In fact, e.xciting, stitch at a time, until they have taken on a innovative work is being embraced within life of their own." Some weavers use their Native communities and showcased as art art to make political statements and offer in museums, galleries, and other venues social commentary, for instance incorpo- that previously considered Native baskets in rating old ethnographic Him ot Native more restricted categories of "ethnic arts,"

American life in their baskets or including "crafts," or "tribal arts." The individual cell phones and Game Boys in woven creativity of the maker infuses the works pictorial scenes. Art becomes a vehicle for they create. "To me, each basket is a kind communication and advocacy. of sculpture. You form it with yourself,

Inventive work often mixes old and new, you build it with your own hands," Carol and results often challenge stereotyped Emarthle-Douglas (Seminole and Northern notions of basketry as an old-fashioned, Arapaho) concludes.

'"^^^^^S^^^^-^S^^H On Mastery and What Makes a Good Basket,

Good, strong, healthy materials to start with. Good, strong, healthy thoughts by the weaver. Good, strong, healthy use by the weaver. Good, strong, healthy thanks from all. —Bryan Wayne Colegrove (HooPA, Karuk, and Yurok)

Standards of excellence are firmly established

and well known within Native communities and those with exceptional skills at making or teaching about baskets are given honor and

respect as kiirnus, as elders, as masters. Beginning

weavers know that they must pass the scrutiny of both teachers and peers and must meet community standards of excellence. Adherence to cultural values, norms, and beliefs—and perhaps equally important, the character of the basket maker—are fundamental to community-based notions of what makes a good

basket. "Always remember your hat or whatever

you weave is a reflection of yourself," Michael

Naho'opi'i comments. "To have a good finished

object, you have to have a good heart m your-

self to put into that." Weaver Wilverna Recce (Karuk) reinforces this point, suggesting, "Always keep good thoughts when weaving; to

have bad thoughts will ruin your basket." She

continues, "Never laugh at another's basket,

because it will show in yours. Never leave your

basket unfinished for a long length of time. It will go out that night and

spiritual dimension dance and break its legs." In many cases, it is even the (Left) Detail of "Tradition Meets Teclinology" basl

NATIVE BASKETRY 61 On the Future of Native Basket Making in America,

For Native baskets to continue to be "carriers of culture" for Native

traditions, there are still many challenges to overcome. The ever-changing

natural and built landscape in the United States is leading to loss of

plants essential to weaving. As more land moves into private ownership, weavers encounter increasingly limited access to traditional gathering

sites. Non-native land management practices will continue to attect the

health ot plant materials and of weavers themselves. Undoubtedly, other challenges to the continuity of the traditions of

living Native basketry in the United States will also emerge. While much

progress is being made to revitalize the basket traditions in many Native

communities, there are other Native communities where basketry is in

rapid decline. This will mean not just fewer baskets, but the irreplaceable

loss of an array of indigenous knowledge linked to the art and a dimin-

ishment of the diversity and richness ot our American experience.

Native baskets are not antiquated containers or artifacts of a past

lite; they are very much a part ot Native lite and identity today. Native

baskets truly are "carriers of culture": they embody the knowledge of those who have gone before, those who have respect and reverence tor the natural world and the plants that torm their baskets, and those who

have shared their knowledge with others to keep the chain ot indigenous knowledge unbroken.

C. KURT DEWHURST

C. Kurt Dewhiirst is Professor, Drpartniciil of English aud Senior Fellow, Outreach

and Engagement at Michigan State University and Director, Michigan State

University Museutn. He is Chair of the Advisory Board, Smithsonian Center

for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

MARSHA MACDOWELL

Marsha MacDowell is Professor of Art and Art History at Michigan State

University and Curator of Folk Arts, Michigan State University Museum. She is the

coordinator of the Michigan Traditional Arts Program, an MSU Museum statewide

program in partnership with the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

MARJORIE HUNT

Marjorie Hunt is afolklorist and education specialist with the Smithsonian (Above) Native Hawaiian basl

(Right) A Tohono O'odham basket made by Dewhurst, MacDowell, and Hunt served as curators of the 2006 Festival Terrol Dew Johnson of Sells, Arizona, Photo by Pearl Yee Wong, Michigan State University Museum program Carriers of Culture: Living Native Basket Traditions.

62 CARRIERS OF CULTURE . ,

Further Reading

ANDERSON, M. KAT. 2005. Tending the MCFADDEN, DAVID REVERE AND ELLEN Wild: Native American Knowledge and the NAPURA TAUBMAN. 2005. Changing Management of California's Natural Resources. Hands: Art Without Reservation. 2: Berkeley: University of California Press. Contemporary Native North American Art from the West, Northwest & Pacific. BENEDICT, LES AND RICHARD DAVID. 2000. New York: Museum of Arts and Design Handbook for Black Ash (^reservation, and American Graft Museum. Reforestation/Regeneration. Hogansburg New York: Mofiawk Council of Akwesasne, MCGREEVY, SUSAN BROWN. 2001. Indian Department of Environment. Basketry Artists of the Southwest: Deep Roots, New Growth. Santa Fe: School of American BERNSTEIN, BRUCE. 2003. The Language of Research Press. Native American Baskets: From the Weavers' View. Washington: National Museum of the MUNDELL, KATHLEEN. 1992. Basket American Indian. Trees/Basket Makers. Augusta: Maine Arts Commission. FAULKNER, GRETCHEN FEARON AND THERESA SECORD HOFFMAN. 1998. O'MALLEY. ANNE E., ED. 2005. E Ho'omau "Introducing the Art of Basket Making: The Na Mea Ulana Hikna'i. Lihu'e, Hawai'i: Ho'oulu Basketry of Maine." Indian Artist 4(2): 44-49. Ke Ola O Na Pua, Garden Island RC&D, Inc.

HERKENFIELD, BARBARA. 1999. "Elsie Holiday, ORTIZ, BEVERLY ED. 1991/1992. California

Navajo Basket Maker" Indian Artist 5(1): 46. Indian Basketweavers Gathenng, June 28-30, 1991. News from Native JOHNSON, TERROL DEW AND TRISTAN California, Special Supplement, READER. 2001. "Basketry: Weaving the Winter 1991/1992. Dream." In Hold Everything!: Masterworks of Basketry and Pottery from the Heard Museum. Proceedings of the Southeastern Indian Phoenix: Heard Museum, Basketry Gathenng, May 16-17, 2002. 2002. Natchitoches: Louisiana Regional KROL, DEBORAH UTACIA. 2006. "The Art of Folklife Program and Williamson Museum, Basketry: Weaving New Life into Ancient Northwestern State University. Forms." Native Peoples 19(1): 34-41 SAULT STE. MARIE TRIBE OF CHIPPEWA MACDOWELL, MARSHA, ED. 1999. INDIANS. 1982. O'gushnaan—Our Mother: Gatherings: Great Lakes Native Basket and A Collection of Writings By and About Box Makers. East Lansing: Michigan State Anishnabe of the Eastern Upper Peninsula University Museum with Nokomis Learning of Michigan. Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario: Center, Okemos, Michigan. Wayne Webb Printer.

MCBRIDE, BUNNY. 1990. Our Lives in Our SILVERMAN, JASON. 2005. "Good Fellow: Hands: Micmac Indian Basketmakers. Indian Market Honors Exceptional Talent." Gardiner, Maine: Tilbury House. Native Peoples 18(4): 48.

Western Regional Indigenous Basketweavers Gathenng, June 17-20, 1999. Special Report from News from Native California. Juan Dies

Bop-bop boo-boo-boom bap-bap-bap improvise, dancers from the audience take

traka-traka-track, dun-dun! It is 8 p.m. on turns interacting with the drums. You can

a Thursday night in Chicago and you are tell the dancers are regulars because they

walking down Division Street. You hear the know exactly what to do. A couple of parents sound of homba drums and chanting coming have brought their kids along, hoping that the

from a storefront in a hundred-year-old experience will help them keep a connection

building, a three-flat with bay windows, to their cultural roots. Outside the circle, two trimmed with ornate brown limestone mold- college students who are not Puerto Rican

ings and other architectural features charac- are visiting for the first time. They wear hip-

teristic of the period when the former Czech hop clothes, and are trying to decide when is

dwellers of the neighborhood built it. Today's the right time to jump in and try those cool residents call the street "Paseo Boricua" moves. At one point, the master drummer

(Puerto Rican Promenade). Inside, a crowd gets up with an almost regal authority and

of fifty people enjoy a homhazo (a Puerto Rican takes a turn at dancing. Gracefully, he shows

homha jam-session). The walls are decorated everyone that this is not just a pastime, but

with a Puerto Rican flag, a map ot the prov- also something to take seriously and do well,

ince of Mayagiiez, a portrait of Pedro Flores, because there is a responsibility to maintain

two giiiros and a cuatro. As three drummers this tradition. Outside, a food vendor on a

wheeled cart waits for the end of the event

and a chance to sell her steamed Mexican

tamales, atolc champurradc, and fried churritos

when the crowd lets out.

(Top) Roberto Ferreyra, director of Nahui OIlin, performs in

La Pena program at ttie Old Town School of Folk Music in

1999. Photo courtesy Natiui Ollin/Son Tarima

(Left) Carlos "Caribe" Ruiz, founder of tfie Puerto Rican

Congress of Mutual Aid, leads ttie first Puerto Rican Parade

in 1966. Ptioto courtesy Puerto Rican Congress of Mutual Aid

viUESTRA MUSICA h tf Chicago has one of the largest and most diverse Latino communities

thriving artistic life; yet this popu- ' Waukegan* in the nation, with a rich history and a lation remains one of the least known to the rest of the United States.

Latino Chicago is a multinational, multicultural community. The largest

is Mexicans, followed by Puerto Ricans, then Guatemalans. Arlington , population „. , Heights* Skokie^ • vEvanston Smaller groups from the Caribbean and Central and South America *dP^Places Elgin Schaumburg include Ecuadorans, Colombians, Cubans, Peruvians, Salvadorans, and Chileans. A small group of Belizeans and Brazilians also consider them- Wheaton /* Cicero' Chicago Aurora selves part of the community. Metropolitan Chicago has the third largest

Napervrlle Oak* Latino population in the U.S. and the second largest Mexican immigrant Lawn - the term Latino JBK ' population (Los Angeles is first). One often hears that HammbndV^^^» gained currency in the 1970s, and Chicago may well have been the site

(Padilla 1985). In the past 35 years, the region's Latino population has grown to 1.6 million, accounting for 96 percent of the total popula-

tion growth. Latinos fuel the local economy with 20 billion dollars in

household income per year, lead in filling positions in the job market,

Michigan and have accounted for 38 percent of Chicago's total homeowner growth

(Ready and Brown-Gort 2005). Latino Chicago is a complex and diverse

community; it has a character unlike Latino Los Angeles, Miami, New

York or Houston, and yet, the stories of its people can resonate with the (Upper) In 2004, Latinos were almost 20% of the Metropolitan Chicago population. experiences of anyone anywhere. Map shows census tracts with more than In partnership with the Old Town School of Folk Music, the 10% Latino population. Smithsonian Institution launched a research project in the spring of

2005. Twenty local researchers explored various aspects of Latino folklife

in Chicago, recording the stories of artists and organizations, documenting special events and parades, foodways, and more. Two large questions guided the researchers: How do the arts shape, and how

are they shaped by, community and identity? And, what characterizes

Chicago's Latino community as unique and distinct from other Latino communities elsewhere? There were many answers and perspectives,

varying with cultural backgrounds, experiences, and personal preferences.

Most importantly, these questions have led to a cultural dialogue, one

that will contmue during the 40th Smithsonian Folklife Festival when

many of these artists come to share their lives and experiences with the public on the National Mall.

Diversity among Latinos was one of the themes that emerged in many

of our conversations with artists. David Hernandez, a Puerto Rican poet

and resident of Chicago since the 1950s, once thought about moving to

New York, hut decided against it. Throughout his career, Chicago has been

an inspiration for many of his poems, and he felt that Chicago was the

right place for his poetry to continue to develop. Hernandez explains:

66 NUESTRA MUSICA Chicago's Latino community is much pret- My mother put a little restaurant behuid a

tier than either coast! The term Latmo, pool hall. At that time, the industry of the

I beheve, originated here. In New York, jukeboxes was just starting. The manufac- you primarily have Puerto Ricans, and turers gave me credit to buy the jukeboxes

then you have Dominicans and so forth; because we had no money. I dedicated

myself to the Mexican locations. I would in California, you prmiarily have Mexicans

cater to the music that I knew they liked. and a scattering of others. But here we have They came from different states and every everybody That's what's unique about state has a style. It seems like manachi this city. If you go to Latino art shows, you music is still in the main market. Mexicans will see something from Colombia, Puerto still have the country in their heart. Even Rico, Mexico and all of that in the same if every state has its own unique style, the show; that's what makes it really rich. ranchera music will never die. The tejano

with the accordion came in much later Arturo Velasquez, long-time resident from Texas and from northern Mexico, and the first Mexican jukebox distributor, like Monterrey, San Luis Potosi Later describes how, after his father first came to the on came the Cuban style of music—Perez Heartland to for the steel mills in work 1925, Prado. As other people start coming he developed a profitable enterprise by catering into the Chicago area—Cubans, Puerto on the one hand to the diversity of Latinos in Ricans—they have their own style. In

Chicago and on the other to the strong bond today's market you have Latinos, which is that these communities maintain with their everybody from South America, Central music traditions. He remembers: America, and Mexico.

In the 1920s, Cirilio Lopez formed the Banda Mexicans of South Chicago. Mr.

Lopez fled religious

persecution in Mexico during the Cristero War. Photo courtesy

Rita Anas Jirasek and

Carlos Tortolero

LATINO CHICAGO Historically, Chicago's Latino community For many Latino families, folk dance

dates back to the nineteenth century, when becomes a means of staying in touch with

the city began to establish its reputation as traditions from the homeland and keeping the center of the Industrial Heartland, with the nuclear family together. Henry Roa

railroads, stockyards, steel mills, and other was one of the instrumental figures in the industries that drew the earliest Mexican immi- founding of Chicago's Mexican Folkloric grants to these job opportunities. Artistically, Dance Company 24 years ago. His grand- music followed these early immigrants. There mother came over from Mexico in about 1918, are early photographs of Latino ensembles, and he was "born in a boxcar" in the railroad and Hispanic surnames appear on the credits yards of Joliet, Illinois. He explains, "I knew

nothing about Mexico, nothing at all. I was

just like everybody else, American," until the

Hawthorne Heritage and Culture Club at the Western Electric plant where he worked

asked him to perform something "Spanish"

with his daughter for their program. This

awakened an interest in his cultural heritage

and he looked for a Mexican dance teacher.

He found Ofelia Solano-Guevara, a math

teacher at Benito Juarez High School in the

Pilsen neighborhood, who danced with a

local troupe called Alma de Mexico, directed by Jose Ovalle. Ofelia also organized an

all-girls dance group called Nuevo Ideal. Music has always been ot early 78-rpm recordings made in Chicago Roa helped bring the two groups together in an important part of the beginning in the 1920s. Singer Silvano R. Mexican community's 1982 to form the Dance Company, which is cultural life, A young Ramos, for example, had 15 recording sessions open to all: "There is no audition. People men's musical group in Chicago for the Victor label between 1927 organized by Guada- find out by word of mouth or through the and 1931, suggesting that he inay have been lupe Vera performs at telephone book. No one gets turned away. a community event living in the city. The city has always been a around 1917. Photo Most start when they are six years old "gigging" town attracting musicians who have courtesy Rita Arias Jirasek or so Most are Mexican, half born in earliest days of recorded and Carlos Tortolero made history from the Chicago, half are immigrants." jazz and electric blues through world-renowned In Latino Chicago, community and iden- polka, gospel, R&B, "techno" house music, and tity often provide a context to institutions now to Chicago's homegrown popular Mexican

dance style called pasito duranguense. Today, centered on the performing and visual arts. Chicago has hundreds of Latino music and Carmen A. Mejia, dancer and co-founder of

dance groups, mcluding over 30 manachi bands. the folk dance group Peru Profundo, finds

dozens of dance handas, family or church-based that in the cultures of Peru, there can be little

folkloric dance groups, and scores of musicians separation between dance and community.

working in clubs and restaurants who offer By teaching dance in Chicago, Peru Profundo entertainment seven days a week. also teaches about the roots of Peruvian

68 "

Puerto Rican muralist Gamaliel Ramirez's mural "La Familia" reflects South Chicago's multicultural population,

Gamaliel was one of the

co-founders of El Taller,

an artist collective

offering free silk-screen, music, dance, mural, and poetry workshops to the community from 1970 to 1980, Photo courtesy Gamaliel Ramirez,

Smithsonian Institution

traditions and their role in the local community: Gamaliel Ramirez, a Puerto Rican muralist

"Our goal is to maintam the roots. The i^roup and a poet, was a leader in cultural activism in members use this group to identify themselves the Lincoln Park neighborhood during the civil as Peruvians It you don't maintain your rights movement of the 1960s. At that time, roots, if you can't identify with them, then you this was a Black and Puerto Rican neighbor- don't know your own self, and you don't know hood surrounded by Italians and Germans. the country where you were born. Ramirez was co-lounder ot El Taller, an artist

Diversity is key to community organi- collective that offered free silk-screening, zation and shaping of identity. In Latino music, dance, mural, and poetry workshops to

Chicago many types of diversity come into the cominunity. "El Taller was one of the first play—ethnic, national, regional, and genera- Latino organizations for the arts in the United tional. Some organizations are more inclusive States. There were always some Me.xicans and of diverse groups and form international, some Puerto Ricans who didn't want to come multigenerational, or multiregional groups; together. But we persisted, Cuban artists, others focus on preservation and assemble Mexican artists, Puerto Rican artists When specialized groups who champion a single we get together we share e.xperiences and we talk form. Besides music and dance, other artists about Latino wisdom. We gained consciousness are equally active in theater, poetry and spoken at the same time; we all became artists about word, film, and graphic and mural arts. Latino the same time. " The muralist movement in art is found in formal and informal settings Chicago Latino neighborhoods became a new from Roberto Matta's oil paintings at the voice for expressing not only connections to

Art Institute ot Chicago to the bar-hopping traditional culture but also social commentaries conjunto nortefio on 26th Street. on the Chicago Latino experience. He says:

LATINO CHICAGO 69 Starting with respect, murals make a very music. He recalls: "Here is where I learned

important contribution to the culture of the to play musica criolla, the folk music of Peru.

community and the history, and to define Before, I played tropical, international music,

the history as it is now. A lot of people but living away from one's country, one feels

thmk that "American" is already set. that it is the melancholy—then I realized there were no

the way it is, but this is not true— A mural criollo guitar players."

gets people in the community to think about Tito Rodriguez is a Puerto Rican

what is artistic. It becomes like a poem, like dancer and percussionist, artistic director

a song, it is like the newspaper, it is talking of AfriCaribe, and one of the most influ-

to them. That's why everybody wants murals ential people in the igSos revival of the

now, because there are some issues that we homba and plena in Chicago. He also had

deal with every day, but we can't get them an epiphany as a result of an immigrant

across. When you make a large painting experience, when he found himself in a

somehow it gets the message across. situation where he felt the responsibility to step up and represent his culture:

Traditional arts are an affirmation of iden-

tity, and they play an important role in the A classmate, who is Mexican, asked me

immigration experience. Many Latino immi- about the discovery of Puerto Rico, and I

grants who did not practice traditional arts in couldn't remember the date for my life. And

their native home take them up m the U.S. and then he asked, "Does Puerto Rico have a

devote a great deal ot time and effort to them. national anthem?" And 1 say, "Yes." And

Anibal BeUido, a Peruvian guitarist who plays he says, "What is it?" And I freaked out,

every week at a pena organized at the Taste of totally blank. And 1 felt so embarrassed.

Peru, a Peruvian restaurant in Chicago's north You're just arriving from the island and not

side, was not always involved in traditional knowing these things. And I ran into the

A couple dances to the bathroom, I started crying— It was a rude

Trio Peru at rhythms of awakening for me. After that, 1 promised a pena at the Taste of myself that I would be the best Puerto Peru Restaurant. Photo

and find out everything about Puerto Rico,

so next time somebody would ask me a

question about Puerto Rico, I would know

the answer. I think that many Puerto Ricans

in the United States when they go through

a process like that ... it just brings up a

very sentimental point. It's like somebody

has taken a bandage off your eyes — 1

think that's very important because it allows

people to begin a process of self-discovery.

Tito Rodriguez created AfriCaribe, an Chicago from New York as a little girl in the academy and performance group of tradi- early 1950s. Her father, Carlos "Caribe" Ruiz, tional Caribbean dance and drumming, to a professional dancer, organized the Puerto

"rescue the history of the community through Rican Congress of Mutual Aid, one of the culture." As a high school teacher, Tito uses first Puerto Rican cultural and sports orga- music to teach Puerto Rican history: nizations in Chicago. At a time when Latino communities, despite their multiple national

The whole intention of AfriCaribe is to origins and identities, were all considered develop cultural workers so they continue the same, the Puerto Rican Congress gained Chicago for teaching this to other people. I started the recognition of the mayor of teaching homba to teach kids about the Puerto Ricans as a distinct culture. "Many were history of Puerto Rico. I brought m popular people thought the Puerto Ricans songs from Puerto Rico that were done to Mexicans." she recalls. "That was a big thing

homba rhythms in different styles. In addi- in those days, understanding the differences

tion, we had agreed that they were to teach between the Mexican culture and the Puerto me about their experience, so they got into Rican culture. It was not to alienate, but hip-hop and they would write raps about enlighten. And Caribe did this with music and

their experiences These performances dance, because Mexican music and dances are were so emotional, because the different so different from the Caribbean." generations of Puerto Ricans are often Some elders in the Latino community

so disconnected from each other's reality. worry that Latino traditions are disap-

These kids brought up in the United States pearing among new generations born in the

often lack family cohesion and community. U.S. and in the face of mass media. However, the evidence does not support their apprehen-

Another way to affirm ethnic identity is to sion. Many young Latino artists are proud of their establish community organizations. Nilda Ruiz their heritage and continue to express

Pauley, a Puerto Rican schoolteacher, came to Latino identity, often with a new inflection.

LATINO CHICAGC 71 "

Don Evoua, a Guatemalan rap artist, interacts identity. Jorge Valdivia is a Mexican arts admin-

with mass media culture every day, yet his art istrator who was until recently the station

filters this experience through his own lens and manager of Radio Arte, WRTE 90.5 FM,

creates something new, origmal, and true to a radio station operated by youth under the

his identity. The re^aeton musicians of Chicago auspices of Chicago's Mexican Fine Arts

cite a variety of influences. On the one hand, Center Museum, the largest Latino cultural

many musicians admire the breath control institution in the country. Valdivia is well

ot Eminem or the beats ot Wu Tang Clan. aware of the community-building power of

a radio station. Radio Arte is an important

space for community-centered programming,

including oral histories, popular and tradi-

tional music, politics, news, information,

and current events. Valdivia recalls how the organization went from playing "cool rock

en esfanol" to a "program that trains youth

to become communicators, to mobilize and

talk about issues. " He explains, "When you

are behind the mike, you can do one of two

things: You can go on the air and say nothing

in 15 seconds, or you can go on the air

and you can speak about who you are as a

young person, as a Latino, as an immigrant.

And that carries so much power in it. When

you speak about your experiences, other people

identify with you, and that's how cominunities

are built. Don Evoua and But on the other hand, someone like Don Casino, artists with In Chicago, strong communities have Evoua is also interested in taking reggaeton tlie Latino Inip-iiop indeed formed. Despite a recent trend where crew The Essence, back to its Latino roots by invoking more rap in the studio. new immigrants arrive directly in the suburbs sounds of" the clave and marmiba; "They call Photo by Juan Dies, and rural areas across the Heartland, Chicago's Smithsonian Institution It Spanish hip-hop, reggaeton, hip-hop. But I Latino neighborhoods continue to be ports of just call it music, man, and to me, music is entry where many new arrivals can feel right universal love — it's hip-hop, and Spanish at home. Businesses in these neighborhoods hip-hop, and reggaeton all mi.xed together. The

second album I'm working on right now, I'm thrive because they do not cater only to the

incorporating a lot of sounds from Latin needs of the local neighborhood; they are

America, like the Peruvian flute, and from specialty supply centers for a large community

my country la marimba." across the Midwest. Grocery stores, music,

In a city like Chicago, mass media become entertainment, clothing, and bridal shops line

an important part of the local culture. With a commercial strips that extend for miles.

presence in print, radio, and TV, Latinos have Because there is such strong neighborhood

created a forum for the discussion of their identity and presence, it is possible for individuals

72 nJUESTRA MUSICA —

to remain close to their traditions, food, music, was South American folk music. In his new language, religion, and other practices lor surroundings, he had to learn Mexican, Puerto their whole lives. However, those who leave Rican, and Cuban songs: "I try to play songs the relative familiarity of the neighborhood that really represent my audience." When Epoca and interact with people from other cultures Quinta dissolved, he found a job by convincing can also explore multiple identities and add to restaurant owners to let him start a peiia series. the diversity of the community. Coya Paz, an A pena is an intimate gathering for sharing actress and founder of Teatro Luna, prizes these music with friends, often with guest artists multiple identities: "We get a lot of mi.x—one and sing-alongs. In Latin America—espe- of the great things about Chicago and the cially in Chile penas were seminal in the folk group.. ..We have people coming up to us all revival of the 1960s. Sosa did this successfully the time who identify with hyphenated iden- and started a new trend that continues. Some tities. 'I'm Blaxican too, I'm a PuertoMalan.' of the more popular penas in Chicago today

In the group we used to have a PinoRican, a include the Old Town School of Folk Music,

Filipino Puerto Rican. a Russiadoran." El Nandu, La Decima Musa, Taste of Peru, Professional musicians who work with Fiesta Mexicana, and La Pena Restaurant.

various clienteles find that in a diverse commu- Musicians in larger communities, particu-

nity they must command a broad repertoire larly the Mexican community, can specialize

to appeal to a broader audience and increase in a particular regional style (or set of styles)

their job opportunities. Nelson Sosa, known and find enough work to stay busy and in

as the godfather of penas in Chicago, came to demand. Victor Pichardo, artistic director

Chicago in 1983 from Chile to sing for the of Sones de Mexico Ensemble, opened a

Epoca Quinta Latin Jazz Band at a club called new niche for Mexican music in Chicago in La Sirena. When he arrived, his repertoire the early 1990s by playing traditional music — —

trom ditterent regions ot Mexico grounded in there are young Mexicans, any day of the week.

deep knowledge of their style and authentic Within this specialized style, there is a diverse

instrumentation. He explains: repertoire to please different tastes. Simplicio Roman, originally from Guerrero, Mexico,

The son is a generic name tor a music learned to play music in Chicago while he

style. We can find it all over Mexico, in was a student at Benito Juarez High School,

different regions son plarieco, son jarochc, son where Victor Pichardo taught a mariachi

de Tierra Caliente. . . Sones de Mexico tries class. Simplicio and his brothers formed the

to represent each region. When we play son band Ansiedad to play for Chicago's diverse

jarocho, we play the harp, the jarana, and the Mexican community. Their repertoire includes

rcqniuto; we play huapango with the violin musica ranchera, cumhias, and nn'tsiai tropical—

and huapanguera guitar, and we play norteno a little bit of everything. Simplicio explains:

with the accordion and the hajo sexto. We "If we play for a 15th birthday party, or a

also play the saxophone, clarinet, and wedding, we play everything from a pasito

trumpet, in a more Caribbean style. duranouense, to a polka with accordion, and then some cumhias—something romantic,

What Sones de Mexico does with tradi- calm, and then something zapateado.. . . If they

tional music, the band Ansiedad does with ask for a hachata, a salsa, we will play it, but we

pop dance music. They are also Mexican, and will transform it into our style."

they ride the wave of the radio-friendly handa Among the genres Ansiedad plays is the

music, which can be heard on car stereos, in pasito duranguense, a style of music and dance

stores and restaurants, and seemingly anjnvhere that evolved in Chicago and has gained such

Originally from a village near Chichicastenango in Guatemala, master musician Carlos Mejia has brought the tradition of marimba music to youth in Chicago who have studied with him.

"I grew up around it marimba music—and

played it since I was little." Photo by Juan Dies,

Smitlisonian Institution

74 Further Reading ARIAS JIRASEK, RITA AND CARLOS popularity that it is now emulated by people in Mexico. This is a remark-

TORTOLERO. 2001 . Mexican Chicago. able phenomenon, since the more common trend is tor most popular Charleston, SC: Arcadia. music styles to originate in Mexico. The style is rooted in traditional CASUSO. JORGE AND EDUARDO CAMACHO. brass orchestra music dating back to nineteenth century, but it is the 1985. Hispanics in Chicago. Chicago: now played by smaller groups of four to six musicians who are able to The Reporter and the Center for Community Research and Assistance of the Community reproduce the sound of large brass sections with electronic keyboards Renewal Society. and synthesizers. DE GENOVA, NICHOLAS. 1998. "Race, Wherever you are in Chicago's Latino neighborhoods, you encounter Space, and the Reinvention of Latin a rich multisensory experience that is also highly localized, rooted in Amenca in Mexican Chicago." Latin 87-1 the ethnic and regional identities that define this diverse community. American Perspectives 25(5), 16.

Heading west from the corner of i8th Street and Blue Island in the Pilsen FLORES, CARLOS. 2004. "Five Decades of

the Puerto Rican Fvlusic Scene in Chicago: A neighborhood vou enter a piece of Mexico (indeed, parts of all Mexico), Personal Recollection." Centra: Journal of the run by Mexicans and catering to more than a million Mexicans who live Center for Puerto Rican Studies 1 6(1 ), 1 40-53. in the Chicago area or travel there for supplies. Further west stands the GANZ. CHERYL R. AND MARGARET STROBEL, Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, the largest Latino cultural center in EDS. 2004. Pots of Promise: Mexicans and the nation. Food vendors on the street and an assortment of cafes and Pottery at Hull-House, 1920-40. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. restaurants provide the foods of home: such regional Mexican dishes as PADILUV. FELIX M. 1985. Latino Ethnic hirria (goat stew) cooked in the style of Ocotlan, Jalisco, or home-made Consciousness: The Case of Mexican enchiladas potosinas so good that some visitors from Mexico have taken them Americans and Puerto Ricans in back to San Luis Potosi. Stand on Division Street and California Avenue, Chicago. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. just twent\- blocks north, and walk into Humboldt Park. You know you

are in a Puerto Rican neighborhood because you just walked under a PADILLA, FELIX M. 1987. Puerto Rican Chicago. Notre Dame; University of Notre Dame Press. forty-foot-high iron gate in the shape of the Puerto Rican flag. In the PADILLA, FELIX M. 1995. "On the Nature park you may stumble into a Softball game with the San Lorenzo team, of Latino Ethnicity." In Historical Themes and run into an impromptu cornia (street jam session) featuring assorted Identity: Mestizaje and Labels, ed. Antoinette Puerto Rican percussion, or stop for a plate of cuchifrito at one of the Sedillo Lopez. Pp. 439-452. New York: Garland Publishing. cocineros (food stands) that are built inside mobile homes around the

park. Guatemalans, Peruvians, Ecuadorans, or Colombians also have their "PUERTO RICAN COMMUNITY IN CHICAGO." 2001. Special issue of Centre: Journal of own neighborhoods—each unique, but all animated by the sound the Center for Puerto Rican Studies 1 3(2). of nucstra musua, the music of Chicago's thriving and vibrant Latino READY TIMOTHY AND ALLERT BROWN-GORT communities. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival offers all an opportunit)' 2005. The State of Latino Chicago: This is to enjoy these diverse traditions. Home Now. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, Institute for Latino Studies.

JUAN DiES

Juan Dies is a musician, producer, and arts administrator in Chicago. Executive

Director of Chicago's Sones de Mexico Ensemble, he also serves on boards, panels

for state and national granting agencies, and in numerous advisory capacities.

Raised m Mexico, he came to the United States at the age of i8. He majored

in Anthropology and Music at Earlhani College and received his M.A. in

Ethnomusicology at Indiana University. .^!«HB

Chicago Latino: Culturas Convergentes

"co'jj^ Juan Dies, traducido J rc/Sliyn^ por Berenice Sanchez

;Bop-bop boo-boo-boom bap-bap-bap traka- circulo, dos estudiantes universitarios que

traita-tracis., dun-dun! Son las 8:00 de la noche no son puertorriquefios visitan por primera

un jueves en Chicago y estas caminando vez. Visten ropa hip-hop y estan tratando

sobre la calle Division. Escuchas el sonido de de decidir el mejor momento para entrar en

tambores y cantos de bomba que viene de un el baile. En un momento, el maestro en el aparador en un centenario edificio de arqui- tambor, con una autoridad casi majestuosa,

tectura tipica de la epoca, construido por se levanta y se pone a bailar. Elegantemente

los checoslovacos, anteriores habitantes del les demuestra a todos que no solo es un pasa-

vecindario. en dia los tiempo sino Hoy residentes llaman algo para tomar en serio y que a la calle "Paseo Boricua". Dentro, unas debe hacerse bien porque hay una responsabi-

cincuenta personas dislrutan un bombazo Iidad de mantener la tradicion. Afuera una (^sesion improvisada de bomba de Puerto vendedora de comida con un carrito espera

Rico). Una bandera de Puerto Rico, un mapa el final del evento y la oportunidad, cuando de la provincia de Mayagiiez, un retrato de todos salgan, para vender tamales mexicanos,

Pedro Flores, dos giiiros y un cuatro decoran atole champurrado v churritos tritos.

las paredes. Mientras tres percusionistas Chicago tiene una de las mas grandes y mas

improvisan, los asistentes se turnan al son diversas comumdades latinas del pais, rica en

de los tambores. Se puede ver que los que histona y con una vida artistica floreciente que

bailan vienen regularmente porque saben sm embargo es una de las menos conocidas en

exactamente que hacer. Un par de padres el resto de los Estados Unidos. Chicago latino

de familia ban traido a sus hijos, deseosos es una comunidad multinacional y multicul-

de que la experiencia les ayude a mantener tural. La poblacion mayor es de mexicanos,

conexion con sus raices culturalcs. Fuera del seguida de puertorriquefios y lue^o de guatemaltecos. Grupos mas pequenos son del Caribe

y Centro y Sudamerica e incluyen ecuatorianos, colombianos, cubanos, peruanos, salvadoreiios

y chilenos. Un grupo pequeno de belicefios y brasilefios tambien se considera asi mismo

como parte de la comunidad. El area metro-

politana de Chicago cuenta con el tercer lugar en poblacion latina en los Estados Unidos, y

(Arriba) Aiin en el crudo invierno de Chicago, los vendedores ambuiantes mexicanos ofrecen elotes, tamales

y atole champurrado a los transeuntes creando una parte

importante de la vida diaria en el barrio. Foto de Juan Dies,

Smithsonian Institution

(Izquierda) A fines de los anos 1940 y los 1950. Don Roberto y sus Rumbaleros formaban parte del circuito

regular tocado en varios salones de baile en la ciudad y por la region. Foto cortesia Rita Arias Jirasek y Carlos Tortoleroo

4UESTRA MUSICA Raquel Ontiveros el se^undo lugar. dcspues de Los Angeles, con documentando eventos especiales y desfiles, y canta en 1 953 con poblacion inmigrante mexicana. Se escucha a cosas. otras Dos preguntas principales guiaron el Mariachi Jalisco menudo que el termino latino se hizo popular a los investigadores: {que relacion hay entre de Arnulfo Martinez, uno de los primeros en los anos 70, Chicago pudo haber sido y las artes, la identidad y la comunidad? y ique mariachis en Chicago. Foto conesia el lugar en que se origino ( Padilla 1985). En caractenza a la comunidad latina de Chicago Raquel Ontiveros ultimos aiios, la poblacion latina de la los 35 como linica y distinta de las comunidades region ha crecido hasta llegar a 1.6 millones. latinas en otras partes? Las respuestas fueron representando el del crecimiento total de 96% muchas y variadas debido a los diferentes ante- la poblacion. Los latinos impulsan la economia cedentes culturales, y las experiencias y refe- mil con un ingjreso familiar anual de 20 rentes personales de cada individuo. Aunque millones de dolares. Llevan la vanguardia en no se Uego a una respuesta defmitiva, si se llenar nuevos puestos de trabajo representan y inicio un dialogo cultural que continuara el 38% del crecimiento en la compra de casas durante el Festival de Tradiciones Populares del en Chicago (Ready and Brown-Gort 2005). Smithsonian cuando muchos de estos artistas Chicago latino es una comunidad diversa y vengan a compartir sus vidas y experiencias compleja con caracteristicas diferentes a las con el publico en la Explanada Nacional. de los latinos en Los Angeles, Miami, Nueva La diversidad entre los latinos fue York o Houston, sin embargo sus relatos uno de los temas que surgio en muchas de pueden tener resonancia con las experiences nuestras conversaciones con artistas. David de cualquiera, en cualquier otro lugar. Hernandez, poeta puertorriqueiio residente En colaboracion con la Old Town School en Chicago desde los afios 50, en una ocasion of" Folk Music, la Institucion Smithsonian a pero luego inicio un provecto de investigacion en la penso en mudarse Nueva York primavera del 2005. Veinte investigadores decidio no hacerlo, Chicago ha sido inspi-

locales exploraron varios aspectos de la racion para muchos de sus poemas, y el sintio

vida tradicional latina en Chicago, grabando que era el lugar indicado para continuar el

historias de artistas y organizaciones. desarrollo de su poesia. Dice Hernandez:

LATINO CHICAGO 77 La comunidad latina en Chicago es mucho Mi madre puso un restaurante detras de

mas bonita que cualquier costa. El termino un billar. En esa epoca, la industria de las

latino, me parece, fue origmado aqui. En rocolas estaba empezando. Los fabricantes

Nueva York, hay principalmente puerto- me dieron credito para comprar las rocolas

rriquenos, despues dominicanos y asi suce- porque no teniamos dinero. Hemos estado

sivamente; en Calitornia, hay principalmente aqui desde 1936. Les daba la musica que yo

mexicanos y una mezcla de otros. Pero aqui sabia que les gustaba. Venian de diferentes

tenemos a todo el mundo. Esto es lo que es estados y cada estado tiene su estilo. Parece

linico en esta ciudad. Si vas a exposiciones que la musica de mariachi aiin sigue en

latinas veras algo de Colombia, de Puerto el mercado principal. Los mexicanos aiin

Rico, de Mexico, todo en una sola exposicion. tienen su pais en el corazon. Aun cuando

Esto es lo que realmente lo hace grandiose. cada estado tiene su estilo propio, la musica

ranchera nunca morira. El tejano con el

acordeon vino mucho despues de Texas y del norte de Mexico, de Monterrey y San

Luis Potosi Mas tarde vino el estilo de musica cubana—Perez Prado. En cuanto

otras personas empezaron a venir al area de Chicago—cubanos, puertorriquenos—que tienen sus propios estilos. Hoy en dia en

el mercado hay latinos, siendo todos de

Sudamenca, Centroamerica y Mexico.

Historicamente la comunidad latina en

Chicago data del siglo XIX, cuando la ciudad

empezo a establecer su reputacion como

centro de la industria: con los ferrocarriles, los

rastros, las fabricas de acero, y otras empresas que atrajeron a los primeros inmigrantes mexi-

canos a estas fuentes de trabajo.

Artisticamente la musica siguio a estos

inmigrantes. Una evidencia son los apellidos

En 1941, Adrian Arturo Velasquez, residente desde hace hispanos que aparecen en los creditos de los Lozano pinto el mucho tiempo el primer mexicano distri- primeros discos de 78 rpm hechos en Chicago primer mural mexicano y en Hull-House en el buidor de rocolas, describe como despues de a principles de los afios 20. El cantante Silvano barrio Near West Side, que su padre llego a la ciudad para trabajar en R. Ramos, por ejemplo, tuvo 15 sesiones de donde vivian muctios mexicanos. las fabricas de acero en 1925, desarrollo una grabacion en Chicago para la disquera Victor

Foto cortesia Rita Arias provechosa empresa en parte respondiendo a la entre 1927 y 1931, lo que indica que pudo Jirasek y Carlos Tortolero diversidad de los latinos en Chicago y en otra haber estado viviendo en la ciudad. La ciudad

a los fuertes vinculos que estas comunidades siempre ha sido un lugar que atrae a musicos

mantienen con sus tradiciones musicales. Dice: por sus oportunidades. Han hecho historia

78 NUESTRA MUSICA desde los pnmeros anos de las grabaciones donde el trabajaba, le pidio que presentara algo de jazz y blues eleccrico hasta los reconocidos en "espaiiol" con su hija para su programa. mundialmente polka, gospel, R&B, "technc" Esto desperto el interes en su herencia cultural house music, y ahora, onginano de Chicago, V busco a un profesor de danza mexicana. el baile popular mexicano llamado "pasito Encontro a Ofelia Solano-Guevara, maestra duranguense". Hoy en dia, Chicago cuenta con de matematicas en la preparatona Benito cientos de grupos latinos de danza y musica Juarez del barrio de Pilsen, que bailaba con incluyendo mas de 30 mariachis, docenas una compania local llamada Alma de Mexico de bandas para bailar, grupos folcloricos dirigida por Jose Ovalle. Ofelia tambien orga-

asociados con iglesias o familias y decenas de nize un grupo de danza de nmas llamado Ideal. ayudo a unir los dos grupos musicos que trabajan en centres nocturnos y Nuevo Roa restaurantes que ofrecen musica en vivo siete en 1982 para formarThe Mexican Folkloric

dias a la semana. Dance Company of Chicago, que abrio sus

Para muchas familias latinas la danza puertas a todos: "No hay audiciones. Las

folclorica se convierte en algo importante para personas saben de nosotros a traves de otros o

telefonico. nadie se la rechaza. conservar las tradiciones de su tierra natal y del directono A

para mantener el niicleo familiar unido. Henry Muchos comienzan a los 6 afios de edad. La

Roa fue una de las figuras claves en la creacion mavoria son mexicanos, la mitad nacidos en

de la Compania de Danza Folclorica Mexicana Chicago y la otra mitad son inmigrantes y en Chicago hace 20 aiios. Su abuela vino de vienen de todas partes de la ciudad".

Mexico alrededor de 1918, y el nacio en "un En Chicago latino, la comunidad y la iden-

vagon de tren" en Joliet, Illinois. Henry explica, tidad generalmente se convierten en la base de

"yo no sabia nada de Mexico, nada en abso- instituciones centradas en las artes escenicas y lute. Yo era como todos los demas, un ameri- visuales. Carmen A. Mejia, co-fundadora del

cano", hasta que el Hawthorne Heritage and grupo de danza tradicional Peru Profundo,

Culture Club en la planta electrica Western, en encuentra que en las culturas de Peru hay muy

Ramon Iniguez y Raquel Ontiveros eran algunos de los danzantes que integra-

ban en 1 964 el Ballet Folklorico Mexicano,

la primera compania de

danza folklorica mexi-

cana en la ciudad. Foto

corlesia Raquel Ontiveros

LATINO CHICAGO 79 poca diferencia entre danza y comunidad. arte latino se puede encontrar en entornos

Ensenando danza en Chicago, Peru Profundo formales e informales, desde las pinturas al

tambien imparte conocimientos sobre las oleo de Roberto Matta en cl Instituto de Arte

raices de las tradiciones peruanas y su papel de Chicago hasta el conjunto nortefio en un

en la comunidad local: "Nuestra meta es bar en la calle 26.

mantener las raices. Los participantes en el Gamaliel Ramirez, un muralista y poeta grupo lo usan porque se identifican como puertorriquerio. encabezo el activismo

peruanos. . . si tii no te identiticas, no te cultural en el barrio de Lincoln Park durante

conoces a ti mismo, ni tampoco conoces a la el movimiento de los derechos civiles de los

patria donde naciste". aiios 60. En ese tiempo, ese era un barrio de

La diversidad es clave la para organizacion negros y puertorriqueiios rodeado de ita- de una comunidad y la definicion de su ident- lianos y alemanes. A principio de los aiios

idad. En Chicago latino muchos tipos de diver- 70, Ramirez fue co-fundador de El Taller, un

sidad estan en juego—la etnica, la nacional, grupo artistico que ofrecia a la comunidad la regional y la generacionai. Algunas de las talleres gratis de grabado, musica, danza, organizaciones son mas inclusivas y forman muralismo y poesia. "El Taller fue uno de grupos internacionales, multigeneracionales las primeras organizaciones latinas para las El muralista Gamaliel y multiregionales y cultivan el pan-latmismo; artes en los Estados Unidos. Siempre hubo Ramirez pinto "In Rhythm with the Arts" otras se enfocan en la preservacion de lormas algunos mexicanos y algunos puertorriqueiios con los estudiantes especificas y forman grupos especializados en que no quisieron tormar parte. Pero fuimos artistas de la escuela Greeley en un proyecto conservar un estilo en particular. Tambien, persistentes. Artistas cubanos, artistas mexi- de Urban Gateways. ademas de miisica y danza, otros artistas son canos, artistas puertorriqueiios.... Cuando Foto cortesia igualmente activos en teatro, poesia, artes nos reuniamos compartiamos experiencias Gamaliel Ramirez. wSmithsonian Institution graficas y muralismo. Por todas partes, el y hablabamos acerca de la sabiduria latina. —.

Adquirimos conciencia al mismo tiempo; del pais de uno, uno siente la melancolia todos nos convertimos en artistas mas o menos entonces yo me di cuenta que no habia guita- al mismo tiempo". El movimicnto muralista rnstas criollos". en los barrios de Chicago latino se convirtio Tito Rodriguez es un danzante y percu- en una nueva voz para expresar no solo cone- sionista. director artistico de AfriCaribe, xiones con la cultura tradicional sino tambien y una de las personas con mas influencia en para hacer comentarios sociales sobre la expe- la revitalizacion de la bomba y la plena en nencia Chicago latina. Ramirez dice: Chicago durante los aiios 80. El tambien tuvo

una epifania, resultado de su experiencia como

Empezando con respeto, los murales hacen inmigrante, al encontrarse con la responsabi-

una contribucion importante a la cultura lidad de representar su cultura:

de la comunidad y la historia, y definen la

historia como es ahora. Muchas personas Un companero de clase, un mexicano, me

piensan que el termino "americano" ya esta pregunto acerca del descubrimiento de

determmado, que asi es como es, pero esto Puerto Rico, y no pude recordar la fecha.

no es cierto Un mural hace a las personas Entonces pregunto, '^Puerto Rico tiene

de la comunidad pensar acerca de lo que es un himno nacional?' Yo conteste, 'Si'. El

artistico. Se convierte en un poema, en una pregunto, ';C6mo es?' Me quede paral-

cancion, es como el periodico que les habla. izado, totalmente en bianco sintiendomc

Es por eso que hoy en dia todo el mundo muy avergonzado. Acabas de llegar de la

quiere murales, hay isla porque problemas con y no sabes esas cosas. Corri al bafio y los que lidiamos a diario que no podemos empece a llorar Fue un despertar muy

expresar de otra manera. Cuando haces una duro para mi. Despues de eso, me prometi

obra grande, de alguna manera el mensaje que iba a set el mejor de los puerto-

es expresado. rnquefios. Leeria todo lo que pudiera y descubriria todo acerca de Puerto Rico, de

Las artes tradicionales son una afirmacion esa forma la proxima vez que alguien me de identidad y juegan un papel importante preguntara algo acerca de Puerto Rico, yo en la experiencia de los inmigrantes. Muchos sabria la respuesta. Creo que muchos puer- inmigrantes latinos que no practicaban artes torriqueiios en los Estados Unidos, cuando tradicionales en su pais natal las practican en se encuentran en un proceso como este... los Estados Unidos y dedican gran parte de toca un punto muy sentimental. Es como si su tiempo y esfuerzo a ello. Anibal Bellido, alguien te quitara una venda de los ojos.. . guitarrista peruano quien toca cada semana Creo que eso es muy importante porque en una pena organizada en El Sabor de Peru, le permite a la gente un proceso de descu- un restaurante peruano al norte de Chicago, brimiento propio. no siempre estuvo involucrado en la musica tradicional. El recuerda: "aqui fue donde yo Tito Rodriguez creo AfriCaribe, una aprendi esta musica criolla, la musica folklorica academia y grupo de danza y tamboreo tradi- de Peru. Antes lo que yo tocaba era tropical, cional del Caribe, para "rescatar la historia de era musica internacional, pero al estar fuera la comunidad a traves de la cultura":

LATINO CHICAGO 81 La intencion de AfriCaribe es desarrollar un danzante profesional, organize el Puerto

trabajadores culturales para que ellos Rican Congress, una de las primeras organiza-

puedan continuar cnsenando a ocros. ciones culturales y deportivas puertorriqueiias Empece ensenando bomba para ensenar en Chicago. En ese tiempo las comunidades

a ninos la historia de Puerto Rico. Traje latinas, a pesar de sus multiples origenes e

canciones populares desde Puerto Rico que identidades, eran consideradas todas iguales.

tenian ritmo de bomba en diferentes estilos. El Puerto Rican Congress obtuvo recono-

Acordamos que ellos me ensenarian acerca cimiento del alcalde de Chicago para los

de sus experiencias y entonces le entraron puertorriqueiios como una cultura diferente.

al hip-hop y escnbian raps para contarlas. "Muchas personas pensaban que los puer- Estas presentaciones eran muy emotivas, torriqueiios eran mexicanos", ella recuerda.

porque las diferentes generaciones de "Eso fue gran cosa en esos tiempos, entender

puertorriqueiios estan desconectadas de su las diferencias entre la cultura mexicana y la

realidad. Muchas veces, estos ninos criados cultura puertorriquefia. No se trataba de

en los Estados Unidos no sienten vinculos excluir, pero si de educar. Y Caribe lo hizo con miisica". En 1948, Carlos con familia ni comunidad. danza y "Caribe" Ruiz vino de Algunas personas mayores en la comunidad la ciudad de Nueva identidad etnica es latina se preocupan de que las tradiciones York a Chicago como Otra forma de afirmar danzante bajo un con- establecer organizaciones en la comunidad. latinas esten desapareciendo entre las nuevas trato de corlo plazo Nilda Ruiz Pauley, una profesora de escuela generaciones nacidas en los Estados Unidos pero decidio quedarse hasta su fallecimiento puertornquefia. vmo a Chicago desde Nueva bajo la influencia de los medios de comu- en 1987. Folo cortesia York a principios de los afios 50 cuando era nicacion masiva. Sin embargo, la evidencia Puerto Rican Congress justitica preocupaciones. of Mutual Aid pequena. Su padre, Carlos "Caribe" Ruiz, no sus Muchos artistas jovenes latinos estan orgullosos de su

legado y continiian expresando su identidad latina, algunas veces con nuevas variantes.

Don Evoua, un artista rapero guatemalteco,

aprovecha los medios de comunicacion masiva

culturales a diario, su arte filtra su experien-

cia a traves de su propia vision y crea algo

nuevo, original y apegado a su identidad. Los musicos del reggaeton en Chicago citan una

variedad de influencias. Por una parte, muchos

musicos admiran el control de la respiracion

de Eminem o los golpes de Wu Tang Clan.

Por otra parte, alguien como Don Evoua esta

tambien interesado en volver al reggaeton a

sus raices latinas invocando sonidos de la clave

y de la marimba. "Le llaman hip-hop espafiol,

reggaeton, hip-hop. Pero yo solo le llamo

miisica—es hip-hop, y hip-hop espafiol y reggaeton

xlUESTRA MUSICA —

poder. Cuando Las tiendas latinas con todo mezclado. En el segundo disco en el que Y eso trae consigo^ mucho letreros acentuan . . sus incorporo muchos hablas acerca de tus expenencias otras personas estoy trabajando ahora. la presencia latina en sonidos de Latinoamerica. tal como la flauta se identifican contigo, y es asi como las comu- la ciudad, Foto de Susan EleuterJo. peruana de mi pais, la marimba". nidades se constituyen". y Smithsonian Institution En una ciudad como Chicago, los medics Ciertamente. en Chicago se han tormado de comunicacion se convierten en una parte comunidades fuertes. A pesar de una tendencia importance de la cultura local. Con una pre- reciente en la que los nuevos inmigrantes sencia en la imprenta. la radio y la television, llegan directamente a los suburbios y areas los latinos han creado un foro de discusion rurales alrededor de la ciudad, los barrios sobre su identidad. Jorge Valdivia es un admi- latinos de Chicago continiian siendo puertos nistrador de arte que tue, hasta hace poco, de entrada en donde personas recien llegadas director de Radio Arte, WRTE 90.5 fm, una pueden sentirse como en su casa. Los nego- estacion de radio dingida por jovenes y bajo cios en estos barrios prosperan porque no el auspicio del Me.xican Fine Arts Center solo responden a las necesidades del propio

Museum de Chicago, la institucion cultural vecindario sino que se convierten en centros latina mas grande en el pais. Valdivia conoce de abastecimiento especializados que atienden bien el poder que tiene una estacion de radio a una enorme poblacion establecida en la para crear una comunidad. Radio Arte es un region centro del pais. Una junta a la otra, un espacio importante para crear una programa- sinnumero de tiendas de comida, de musica, cion enfocada en la comunidad y que incluye de entretenimiento, de ropa y vestidos de novia historias orales, musica popular y tradicional, forman un corredor comercial que se extiende politica, noticias, informacion y eventos actua- por kilometros. tes. Valdivia recuerda como la organizacion Debido a que e.xiste tan fuerte presencia e crecio desde que comenzo transmitiendo "cod identidad dcntro del vecindario, un mdividuo rock en espaiiol" hasta que llego a convertirse puede permanecer cerca de sus tradiciones en "un programa que entrena a jovenes a ser comidas, musica, lenguaje, religion y otras comunicologos, a movilizarse y hablar sobre costumbres—por toda su vida. Por otra parte, sus problemas". Valdivia e.xplica. "Cuando aquellos que se alejan de la relativa familia- estas detras del microfono. puedes hacer una ndad del vecindario e interactiian con personas de dos cosas: puedes salir al aire y no decir provenientes de otras culturas pueden explorar nada en 15 segundos, o puedes salir al aire y multiples identidades y aportar a la diversidad hablar acerca de quien eres como persona de la comunidad. Coya Paz, actriz y fundadora jovcn, como latino, como un inmigrante. del Teatro Luna, galardona estas identidades

LATINO CHICAGO 83 —

multiples: "Nos llegan muchas mezclas artistas invitados. En Latinoamerica—especial- una de las grandes cosas de Chicago y del mente en Chile—fue un espacio importante

grupo. . .tenemos personas con una fusion en la revitalizacion de la mtisica tradicional

de identidades. 'Soy blaxicana tambien, soy de los afios 60. Sosa logro establecer penas en

.' . . afios una puertomalteca . En el grupo tuvimos Chicago durante los 80 y comenzo una

una pinorriquena, una filipina puertorriquena, nueva corriente que continiia hasta el dia de

una rusadorefia ". hoy. Algunas de las pefias mas populates en

Los musicos profesionales que trabajan con Chicago hoy en dia incluyen la Pena de la Old publicos diversos, encuentran que deben de Town School of Folk Music, El Nandti, La

manejar un repertorio mas extenso para atraer Decima Musa, Sabor a Pent, Fiesta Mexicana,

a una audiencia mayor y asi aumentar sus posi- La Pena Restaurante y otras mas. bilidades de trabajo. Nelson Sosa, conocido Los musicos en comunidades mas grandes, por ejemplo en la comunidad mexicana,

pueden especializarse en un estilo regional

particular (o conjunto de estilos) y encontrar

suficiente trabajo para mantenerse ocupados y en demanda. Victor Pichardo, director artistico de Sones de Mexico Ensemble, abrio un nuevo

mercado para la mtisica mexicana en Chicago

a principios de los afios 90 tocando mtisica tradicional proveniente de diferentes regiones de Mexico, basada en un profundo cono-

cimiento de su estilo y una instrumentacion autentica. Pichardo explica:

El son es un nornbre generico para un estilo de musica. Podemos encontrarlo en todo

Mexico, en diferentes regiones—son planeco, La orquesta de cuatro como el padrino de las penas en Chicago, vino son jarocho, son deTierra Caliente. Sones de de Chicago (Chicago a Chicago en 1983 de Chile para cantar en el Cuatro Orchestra) toca Mexico trata de representar a cada region. en el festival puerto- grupo Epoca Quinta Latin Jazz Band en un Cuando tocamos son jarocho, tocamos rriqueho de cuatro. centro nocturne llamado La Sirena. Cuando el arpa, la jarana, el requinto; tocamos Foto de Nashma y Carrera Massarl, Uego, su repertorio era de mtisica tradicional huapango con el violin y la guitarra quinta Smithsonian Institution sudamericana. En su nuevo entorno tuvo que huapanguera, y tocamos nortefio con el

aprender canciones mexicanas, puertorriquenas acordeon y el bajo sexto. Tambien tocamos el y cubanas: "Trate de tocar canciones que real- saxofon, clarinete y trompeta, en los estilos de mente representaran a mi publico". Cuando banda mas istmeiios, yucatecos o caribefios.

Epoca Quinta se desintegro, encontro trabajo

convenciendo a los duefios de restaurantes Lo que hace Sones de Mexico con la

de que lo dejaran empezar con una serie de mtisica tradicional, el grupo Ansiedad lo hace

penas. Una peiia es una reunion intima para con mtisica de baile grupera. Tambien son

compartir mtjsica con amigos, y a veces con mexicanos y siguen la onda de la mtisica de

84 NUESTRA MUSICA banda popular que se escucha en la radio, en zada y arraigada en las identidades etnicas y los automoviles, en tiendas y restaurantes, y regionales que definen a cada segmento de esta

aparentemente en cualquier parte en donde diversa comunidad. Dirigiendose al poniente

este estilo haya jovenes mexicanos. Dentro de desde la esquina de la calle i8 y la calle Blue repertorio diverse para especializado, hay un Island en el barrio de Pilsen entras ahora a una gustos. Simplicio Roman, satisfacer diferentes parte de Mexico (de hecho, a partes de todo Guerrero, Mexico, aprendio a originano de Mexico) mantenida por mexicanos que abas- tocar miisica en Chicago mientras era estu- tecen a mas de un millon de mexicanos que diante en la preparatona Benito Juarez, en viven en el area de Chicago o vienen de fuera a donde incidentalmente Victor Pichardo ense- hacer sus compras. Mas adelante se encuentra iiaba una clase de mariachi. Simplicio y sus el Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, vende- hermanos tormaron el grupo Ansiedad para dores de comida en la calle y una variedad tocar para la comunidad mexicana en Chicago. Juan Dies es musico, de cafes y restaurantes que ofrecen platillos Su repertorio incluyc musica ranchera, cumbias prodiielor y admin- regionales mexicanos como la birria al estilo y musica tropical —un poquito de todo. istrador de arles en de Ocotlan, Jalisco, o enchiladas potosinas tan Simplico explica: "Si vamos a una quinceaiiera, Chieagc. Es director buenas que algunos visitantes potosinos se las o a una boda, tenemos que tocar desde un ejeeutivo de Sones de han Uevado de regreso a San Luis Potosi. Viaja pasito duranguense, una polca con acordeon Mexico Ensemble y solo veinte cuadras al norte detente en la y despues algunas cumbias—algo romantico, y hacc trahajo comu- calle Division la avenida California; camina calmado, y despues algo zapateado.. . . Si nos y nilario participcindo piden una bachata o una salsa, se la hacemos, hacia Humboldt Park y sabras que estas en un en juntas direettvas,

pero la vamos a transtormar a nuestro estilo". barrio puertorriquefio porque acabas de pasar jurados de evalua-

Entre los generos que Ansiedad interpreta bajo una entrada acero de 40 pies de altura que cion en agendas

esta el pasito duranguense, un estilo de musica tiene la forma de la bandera de Puerto Rico. eslatales y nacionales en Chicago que ha que otorgan hecas. V baile que evoluciono y En el parque te puedes encontrar con el equipo ganado tanta popularidad que es ahora imitado Tamhien trahaja en de San Lorenzo y un juego de pelota, topar es un fenomeno extraordinano vartas capacidades en Mexico. Este con una corrida improvisada con percusionis- tecnica. si se toma en cuenta que la tcndencia comiin es de asesoria tas puertorriquenos, o parar a comer un deli- que la mayoria de los estilos de musica popular Despues de haher cioso plato de cuchitrito con "los cocineros" se originan en Mexico. El pasito duranguense, vivido en Mexico en una de las casas moviles transformadas en asi como otros estilos de banda, esta arraigado desde la tnfaneia, puestos de comida que se encuentran alrede- vi}io los Estadcs en la musica tradicional de orquesta de vientos a dor del parque. Los guatemaltecos, peruanos, del siglo XIX, pero interpretado ahora por Vnidos a los 18 ecuatonanos y colombianos tambien tienen grupos mas pequenos contormados de cuatro alios. Se recihio sus lugares especiales—cada uno de ellos unico, a seis miisicos que reproducen el sonido de las en Antropologia y todos animados por el sonido de nuestra secciones de viento con tcclados electronicos Miisica de Earlham musica, la miisica de las prosperas y vibrantes College recihto y sintetizadores. y comunidades latinas de Chicago. El Festival de su maestria en En donde quiera que te encuentres en los Populares del Smithsonian olrece Etnomusicologia de barrios latinos de Chicago, te encontraras con Tradiciones una enriquecedora experiencia multisensorial a todos una oportunidad para distrutar estas la Universidad de Indiana. que puede ser a la vez hibrida o muy locali- tradiciones diversas.

LATINO CHICAGC 85 S>F>IHIT OF A COtVllVIUNlTY

Michael White

The musical traditions of New Orleans are duced, maintained, and transformed a number

among the most joyous, passionate, and influ- of musical styles throughout its history.

ential sounds to be found in America. Whether Among the city's large free Black population

classic jazz, gospel, rhythm & blues, or brass were the mixed-blood Creoles of Color, who

band street music, the distinctive sounds of were often well versed in European classical

the Crescent City have flovv-ed continuously styles. Some received training in Europe

and freely from the soul of a community and returned to promote classical music as

with a unique history and way of lite. Several performers, teachers, composers, or devotees.

factors contributed to New Orleans's unusual Along with other southern areas with large

development: its founding in 1718 as an Black populations, New Orleans was home to

outpost of French colonization; its relatively African American folk music as it developed

isolated location along the Mississippi River from slaves and their descendants in the form

near the Gulf of Mexico; its close proximity of work songs, street cries, spirituals, and

to the Caribbean and Latin America; and its dance music. A longstanding tradition of unusual blend of cultures. Over the years, West African-derived drumming, chanting,

hardships resulting from a brutally hot and and dancing, as performed by enslaved and

humid climate, several plagues, and countless later free Blacks in Congo Square and other

hurricanes, floods, and other disasters led locations, left a rich legacy of exciting rhythms

to a special appreciation for life. Numerous and public celebration that has flavored nearly

holidays and feast days of the predominantly all local music to this day.

Catholic city also contributed to an attitude The late 1800s saw a wave of anti-Black

among many New Orleanians that attaches legislation, racial violence, and social unrest.

greater importance to celebration and plea- One result in New Orleans was a cultural sure seeking—through food, drink, music, merger between Blacks and the now disen- dancing, gambling, and good times, often to franchised Creoles, considered under this new excess—than to "less serious" issues such as legislation to be Black. African and European- punctuality, business, and progress. derived musical traditions further influenced

By the nineteenth century. New Orleans each other, as various kinds of teaching and

was full of musical activity, with everything exchange continued among the previously

from opera and classical music to military separate Black groups. In line with the celebra-

marching bands, dance music, religious songs, tory spirit of New Orleans, the tension, anger, and ethnic folk music. The diverse African and frustration resulting from the intensi-

American population of New Orleans intro- fied African American quest for freedom and

86 BEEN IN THE STORM SO LONG equalit)- led to revolution and protest that took Big Chief Monk Boudreaux. whose artistic forms in addition to le^al ones. Mardi Gras Indian Between i8go and 1910 new folk traditions tribe will join the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife arose in New Orleans—most notably, jazz Festival. Photo by and the Mardi Gras Indians—as popular J. Nasti Porter practices that openly expressed the hopes, aspi- rations, needs, and emotions of the African

American community. Originating and first performed among relatives, friends, neighbors, and extended lamilv members, these customs provided a kind of freedom, democracy, visibility, unity, and individual recognition that was restricted or absent from daily, mainstream Black existence. Both the jazz and Mardi

Gras Indian traditions expressed a symbolic equality for all, allowing for creative competi- tion, acceptance, pride, and social and spiritual uplift—both collectively and individually. The Mardi Gras Indian tribes are groups of elaborately costumed African .'\mericans, predominantly men, who parade throui;h New

Orleans streets on Mardi Gras and St. Joseph's

Days. The intention of these Black "Indians" is to pay homage to the American Indian spirit of resistance and recognize the cultural ties between the two communities. The Mardi spy boy, carrying different responsibilities and Gras Indian tribes are actually continuing degrees of honor and respect. to transform West African customs that go Year-round activities such as preparing back to New Orleans's earliest decades. Much costumes and musical rehearsals (called time, money, and effort—not to mention "practices "), as well as actual parading on countless feathers, beads, sequins, and other customary days, all help to constitute a trans- materials—are used in preparing their boldly formed existence in which pride, strength, colorful costumes that both reflect traditional respect, and nobility mask sometimes harsh characters and constitute creative individual everyday socioeconomic conditions. So statements. Typically, several months of collec- serious was the Mardi Gras Indian persona tive work from family and friends are necessary in the past that deadly violent confrontations to produce each year's cherished "new suits."

Dozens of tribes, with evocative names such often resulted from random meetings of rival as the Creole Wild West, Wild Tchoupitoulas, tribes on carnival da\'. Fortunately, modern- and Wild Magnolias, each have coveted day battles are of a friendlier nature, taking positions such as the big chief, wild man, or the form of competitions for the most skilled

SPECIAL EVENING CONCERT SERIES 87 dancing and most beautiful costume. As they and others began to use collective improvisa- parade through Black neighborhoods joined tion and driving rhythms and to emulate on

by hundreds of followers, the Indians sing horns the vocal styles of blues and Black reli-

and chant a variety of songs, both in English gious song, thus creating a loose, exciting, and

and in unknown or secret di.dccfs, Thev are more personal way of playing ragtime, blues, marches, hymns, and popular dance music.

This new style, not called "jazz" until later,

replaced refined society orchestras and quickly

spread to every class and ethnic group in the

New Orleans area. Jazz became a visible and popular accompaniment to every type of event

imaginable: both indoors and out, in any neigh-

borhood, at nearly any time of day or night.

The typical early jazz bands of four to seven members were very competitive and repre-

sented another way in which individuals and

groups could gain recognition, self-worth, and

respect. Early jazz focused on group improvi-

sation through defined instrumental roles, but

the development of highly personal individual sound and expression became equally impor-

tant. As )azz spread across America in the late

'teens and igzos in the persons of New Orleans

legends K.ing Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney

Bechet, Louis Armstrong, and others, it also

maintained its unique character as the voice of Black New Orleans.

New Orleans jazz's social significance and

local community ties are most obvious in the

large parades and funerals sponsored by Black

"social aid & pleasure clubs" and benevolent

societies. The annual parades of these popular Young musicians accompanied by a small band of drums, gel their start on a tambourines, and percussion instruments mutual assistance organizations may include sidewall<; of tlie Frencti several divisions of members dressed in elabo- Quarter. Pinoto by playing African style rhythms. Steven Cummings. While the Mardi Gras Indians remain rately colored outfits complete with decorated Smittisonian Institution a local tradition of New Orleans's African hats, fans, sashes, baskets, and umbrellas. They Americans, jazz spread outside of that commu- are accompanied by one or more brass bands,

nity in its early years to have a major impact which traditionally play an energetic version of

on the international music scene. It was during New Orleans style jazz. The syncopated rhythms

the socially turbulent decade before 1900 that of the tuba and bass drum give these street legendary cornetist Charles "Buddy" Bolden bands their very distinctive and lively sound.

88 BEEN IN THE STORM SO LONG The procession would not be complete without community of origin. In the case of religious the "second liners" —the hundreds or even music, no uniquely New Orleans style came thousands of anonymous people who tollow to prominence, but gospel traditions shared as the parade throughout its duration, dancing and well by other southern Blacks were reshaped

cheering all the way. When public streets are here by the sound and spirit of local music.

filled by such community' parades and the crowds It is no accident that the rich musical environ-

of spiritually charged Black New Orleanians ment of jazz and street parades also nurtured

they attract, defiantly colorfial outfits and free- Mahalia Jackson, the greatest and most influ-

form "second line" dancing combine to provide, ential gospel singer of all time.

if temporaril)', a limitless freedom and a forum All New Orleans musical traditions have

for symbolicall)' acting out democratic ideals and been influenced by national trends and styles,

unity, often elusive in the "real" world. which were often reinterpreted or absorbed

The "funerals with music," later called jazz into local cultural expressions. During the late

funerals, are by tradition honorable proces- 1940s and early 1950s New Orleans became one

sions that give a grand send-off to a deceased of several major centers of rhythm & blues and

person, especially a social club or benevolent rock & roU. Though the city cannot claim to be

society member or a jazz musician. Life and the birthplace of these new popular music styles,

death are juxtaposed as brass bands play both a blending of brass band, blues, gospel, jazz,

slow, sad dirges (to lament one's passing) Caribbean, and Latin American sounds shaped

and joyous, up-tempo songs (to recall good the citj's own unique rhythm & blues sound and

times and to celebrate ultimate freedom and style. There were a number of artists, bands,

a better existence in union with the Creator). and composers whose influence went far beyond

During the slow mournful procession with the the city. Only in New Orleans could someone deceased, club members and onlookers strut like Professor Longhair weave the music of Jelly

in a graceful and respectful manner. After the RoU Morton, boogie woogie, and rumba into a

body IS released or symbolically "cut loose" unique piano and vocal music style. (buried or allowed to go to the cemetery), Several New Orleans rhythm & blues artists

faster-paced celebratory music is accompanied used the local feel and sound to create national

by joyous "second line" dancing. hits: Roy Brown, Lloyd Price, Ernie K-Doe, When Louis Armstrong and others trav- Aaron Neville, and the Dixie Cups, to name eled north and began redefining jazz and but a few. Gumbo-voiced singer Antoine "Fats" popular music during the 1920s, New Orleans Domtno became one of the most successfU pop

brass band activities remained vital primarily artists of all time with songs like "Blueberry

inside the Black community, like the Mardi Hill," "Ain't That a Shame." "Blue Monday,"

Gras Indians, and were passed along through and "I'm Walking." A number of the greatest

a continuous line of family, social club, and names and biggest hit makers of early rock &

neighborhood traditions. As generations passed roll and rhythm & blues, including Ray Charles,

and musical tastes changed, Black New Orleans Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and many others,

cultural practices went through various degrees used the Crescent City style of local composers,

of renewal, transformation, and commercial producers, and musicians on recordings success—both inside and outside of their and tours. Dave Bartholomew, and later

SPECIAL EVENING CONCERT SERIES 89 Allen Toussaint, wrote and produced dozens of called "bounce." Several local rappers, among

major hit records between the 1950s and '70s. them Master P, Juvenile, Lil' Wayne, Baby, and

Offshoots of rhythm & blues including Mystical, have been highly successful, at times

firnk and soul have also produced a local sound using their hometown sound and culture for

and several nationally successful artists. Irma inspiration. New Orleans has remained among

Thomas, known as the "Soul Queen of New the most important and influential music

Orleans," had several successfiil recordings during centers in the world. Its laid-back lifest\'le,

the 1960s and remains among the most popular family traditions, close community ties, Creole

and beloved singers in the city. A group known humor, amazing cuisine, and unique view of

as the Meters brought their "second line" and life promised to ensure that the communal Caribbean-flavored New Orleans funk sound to flame and rhythms that run from Congo

worldwide audiences in the late 1960s and '70s Square through jazz, gospel, rhythm & blues,

through tours and recording both under their the Mardi Gras Indians, funk, and brass bands

own name and as a back up band. The Neville would continue to sustain its traditions while

Brothers continued the tunk trend through a giving birth to new and exciting music forever.

series of popular recordings, tours, and frequent However, the arrival of Hurricane Katrina

television appearances. of August 29, 2005, dealt a devastating blow

During the late 1970s and early '80s New to New Orleans—one that has threatened the Orleans saw yet another major musical devel- city's physical, social, cultural, and economic

opment: the revival and evolution of brass future. In "the worst natural disaster in

bands. Young groups including the Dirty American history," 8o°ii of the city flooded. Dozen and Rebirth Brass Bands established More than 1500 people perished, hundreds

a revolutionary new street sound by blending were injured, and many others remain missing.

contemporary popular music and modern jazz Many homes, businesses, and buildings were with local rhythm & blues, funk, traditional destroyed or severely damaged. Nearly a year

jazz, and Mardi Gras Indian styles. By 2000 a after the storm, several hundred thousand area

never-ending crop of new modern brass bands residents remain outside of the city or state,

had largely replaced the few remaining tradi- as many neighborhoods are abandoned and in

tional groups. The contemporary brass band ruin, with little or no sign of recovery. A scar-

movement has been highly successful, both city of jobs, housing, schools, medical services,

in the African American community and in and other basic needs, as well as environmental

the worldwide commercial arena. Modern and health concerns, have left over two-thirds

brass bands remain a popular part of social of the pre-Katrina population questionmg how,

club parades and funerals, but are just as likely when, and if they can ever return home. Many

to bring the New Orleans street sound to experience confusion, frustration, and hope-

festivals, nightclubs, local parties and weddings, lessness as they confront a number of social,

recordings, and international tours. economic, political, and racial issues facing the

At present, the spirit and sound of New previously majority African American city.

Orleans music, in all of its forms, are heard and The neighborhoods that produced genera-

felt around the globe. Even today's urban hip tions of musicians, social clubs, Mardi Gras

hop has given birth to a local rhythmic version Indians, and eccentric characters that gave

90 BEEN IN THE STORM SO LONG ^^'H

Even months after New Orleans its identity die devastated, their The fate of New Orleans's musical tradi- Hurricane Katnna. populations displaced, dispersed, and focused tions and cultural heritage is in serious jeop- uncollected debris now on basic survival, not celebration. Many ardy. Some residents have indeed returned; is an all-too-familiar sight. Photo by disaster is yet over, as others are making plans to do so; many others realize that the not Steven Cummings. they struggle with a difficult and confusing remain undecided; and some have permanently Smithsonian Institution process of rebuilding. Though there have been relocated. While some predict the demise of

a few jazz funerals and social club parades in century-old cultural traditions, others believe recent months, many neighborhood streets that tragedy will inspire musical creativity or that once bounced with the "second lines" lead the New Orleans sound farther, influencmg

are now uncharacteristically quiet and still. other styles wherever displaced musicians reside. In the predominantly Black yth Ward, the In New Orleans questions remain whether

lonely tattered remains of a once majestic the tourist industry, large conventions, night-

Mardi Gras Indian suit are seen nailed to the clubs, and other musical employment venues

outside of a house: the lifeless carcass of a will return. Mardi Gras, the French Quarter

once vibrant existence, but one implying a Festival, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage

defiant vow to return. Festival were held this past spring and were well

Since the media storm that brought the late attended: a promising sign. of Gull Coast victims ot Hurricane Katnna As the vulnerable city struggles for recovery

into the consciousness ot the world, there has and identit)' at the beginning of another poten-

been renewed interest in New Orleans culture. tially brutal hurricane season, only time wiU tell

Many musicians have been the locus of relief if when, and how much of the magic city wiU

organizations and assistance. Some have been return. Now is a good time to reflect upon and

performing steadily around the world. Several savor the unique sound, spint, and euphoria that musicians have relocated for the long term, New Orleans's musical traditions have shared

citing better conditions and pay in other cities. with the nation and the world for generations.

SPECIAL EVENING CONCERT SERIES 91 'So Much of My Life, Well, Drowned"

Edna Gundersen

While Katrina's rage and receding floodwaters left heartbreak in every

ruined home, New Orleans' music culture was hit especially hard.

Performers fled and have been slow to return. Trampled neighborhoods

that normally vibrate with brass bands and jazz ensembles are ghost

towns, unplugging crucial incubators.

Many of the city's most respected musicians suffered severe blows

and vet remain committed to the jazz culture that defines their lives

and New Orleans' character. Michael White, clarinetist, composer and

historian, lost his home and a priceless 30-year collection of music

and artifacts. White's spacious Gentilly house, bordering the breached

London Canal, had been a shrine to music, each room storing vast trea-

sures in custom-built cases. Now it's a lethal labyrinth of rust, decay and rotting documents. White enters gingerly.

"It's still hard to be here," he says. "Don't touch anything. It's been

bleached and aired out, but everything's to,\ic. It sat in nine feet of water

for three weeks. Mold and mildew took care of the rest."

White, 51, lost a huge collection of jazz and African-American archives,

CDs, vinyl albums and 45s, books, artifacts and paintings. A professor of

Afi-ican-American music at Xavier Universit\', he used the materials in classes.

He's particularly distressed by the loss of detailed interviews with

now-dead musicians who knew Louis Armstrong and of rare sheet

music—original scores, brass-band dirges, pieces by Jelly Roll Morton and loe "King" Oliver. "They're irreplaceable, and they just disappeared

into that," White says, pointing to slabs of muck at his feet. "There

were so many chemicals in the water."

Surveying the chaotic debris in his office, he notices a crumpled stack

of treasured biographies. "I see a new layer of black stuff has grown on

these," he says flatly, standing near file cabinets that are rusted shut. "Oh,

" and I see copies of my dissertation!

His books, the envy of New Orleans libraries, included autographed

and out-of-print volumes on Louisiana music and culture. African masks

and instruments are gone, plus 50 vintage clarinets, including those owned by Paul Barnes and Raymond Burke. He had Jabbo Smith's trumpet

mouthpiece and a clarinet mouthpiece used by hero Sidney Bechet. "I

scoured this place a thousand times for that one," White says.

White played as a teen in Doc Paulin's Brass Band, and later, through

faiTicd trumpeter Kid Sheik, he enjoyed a long association with dozens of

jazz elders born between the late 1890s and 1910. He played in the Fairview Baptist Church Band, established by banjo/guitar icon Danny Barker,

and formed the Original Liberty Jazz Band in 1981. Today he carries the

traditional jazz torch with them, and in the Michael White Quartet.

92 you "When I played with those older people, And the prognosis here is not good when global warming and I collected things they discarded," he says. consider coastal erosion,

is shot. I hear "Drumsticks, bass strings. I had thousands ot the fact that the levee system photos." Ruined pictures of bandleader Kid people say, 'It's over, move on.' We'd love to Thomas and White meeting Wynton Marsalis fori!;et it. but it's ongoing. We're in limbo." in 1985 are fused to the wall. His brass band hat lies warped on a table. On the drive away, he points out St. Raymond Church on Paris Avenue, site of numerous jazz funerals. Across the Industrial Canal into the Ninth Ward, White recognizes landmarks of his youth. His parents' home on

Lizardi is abandoned. He was given his first clarinet, a toy, at St. David Catholic Church, now shuttered, along with St. David School, where he attended with Fats Domino's kids. On Caffin Street, Domino's canary-yellow

house, like most others, is vacant.

"I view the city as Mardi Gras," White says.

"There's reality and a masked reality. A lot

looks functional, like Jazz Fest and the French

Quarter. And then there's this. Musicians are

gone, and that's a real threat. It's hell trying to

book jobs. If we lose the Ninth, we risk losing

the heart and soul of the culture. "We have one of the most important

cultures in this country. We lost a lot from

neglect, but there's still so much that s unique. The spirit of the city comes from

not just musicians and (Mardi Gras) Indians, but the eccentric characters. Jazz reflects a

way of life that's improvisational." future. White isn't Jazz clarinetist and White has been forced to improvise, Though unsure of his music professor paralyzed. He says: "Tragedy can be good bouncing between here and his apartment Michael Wliite lost

for art. I've been writing songs and practicing liis huge collection in Houston, where he moved his 83-year-old of recordings, sheet I'm told my playing is more passionate. "I have a trailer on campus more. mother. FEMA music, books and in- I feel a renewed sense of urgency about music. about as big as one of my bathrooms," he says. struments at his home in the Gentilly section. I realize it's the most valuable thing I have." "I have no sense of home, and 1 don't know Photo by H. Darr Beiser.

how I could have any sense of my life anv-where USA TODAY,

a division of Gannett Co., Inc. else. My life is all about New Orleans music From USATODA^',

and culture. So much of mv life, well, drowned. Reprinted with Permission.

SPECIAL EVENING CONCERT SERIES 93 and His Crooked Road

RALPH RINZLER MEMORIAL CONCERT

Richard Kennedy

It wasn't any surprise to me when I heard Joe grew up around banjos and Jack tales

that Joe Wilson had recently been walking in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. But he

down a Crooked Road. As far as I could tell wanted to get out for a while, and after high he had been walking on crooked roads most school traveled north to New York and back

of his life. Glad to know they've got a name south to Alabama where he witnessed the early

now for that path he's happily been traveling stages ot the civil rights movement. He sharp-

on these past 68 years. ened his wits and his pen reporting for civil

In 1981 I applied to work tor the National rights publications on what he saw. His knack Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA), with words landed him on Madison Avenue

and my job interview consisted primarily in public relations, and it's a skill he's earned

of helping to buy costumes for immigrant with him wherever he goes. Maybe it was those

Cambodian dancers newly arrived from Jack tales and those long evenings in the moun-

refugee camps in Thailand. I guess I picked tains when there was still time for stories, tall

the right shade of gold because the following or otherwise, but Joe has put his own twist

week I started working in a cramped little on words, and anyone who has met him will

office off Dupont Circle with Joe, NCTA's remember some pithy, almost inappropriate

director and the first signpost I met on my phrase that sums up the situation perfectly. In

own crooked path through American tolklife. Joe's world people don't avoid talking about the

What a place to start! "elephant in the room," it's always the "turd

I'm a fourth-generation Californian in the punchbowl." And of course he's usually

whose eyes have always looked westward right. But Madison Avenue wasn't home.

to Asia, so Appalachian flat tooting, Cajun 1976 was an extraordinary year for govern-

boudin, and Piedmont blues were all new to ment recognition ot tolklife in the nation's

me. You can't imagine a better guru ot these capital. The American Folklife Center was

exotic traditions from the other East. Joe is established at the Library of Congress, the

steeped in the center ot it—his tamily was Smithsonian Folklife Festival burst across the settled tor many generations on the North National Mall to celebrate the country's bicen-

Carolina-Tennessee border in the heart of tennial over three long summer months, and Joe

Appalachia. But his early travels took him out Wilson lett New York and came to Washington

of the mountains, where he followed his own to direct the National Folk Festival Association

crooked road, crisscrossing the paths of so (soon to be transformed under Joe's leadership

many other travelers getting out and coming into the National Council for the Traditional

home throughout the 1960s and '70s. Arts, NCTA). The cultural explosions ot the

94 SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL 1960s were becoming institutionalized in the late promote 250 miles of highways and backroads through Southwestern Virginia '70s, and Joe's work, like that of Ralph Rinzler that meander Plateau to the coalfields at the Smithsonian, was a part of that process. from the Piedmont Ralph had been playing bluegrass music in of the Cumberland Mountains. Joe, writing in Crooked Road, tells us that the late '50s and early '60s and went looking the guide to The where America around the mountains of North Carolina and "Virginia is one of the places music is the old Tennessee for some of the sources of that invented its music This which have roots in high and lonesome sound. He came upon fiddle and banjo sounds Clarence "Tom" Ashley, a neighbor ot Joe's, Northern Europe, and asked him and his friend Doc Watson if West Africa and colo- they would perform m New York at the Friends nial America." And, of Old Time Music. Their success there led to he continues, this early performances at the Newport Folk Festival "music from and eventually the Smithsonian Festival of America, treasured by American Folklife. Through this connection musical families and small communities, Joe and Ralph talked on the phone and eventu- is keeping to small ally met in New York in the early '70s. But it instruction was only in 1976 when Joe came to revitalize places and to the hearth." the National Folk Festival that the connection close deepened. When the Smithsonian, in the wake The Crooked Road is careful of the massive Bicentennial Festival in 1976. got project a to share a late start organizing the 1977 Folklife Festival, attempt this regional music Ralph turned to Joe and NCTA to pull together

without destroying it. a program on Virginia—a topic we will revisit colleagues three decades later for the 2007 Festival. Joe and his The venerable "National" had many firsts in this effort are confident that the since its founding in 1933, and Joe drew on its is strong strengths. He returned its focus to traditional tradition performers and quality presenting. Since and its artists hearty. local parlance, 1976 the NCTA has organized the National In the crooked in eight cities and helped launch many local "taking Joe Wilson, Chairman playing an older fiddle tune, festivals. and his staff have orga- road" also means spin-off Joe of the National Council difficult for an ensemble to tackle because nized 25 national and seven international too tor the Traditional Arts, produced the National follow a single line and offers tours of traditional musicians. And the beat it doesn't always Folk Festival for almost a few too many unexpected twists. This sums goes on, which brings us to the present bend 30 years and is now a this individualistic region, its music, and driving force behind the in this crooked tale. Since retiring as e.xecutive up establishment of the of its sons, Joe Wilson. director of the NCTA, Joe has taken on the one Crooked Road Heritage

Trail. Photo by Crooked Road project. Music Rick Massumi. courtesy is Virginia's "The Crooked Road" National Council for the

is the Deputy Director the Heritage Music Trail, officially designated Richard Kennedy of Traditional Arts and Cultural Heritage. by the Virginia General Assembly in 2004 to Smithsonian Centerfor Folklife

RALPH RINZLER MEMORIAL CONCERT 95 staff

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION Margot Nassau, Royalties and Cultural Heritage Policy

Lawrence M. Small, Secretary Licensing Manager James Counts Early, Director

Sheila R Burke, Deputy Secretary John Smith, Saks and Marketing Specialist Cultural Research and Education and Chief Operating Officer Pete Reiniger, Sound Olivia Cadaval, Chair Production Supervisor CENTER FOR FOLKLIFE Thomas Vennum, Jr., Senior AND CULTURAL HERITAGE Ronnie Simpkins, Audio Ethnomusicologist Emeritus

Richard Kurin. Director Recording Specialist Betty J. Belanus, Olivia Cadaval, Richard Kennedy, Deputy Director Norman van der Sluys, Audio Nancy Groce, Marjorie Hunt,

Kevin Blackerby, Development Officer Engineer Specialist Diana Baird N'Diaye, Frank Financial Rebecca Smerling, Assistant to the Keisha Martin, Assistant Proschan, Peter Seitel (Emeritus), Helen Lindsay, Lead Customer Center Director /Special Events Cynthia Vidaurri, Curators, Folklorists, Ser\iice Representative &- Center for Folklife and Cultural Education Cultural Specialists Heritage Advisory Council Lee Michael Demsev, Customer John W. Franklin, Program Manager Kurt Dewhurst (co-chatr), Judy Mitoma Service Representative Robert Albro, Geri Benoit, Carla Luisa (co-chair), Michael Asch (ex-affcio), Angarita, Ryan Baker, Lauren Borden, Patrick Delatour, Roland

Michael Doucet, Anthony Gittens, Becker, Benjamin Bradlow, Jessica Freeman, Kip Lornell, Mara

John Herzog (ex-ojfuio), Debora Calvanico, Marina France, Susan Mayor, Joan Nathan, Sita Reddy, Kodish, Enrique Lamadrid, Frye, Laura Galeski, Leon Garcia, Sam-Ang Sam, Preston Scon,

Worth Long, Libby O'Connell, Charles Hunter, Joanne Jacobson, Cynthia Vidaurri, Patrick Vilaire, David Kantor, Neysa Kin^, Tom J. Scott Raecker, Robert Santelli Nilda X'illalta, Research Associates Klaassen, Melissa Marquardt, Administration Bernard L. Bakaye, Gary Burns, Chris Olm, Berenice Sanchez, Tes Barbara Strickland, Assistant Director, Julie Chenot, Chiara Bortolotto, Siominski, Melissa Segura, Matthew Finance and Administration Sharon C. Clarke, Trinidad StockwcU, Ben Townsend, Interns Gonzales, Marquinta Bell, Administrative Specialist Navina Jafa, Susan Keitumetse, Claudia Telliho, Administrative Specialist Smithsonian Global Sound Mary Kenny, Reina Ramona Dowdal, Judy Goodrich, Toby Dodds, Technology Manager Prado, Laurajane Smith, WUl Enid Hairston, Renny Smith, Amy Schriefer, Program Assistant Walker. Amy Winston, Fellows Judy Weincoop, Wunteers Cameron Adamez, Chris DeWitt, Cathenne Barnes, Tnna Bolfing,

Catherine Nagle, Intern H. Leonard Liaw, Interns Marisa Day, Sondra Dorsey, Kristina

Downs, Kirsten Forseth, h'elli Ichelle, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Smithsonian Folkways Advisory Council Anna Ippolito, Rachel Kolander, Daniel Sheehy, Curator and Director Michael Asch (chair), Patricia Shehan Beth Stein, Mike Sullivan, Interns Anthony Seeger, Curator and Campbell, Hal Cannon, Don Director, Emeritus SMITHSONIAN DeVito, Ella Jenkins, Anthony D. A. Sonneborn, Assistant Director FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL Seeger (ex-officio), Fred Silber Parker, Festival Director Betty Derbyshire, Financial Diana Kidd, Production Manager Operations Manager Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives Stephen and Collections Charles Media Specialist Richard Burgess, Director Weber, [cltre]' Place, Archivist Krystyn Confair, Art Director of Marketing and Sales Assistant Archivist Stephanie Smith, Hannah Smith, Assistant to Mark Gustafson, Marketing Specialist

David Abbott, Janme Awai, Jeremy the Festival Director Mary Monseur, Production Manager Foutz, Jane Fox, Leah Golubchick, Coker, Intern John Passmore, Manufacturing Melvina Lauren Grace, Jack Manischewitz, Coordinator Hannah Sacks, Brian Scott, Interns

STAFF 96 SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL Participant Support Design and Production Karen Andrews, Betrv Belanus, AJiza Schitf, Piirlnipant Coordinator Krystyn Confair, Art Director Kevin Blackerby, Allison Grace Dana Cattec-Glenn, juan Salazar, Joan Erdesky, Production Manager Brock, Robert Gordon Chelmick, Nancy Strickland, Participant Zaki Ghul, Graphic Designer Jim Deutsch, Hal Eagletail, John Assistants Anne-Marie Schocn, Sara Franklin, Ben Gadd, Cia Gadd, Chisato Fukuda, Randi Zung, Ticrce-Haz,ard, Design Interns Linda Go)'ette, Gail Hall, Doris Participant Interns Documentation Daley, Allison Mackenzie, Jim Sook-Yi Yong, Housing Coordinator Jeffrey Place, Audio McLenn.vi, Lynda McLennan, Caroline Dunn, Social Coordinator Documentation Coordinator Monica Miller, Melissa-Jo Moses, Jennifer Neely, Transportation Stephanie Smith, Photo Diana N'Diaye, Holger Peterson, Coordinator Documentation Coordinator Lionel Rault, Darcie Roux, Amy Kassia Randzio, Assistant Charlie Weber, Video Schrieler, Atesh Sonneborn, Transportation Coordinator Documentation Coordinator Luka Symons, Presenters Laura Wenrzel, Transportation Intern Claire Gilbert, Intern Smithsonian Project Office, Alberta Technical Support Community Development, Edmonton Education and Program Support Rob Schneider, Technical Director Al Chapman, Project Manager Ariene Reiniger, Intern Coordinator Anthony Milby, Associate Jayne Custance, Logistics Manager Jim Deutsch, Accessibility Coordinator Technical Director Robin Leicht, Marketplace Coordinator Eloise Stancioff Accessibility Intern Rebecca Berlin, Assistant to Carla Rugg, Participant Coordinator Candas Barnes, Jean Bergey, Martin the Technical Director Ross Bradley, Arts Consultant HiMga, JajTie Magncson-Tubergen, Charles Andrew Marcus, Electrician Lois Nickerson, Arts Branch Kimberly Underwood, Hank Ray Reed, Pipe Titter Tom Thurston, Royal Alberta Museum Young, Sign-Tanguagc Interpreters Robert Brox, Joshua Herndon, Becky Haberacker, Am\- Kehs, Alberta Leadership Committee Carpenters Public Affairs Doug Mitchell, Co-Chair and Norman Bullock, Andrew Derbyshire, Caroline Barker, Laura Whitaker, Regional Managing Partner, Borden Ralph Derbyshire, Terry Menieiield, Public Affairs Interns Ladner Cervais, Calgary Eric Nance, William Straub, Michelle DeCesare, Supply Coordinator Rick LeLacheur, Chief Operating Officer, Alaric Strickland, Rich Suchowski, Seth Tinkham, Supply Assistant Edmonton Eskimo Football Club, Edmonton Christian Sulliv,in, Exhibit Workers Carter Delloro, Supply Intern Dave Lanning, Trucking Alberta Steering Committee Judy Luis-Watson, Steve Fisher, Sound and Stage Super\usor Jeffrey Anderson, Director, Arts Branch, Volunteer Coordinator Nate Lannon, Sound Equipment Manager Alberta Community Development Jocelyn Frank, Assistant Jeanette Buck, David Clements, Rachel Tern-Lynn Bradford, Director, Special U)hinteer Coordinator Cross, Sissy Lang, Sarah Pilzer, Events, Smithsonian Project, Alherta Caroline Patten, Volunteer Intern Dawn Welsh, Stage Managers International and Intergovemtmntal Relations Diana Pilipenko, Site Intern Saul Broudy, Paul Cogan, Dennis Al Chapman, Special Projects Manager, Arts

Cook, Henry Cross, Licia Galinsky, Marketplace Branch, Alberta Community Development

Alison Goessling, Gregg L,amping, JoAnn Martini Tom, Creift Neelam Chawla, Associate Director, Sales Coordinator Dean Languell, Michael Smithsonian Project, Alberta International Amanda Shields Herrick, Intern Manoukian, Mike Monseur, and Intergovernmental ReLition Charlie PiLzer, Paul Watson, ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN Wayne Clifford, Assistant Deputy James Welsh, Sound Engineers Minister, Alberta International Nancy Groce, Program Curator and Intergovernmental Relations Festival Services Dorey Butter, Program Coordinator Drew Hutton, Director, Corporate Eddie Mendoza, Testival Beverly Sunons, Program Assistant Promotions, Smithsonian Project, Alherta Services Manager Talea Anderson, Kyla Coyle, Anoop International and Intergovernmental Relations Wendy Stmson, Financial Desai, Bnege Fitzpatrick, Margaret Bruce McGillivray, Director, Royal Alberta Admiinstration Assistant Hathaway, Kim Stryker, Kristiana Museum, Alberta Community Development James David, Food Saks Coordinator Willsey, Kathryn Zimmerman, Interns Susan Berry, Juliette Champagne, Steve Pritchard, Executive Director, Publications Brian Cherwick, Jim Deutsch, Smithsonian Project, Alherta International Frank Editor Proschan, Maurice Doll, Linda Goyette, and Intergovernmental Relations

Ariene Reiniger, Procifreader Gail Hall, Sylvia Larson, Tern Murray Smith, Minister-Counsellor Ileana C. Adam, Juan Salazar, Mason, Melissa Jo Moses, Jane (Alberta), Alberta Washington Office

Berenice Sanchez, Translators Ross, Linda Tzang, Researchers

SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVA 97 STAFF Tristan Sanregret, Dinrlor, Alberta-U.S. Jane Ross, Curator, Western Canadian Howard Bass, Betty Belanus, Salli

Relations, Alberta Washingtott Office History, Royal Alberta Museum Benedict, Barry Bergey, Peggy Hugh Tadman. Assistant Deputy Minister, John Short, Talk Show Host Brennan, Schroeder Cherry, C. Alberta Ccttwmnity Drxrlopnient and Sports Columnist Kurt Dewhurst, Am\' Echo-Hawk, Fred Stenson, Playwright-Historian Alberta at the Smithsonian Carol Edison, Rayna Green, Elaine Advisory Committee Denis Tardif, Director, Grinnell, Emil Her M.in)' Horses,

Giuseppe Albi, General Manager, Francophone Secretarial Marjorie Hunt, Sabra Kauka,

Edmonton Klondike Days Association Linda Tzang, Assistant Curator of Jared King, Keevin Lewis, Marsha

Lorna Arndt, Project Manager, Cultural Studies, Royal Alberta Museum MacDowell, Diana N'Diaye. Helen

Folkways Alive!, University of Alberta Ron Ulrich, Executive Director, Ma\Tior Scheirbeck, Pamela Woodis,

Tommy Banks, Senator and Musician The Cab Museum Laura Wong-Whitebear, Presenters

Susan Berry, Curator Ethnology, of Carriers of Culture: Kellogg Next Generation Royal Alberta Museum living native basket traditions Weavers and Cultural Heritage Fellows Program Garry Berteig, Visual Artist-Educator, C. Kurt Dcv\hurst. Marjonc Hunt, Marsha and C. Art Faculty, Keyano College Marsha MacDowell, Curators MacDowell Kurt Dewhurst, Directors Anne Brodie, Research ijf Development Arlene Reiniger, Program Coordinator Sara Greensfelder, Coordinator Coordinator, Contmuuig Education, Benr\- Belanus, Family Activities

Red Deer College Area Coordinator Rainy Blue Cloud Greensfelder, Assistant Coordinator Margaret Cardinal, Instructor, Aboriginal Mary Monseur, Marketplace Linda Martin, National Program, Northern Lakes College Native Basketry Consultant Museum the American Indian Daniel Cournoyer, President, Beth Donaldson, Marie Gile, of Program Coordinator Regroupement artistique francophone Je'Keia Murphy, Research Assistants David France, Alhin R. |oseph, de rAlberta (RAFA) Kari Brasselero, Mar\' Freeman, J. Veronica Passfield. Laura Barbara Dacks, Publisher, Mandy Lundstrom, Laetitia ReUa, Wong- Whitebear, Documentation Legacy Magazine Rebecca See, Sari Warren, Interns Malia Villegas, Evalualor Michael Dawe, Archivist, Brian Bibbv, Dawn Biddison,

Red Deer and District Museum Deborah Bo\-kin, Peggy Sanders National Museum of the American Indian Trevor Gladue. Provincial Vue-Presidcnt, Brennan, Tina Bucavalas, Vernon Chris Arnold, Howard Bass, Metis Nation of Alberta Association Chimegalrea. Sue Coleman, Marit Maggie Bertin, Vernon Jim Gurnen, Executive Director, Edmonton Dcwhurst, Beny DuPree, Carol Chimegalrea, Clare Cuddy, Mmnonite Centre for Newcomers Edison, Lynn Martin Graton, Sara Drapeau, Lorain Lounsbern,', Senior Curator, Greensfelder, Theresa Harlan, Suzi Amy Ehzabcth Duggal, Justin Estoque, Karen Fort, Linda Cultural History, Clenbow Museum Jones, Amy Kitchener. Jim Leary, Greatorex, Elizabeth Allison G. MacKenzie, Director, Da)Tia Bowker Lee, Elizabeth Hill, Jessica fohnson, Tim Johnson, Haves External Relations, University of Calgary Lee, Molly Lee, Richard March, Lavis, Keevin Lewis, Linda Tom McFall, Executive Director, Kathleen Mundell. Jennifer Martm, Alberta Craft Council Neptune, Laura Quackenbush, Kate Mitchell, Patricia Nietfeld,

Jill Norwood, Erik Peter North, Promoter, Karen Reed. Teri Rofkar. Elaine Satrum, Helen Ma\Tior Scheirbeck, Music Journalist, CKUA Thatcher, Theresa Secord, Malia Lou Stancari, W. Richard West, Terence Winch Andy Nueman, Assistant Director, Villegas, Lois Whitney, Rohm K. Jr., Collections and Preservation, Wright, Researchers and Consultants Michigan State University Museum

Royal Tyrell Museum Jennifer Bates, S.dli Benedict, Sally Juan Alvarez, Jilda Anthony, Michele

Michael Payne, Head Historical Black, Sheree Bonaparte, Peggy Beltran, Val Berryman, Beth

Researcher, Historic Sites Service Sanders Brennan, Sue Coleman, Donaldson, Francie Freese, David

Holger Petersen, President, Sue EUen Heme, Sara Greensfelder. Genord 11, Marie Gile, Lora Helou, Stony Plain Records Elaine Grinnell, Terrol Dew Johnson, Brian Kirschensteiner. Susan

Regula Qureshi, Director, Folkways Sabra Kauka, Glona Lomehaftewa, Applegate Krouse. Jane Lott,

Alive!, University of Alberta Fred Nahwooksy, Jennifer Neptune, Joanna Lankerd, Julie Levy-Weston,

Anne Ramsden, Curator, Musee Theresa Parker, Bernadine Phillips. Julia Meade, Kris Morrissey,

Heritage Museum and Archives Ten Rofkar. Robin McBride [e'Keia Murphy, Erin Sla\ter, Sol Rolingher. Lawyer and Arts Supporter Scott, Theresa Secord, Tatiana L\Tine Swanson. Sunn)' Wang, Robert Rosen, President, City Lumber Lomehaftewa Slock, Laura Wong- Pearl ^ee Wong, Mary Worrall

Whitebear. Curatorial Advisors

STAFF 98 SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL NUESTRA MUSICA: LATINO CHICAGO James Aiken, Associate Director Office of the Chief Fmancial Officer

Olivia Cadaval, Co-Ciiratcr for Operations Office of the Comptroller Juan Dies, Guest Curator John Franklin, Program Manager Office of Contracting Dan Sheehy, Co-Curator Debora Scriber-Millcr, Executive Travel Services Office

Nicole Macotsis, Program Assistatit Assistant to the Director Office of the Treasurer

Anijharad Ames, Jenniter Brandon, Tasha Coleman, Council Liaison Office of Risk Management

Kathenne Fairfield, Noelle E. Galos, April Holder, Management Office of Planning and Budgeting

William Glasspiegel, Elena Stewart, Support Assistant Office of Financial S\stems

Diana Trexler, Interns Michele Gates Moresi, Integration

Cristina Diaz-Carrera, Research Collections Specialist National Programs

Coordinator Jacquelyn Serwer, Supervisory The Smithsonian Associates Courtne\- Lutterman, Research Assistant Museum Curator Smithsonian Affiliations Smithsonian Institution Traveling ^blanda Androzzo, Rita Arias Jirasek, RALPH RINZLER MEMORIAL CONCERT Katherinnc Bardales, Nashma Exhibition Service Richard Kcnned\', Coordinator Carrera Massari, EvelvTi Delgado, Smithsonian Center for Education and SMITHSONIAN SUPPORT Juan Dies. Sue Eleuterio, LUia Museum Studies FOR THE FESTIVAL Fernandez, Lidia Huante Mendoza, Office of the Under Secretary for Art Office of the Secretary Melanie Maldonado, Christopher Freer Gallery of Art Oihcc of External Affairs Martin, Argelia Morales, Jose Office of Development Office of the Under Secretary Luis Ovalle, Lisa Rathje, Office of Sponsored Projects for Science Paul Tyler, Researchers International Relations Office of the Inspector General Office of Carlos Flores, Michael Orlove, Henry History Office of the General Counsel National Museum of Natural Roa, Silvia Rivera, David Roche, Smithsonian Business Ventures Encarnacion Teruel, Project Advisors Office of the Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer Smithsonian Magazine Nashma Carrera Massari, Sue Smithsonian Center for Eleuterio, EveKn Delgado, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Latino Initiatives Dies, Brandon Krcdell, Juan Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Interior Facilities Ent;incering and Operations Lowenstein, Arnold Jirasek, Jon Fran R Mainella, Director, Office of Engineering, Design, Lidia Huante Mendoza, Melanie and Construction National Park Service Maldonado, Christopher Martin, Murphy, Deputy Director, Office of Facilities Management Donald W. Argelia Morales, Maria Isabelle Horticulture and Transportation National Park Service Nieves, Lisa Rathje, Luis Solis, Regional Director, Office of Facilities Reliability Joseph M. Lawler, Alan Thatcher, Photographers Office of Facilities Planning National Park Service and Videographers and Resources Dwight E. Pettiford, Chief, Ileana C. Adam, Juan Salazar, Office of Architectural History United States Park Police Berenice Sanchez, Spanish-Language and Historic Preservation \''ikki Kevs, Superintendent, and Editors Translators Office of Project Management National Mall and Memorial Parks Androzzo, Kathennne Yolanda Office of Protection Services Rick MerrvTTian, Chief, Bardales, Carrera Massari, Nashma Office of Safet)' and Division of Park Programs Lisa Lidia Huante Mendoza, Environmental Management Leonard Lee, Permit Specialist, Rathje, Cynthia \'idaurri, Relations Office of Government Division of Park Programs Matthew Mulcahy, Presenters Office of Communications Karen CucuruUo, Special Assistant Office of Public Affairs Been in the Storm So Long for Partnerships, National Mall Michael White, Curator Visitor Information & and Memorial Parks Associates' Reception Center John Franklin, Liaison with NMAAHC Robert Karotko, Chief, Accessibility Program Chuck Siler, Presenter Division of Visitor Services, Resources Office of Human National Mall and Memorial Parks National Museum of African Office of Special Events and Protocol American History and Culture Sean Kennealy, Chief, Division Office of the Chief Information Officer Lonnie G. Bunch, Direclcr of Maintenance, National Mall Office of Imaging and Kmshasha Holman Conwill, Deputy and Memorial Parks Photographic Services Director Employees of the National Park Office of IT Operations Fleur Pavsour. Media Relations Service and the United States Office of System Modernization Park Police

SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL 99 STAFF Sponsors and Special Thanks

SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE George O. White State Forest The Fairmont Washington D.C., FESTIVAL SPONSORS Nursery, Missouri Department Nova Chemicals Corporation, and The Festival is supported by of Conservation; Gordon Biersch PetroCanada. Major in-kind assis- federally appropriated funds; Brewery Restaurant; Hard Rock tance was provided by Caterpillar Smithsonian trust funds; contribu- Cafe, Washington, DC; Krispy Incorporated, KitchenAid, tions from governments, businesses, Kreme; M.E. Swing Coffee Weatherford International Ltd.. foundations, and individuals; in- Roasters; Master Garden Products; and Whole Foods Market. kind assistance; and food, recording, Morning Sky Greenery; Motorcycle Collaborative support was provided and craft sales. General support Industry Council, Inc.; Nash Floor by Alberta Canola Producers for this year's programs includes Company Carpet One; National Commission, Australian Outback the Music Performance Fund, with Capital Flag Co., Inc; Nidec- Collection (Canada) Limited, and in-kind support for the Festival Shimpo America Corp.; Prairie City Lumber Corporation. provided through Motorola, Nursery; Potomac Horse Center; Cooperating Institutions Nextel, WAMU 88.5-FM, Propex Fabrics, Inc.; Quiznos Alberta Aboriginal Affairs and WashingtonPost.com, Whole Sub; Recycling Technologies Northern Development, Alberta Foods Market, Pegasus Radio International; REI; Rehabilitation Economic Development, Alberta Corp., and Icom America. Equipment Pros; Sandy and Stetson Education, Alberta Energy, Alberta The Folklore Society of Greater Tinkham; Select Event Rentals; Sustainable Resource Development, Washington has generously provided Shakespeare Theatre Costume Canadian Petroleum Interpretive hospitality for participants for many Shop; Strosniders Hardware Centre, Glenbow Museum, Oil years. The Festival is co-sponsored Stores; Tyson's Bagel Market; Sands Discovery Centre, Reynolds by the National Park Service. Vrrgmia Railing and Gates; Alberta Museum, Royal Alberta GENERAL FESTIVAL Wheaton Park Stables. Museum, Royal Architectural IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS Society of Canada, Royal Tyrrell ALBERTA AT A Good Yarn; AAA Tree Service; THE SMITHSONIAN Museum, University of Alberta, American Honda Motor Co., University of Calgary. Alberta at the Smithsonian is Inc.; The Angler's Inn; Carpet produced in partnership with the In-Kind and Collaborative Support America; The Catholic University Government of Alberta, with Barry Johns (^Architecture) of America; Chinatown Garden; Limited; the collaboration of the Alberta Bob Dale Gloves & Chipotle; Taryn Colberg; Costco Imports Ltd.; Bread Line; Bulwark Foundation for the Arts and Wholesale; Days End Farm Protective Apparel; Campbell & the Ministries of Community Horse Rescue; Roger and Clare Ferrara; Canadian Association of Development and International De Cesare; Duron Paints and Petroleum Producers: CFWE; and Intergovernmental Relations. Wallcoverings; Ella's Wood CKUA; CaterprUar Incorporated; Lead support was received from Fired Pizza; Exquisite Fabrics, Caterpillar dealers Finning Canada the Government of Alberta, the Inc.; Fado Irish Pub; Ferrara and Alban Machinery; Columbia City of Calgary, and the City of Rail Inc.; Conagra Nurseries, Inc.; Folger Theatre; Contractors Edmonton, with major support Foods, Inc.; Enform; Fairmont Banff from the Athabasca Regional Springs; Foothills Model Forest; Issues Working Group (RIWG), IBl Group Architects, Engineers; ConocoPhiUips, Enbridge KitchenAid; Manasc Isaac Architects; Corporation, EnCana Corporation, Medicine Hat Clay Industries and Suncor Energy Inc., and National Historic District; contributions from Alberta Beet Producers, Canadian Forces,

SPONSORS 100 SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL Meyer Seed Company of CARRIERS OF CULTURE: Drew Hart)-, Lisa Hershey, Heather LIVING NATIVE BASKET Baltimore, Inc.; Professional TRADITIONS Howard-Bobiwash, Meredith Skate Services/ProSkate; Royal Hubel, Margaret Hunt, Valorie J. This program is produced in Canadian Mounted Police; Ruppert Johnson, Willie Johnson, Jeanne collaboration with the National Nurseries; Suncor Energy Inc.; Johnson, Tina Johnston, R. Museum of the American Indian J. Syncrude Canada, Ltd.; Tantallon Joseph, Herb Kaneko, Chris Kauwe, and Michigan State University Farms; University of Alberta, Joyce LeCompte-Mastenbrook, Museum. Major support comes Ecology, Department of Human Vicki Ledford. Anne E. O'Malley, from the National Museum of Protective Clothing & Equipment Margaret S. Mathewson. Richard the American Indian, the W.K. Research Facility; Umversit)- of Meade, Nancy Nusz, Loretta the Institute Alberta, Folkways Alive!; Visionwall Kellogg Foundation, Oden, Anna Palomino, Lucy Parker, Corporation; Vulcan Materials; of Museum and Library Services, Rob Pennington. Betsy Peterson, Washington Capitals; Weatherlord the National Endowment for Tom Pich, Tristan Reader, Ginger International Ltd.; Western Archrib; the Arts, and the Smithsonian Ridgway, Patricia Rouen, John Whole Foods Market. Women's Committee on the Schweitzer. Liz Schweitzer, Wesley occasion of its 40th anniversary. Special Thanks Sen, Willie Smyth, Donna Stewart, Additional Funding Gary Aaron, Lorna Arndt, Louise Momi Thacker, Paul Wallace, Beauchamp, Sheryl Britt-Baker, Alaska State Council on the Arts, Cameron Wood. Don Brodie, Elaine Calder, Jayne the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Special Thanks (Organizations) Custance, Anne Delaney, Norwood Indians, Michigan State University Akwesasne Museum, Bishop Delker, Minister Dennis Ducharme. All-University Research Initiation Museum, California Indian Jim Dugan, Bobby Evans. Dave Grant. Michigan Council for Basketweavers Association, Great Faber, Rara Flynn, James Foote, the Arts and Cultural Affairs, Basin Native Basketweavers Ma.x Foran, Anna Gibbs, Cathy Onaway Trust, Hawai'i State Association, Great Lakes Glover, Carol Goodman, Lori Foundation on Culture and the Indian Basket and Boxmakers Grant, Jerry Hall. Louise Hayes. Arts, Fund for Folk Culture, Lila Association, Maine Indian David Hitesman, Gary Kachanoski, Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, Basketmakers Alliance, National Brian Kelly, Sehna Kilpatnck. and the Cherokee Nation. Children's Museum, Northwest Elanie Kotze, Tim Leer, Robin In-kind support Native American Basketweavers Leicht, Bonnie Lorenzen, Bert Alaska An. Utah Arts Council, the Association, Oklahoma Native MacKay, Gene Maeda, Vivian California Indian Basketweavers American Basketweavers Association, Manasc, Mayor Stephen and Ke Ola Association, Ho'oulu O Tohono O'odham Basketweavers Lynn Mandel, Minister Gary Pua, Ho'olawa Farms Inc., Na Organization, Qualla Arts and Mar. Ron Marsh, Roisin McCabe, Creek Nursery, Michigan Judd Crafts Mutual Inc., Traditional Arts Bruce Naylor, Peter North, State University Museum, Hyatt in Upstate New York, Smithsonian Faye Orr, Aniko Parnell, Wendc Kaua'i, Institute of Regency Institution Horticulture Services Pearson, Holger Petersen, Regula Indian Art Museum, American Division, Twin Rocks Trading Post, Qureshi. Betty Rice, Karl Rhodes, Nokomis American Learning Ulana Me Ka Lokomaikai Christina Rogers, Garth Ross, Center, Tohono Action O'odham and Ka Ulu Lauhala O Kona, Deborah Rothberg, Carla Rugg, Network, and the Heard Museum. U.S. Botanical Garden, USDA Risa Ryan, Ma.x Schartenberger, Special Thanks (Individuals) Forest Service, USDA Natural Marci Scharle, Marvin Schneider, Marcia Balleweg. Theresa Bell, Barry Resources Conservation Service, John Scott, Brian Shaw, Renny Bergey, Bruce Bernstein, Shannon Yosemite National Park. Smith, Michele Stanners, Janey Brawley, Carrie Brown, John Stachle, Rob Stevenson, Brad Browne, Jr., Vicki Browne, Schroeder Strombcrg, Laurie Stroope, Han Cherry, Varick Chittenden, Kathy Sues, Ronald Tremblay, Barbara Clewell, George Cornell, Greg Tuccling, KimVeness, Lauren Co.x, Alan Dorian. Bonnie Ekdahl, White, Peter Zakutansky. Debbie Fant, Johnny Faulkner. Charlotte Fox, Michael Hammond,

SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL 101 SPONSORS Wc would like Ic acknowledge all of Norm DeLorme, Daisy Dementiefh Gcraldme Kennedy, Robert Kentta,

the Native basket makers who have been Lina Demoski, Kilohana Domingo, Yvonne Walker Keshick, Jacob

recommended for the Carriers of Cidture: Lehua Domingo, fulie Donahoe, Keshick, Diana King, Dorleen G.

Living Native Basket Traditions project: Evelyn Douglas. Pauline Duncan, Lalo, Alfred "Bud" Lane III, Lorena Edna Duncan, Rebecca Eagle, Langley, Joey Lavadour, Marie Pam Adams, Emmaline Agpalo, Sandra Eagle, Carol Emarthle- Laws, Delia Lazore, Vicky Lazore, Linda Aguilar, Francine Alex, Douglas, Elaine Emerson, Lucille Lazore, Candy Lazore, Dixie Alexander, Gunter Anderson, Velva Emmers, Clyde Estey, Joe Delia Lazore, Robin Lazore, Kevin Hali'imaile Andrade, Annie Antone, Feddersen, Sugie Fisher, Rose "Sturge" Lazore, Helen Lazore, E. Kawai Aona-Ueoka, Jennifer Fisher-Blasingame, Maggie Flynn, Elizabeth Maluihi Lee, Henrietta Bates, Marjorie Battise, Joann Theresa Frank, Rose Frank, Lewis, Maria Lincoln, Mary Jane Baylock, Lois Beardslee, Florence Frances Frey, Jeremy Frey, Litchard, Lauren Little Wolf, K. Benedict, Salli Benedict, Mae Emmeline Garrett, DoUy Garza, Joseph Lopez, Lucille Lossiah, Bigtree, Charles Bigwitch, Kayla Jennie Genevieve, Karen George, Margaret Lovett, Jane Luster, Albert Black, Lorraine Black, Mary Zula Gibson, Esbie Gibson, Malakaua, Wilimina Malakaua, Holiday Black, Peggy Black, Sally LaVerne Glaze, Ronni Leigh Shirley Kenoe Manicas, Sadie Black, Sonja Black, Elsie Holiday Goeman, Stonehorse Goeman, Marks, Marques Hanalei Marzan, Black, Bertha Blackdeer, Lila Louise Goings, Pat Courtney Jerry Maulson, Paula McCarthy, Greengrass Blackdeer, Rita Pitka Gold, Ulysses "Uly" Goode, Deborah McConnell, Irene Blumenstein, Sheldon Bogenrife, Gladys Grace, Agnes Gray, Elena McDonald (deceased), Caterina Loren Bommelyn, Eva Boyd, Greendeer, Elaine Grinnell, Julia McLester, Theresa Mendoza, Elizabeth Brady, Leah Brady, Peggy Grinnell, Khia Grinnell, Noelani Marlene Montgomery, Joanne Brennan, David Bridges, Melissa Guierra-Ng, Nancy Hall, Eldon Moore, Kuuipo "Josie" Morales, Darden Brown, Ganessa Bryant, Deh Hanning, Ernestine Hanolin, Michael Naho'opi'i, Alicia Nelson, Butterfield, Valerie Calac, Dorothy Margaret Hart. Judy Hemlock-Cole. Donald Neptune, Jennifer Neptune, Chapman, Leona Chepo, Lois Evalena Henry, Hazel Hindsley, Mary Neptune, George Neptune, Chichinoff, Eleanor Chickaway, Patrick Horimoto. Edna Hostler, Peter Neptune, Philip Ng, Hilda Ruby Chimenca, Kelly Church, Nettie lackson. Linda Cecilia Nickey, Earl Nyholm, Christine Delores Churchill, Holly Churchill, Jackson. Esther Jaimes, Bill James, Okerlund, Rosalie Paniyak, Ron Katherine Cleveland, Ruth Cloud, Fran James, Cecilia Jock, Denise Paqum, June Simeonoff Pardue, Charlotte Coats, Bryan Colegrove, Jock, Joann Johnson, Terrol Dew Peter Park, June Parker, Theresa Sue Coleman, Tom Colvin, Lois Johnson, Althena Johnston. Ursula Parker, Lucy Parker, Julia Parker, Conner, Chester Cowan, Anna Jones, Judy Jordan, Dorothy Savage Molly Neptune Parker, Cherish Crampton, Francis Cree, Rose Cree Joseph, Duncan Ka'ohu, Evangeline Parrish, Ennis Peck, Bernadine (deceased), Janet Criswell. Barry Kaeo. Janice Leina'ala Lua Kai. Phillips. Craig Phillips, Victoria Dana, Kamaile Danuser, John Gwen Kamisugi, Edwin Kaneko, Phillips. John Pigeon, Johnny Darden, Scarlett Darden, Lenora Cynthia Kannan, Tera Kannan, Pigeon, Katherme Pigeon. David, Debbie David, Belle Deacon, Shirley Kauhaihao, Sabra Kauka, Agnes Baker Pilgrim, Harold Edna Deacon, Elizabeth Deere, Sharon Kay, Clara Neptune Keezer, "Jimmi" Plaster, Lisa Plaster, L^iane DeFoe, Bernadme DeLormc, Richard Keller, Kathryn Kelley,

SPONSORS 102 SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL NUESTRA MUSICA: Jose Luis Ovalle. Amparo Gonzalez, Ruby Pomona, Joyce Poncho, LATINO CHICAGO Laura Pantoja, Edith Pauley, Laura Leona Pooyouma, Kevin Pouner, Latino Chicago is part of the Perea, Luis Perea, Victor Pichardo, Mahina Pukahi, Sheila Ransom, multi-year Nuestra Musica: Gamaliel Ramirez, Dolores Reyes, Gloria Raymond, Wilverna Reece, Music in Latino Culture project Silvia Rivera, Henry Roa, Juanita Karen Reed, Erin Rofkar, Teri produced in partnership with Roa, Elisamuel Rodriguez, Evaristo Rofkar. Max (Sanipass) Romero, the Old Town School of Folk "Tito" Rodriguez, Mirely Rodriguez, Martha Ross, Mamie Ryan, Mike Music in Chicago, in collabora- Michael Rodriguez Muntz, Myrna Sagataw, Eva Salazar, Abe Sanchez, tion with the Cultural Institute Rodriguez, Simplicio Roman, Donald Sanipass, Donna Sanipass, of Mexico and supported by the Cova Paz Romanoff Judith Ruiz, Marv Sanipass. Emeline Scott, Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Nilda Ruiz Pauley, Maria Salas, DeLavon Lyford Scott, Robin Fund and the Music Performance Tanya S. Saracho Armenta, Abel McBride Scott, Theresa Secord, Fund. The Smithsonian Institution Sauceda, Pablo Serrano, Eduardo de Wesley Sen, Patricia Shacklcton, thanks the Illinois Arts Council, Soignie, Nelson Sosa, Madrid St. Caron Shay. Stephen Brianna Shay, Steward, Anabel Tapia, a state agency, lor supporting Angelo, Bob Simeonoff, Arlene Shay, Mary Topper, Jorge the participation of .AtriCanbe, Elizabeth Tapia, Jaime Skinner, Mary Smith, Elaine Rosario Vargas, Carlos Mejia, Gustavo Lopez, Valdivia, Jorge Varela, Smokey, Hannah Snyder, Vivian Andres Vega, The Mexican Folkloric Dance Johanny Vazquez, Ivan Snyder, Sara Sockbeson, \'iolct Company of Chicago, Nelson Arturo Velasquez. Gabriel Villa. Soileil, Correne Soldier, Harriet Sosa, Nahui Ollin/Tarima Son, Special Thanks Soong, L\'nda Squally, Berdie and Sones de Mexico Ensemble. Sandra Figueroa Bast. Uvall Steve. April Stone Dahl. Doris Transit Authority, Interviewees Begany. Chicago Sylestine. LucyTeesateskie, Lisa Carmen Montserrat Alsina, Robin "The Dream Town Realtors, Telford. CarlyTex, LoisThadei, Hernandez, Alma, Sr., Los Cocineros Glikberg, Eliud Agnes Thompson, Norma C.R.I.B." Unidos de Humboldt Park, Jose Sydney Hutchinson, Illinois Arts Thompson, Julia Thompson. Mona Alverio Sanchez, Sijisfredo Council. Institute for Puerto Thompson, Velma Thompson. Alfonso Aviles, Charlie Barbera, Leo Rican Arts and Culture, Cesar Mary Thunder, Stuart Tomah, Fred Barragan, Anibal Bellido, Maria Mejia, Mercedes Mejia, Mexican Tomah, Gail Tremblay. Jeannette del Carmen, Dora Casas, Marisa Fine Arts Center and Museum, Trumbly, Kathy VanBuskirk, Perry Cordeiro, Thomas "P.R.ism Puerto Radio Arte, Wes Ruggles, Ronald VanBuskirk, Gloria Visintin, Kathy Ricanism" Cubas, Roberto Defreitas, Sardena, Carlos Tortclero. Wallace, Louise Wallace, Cambria Seth de Avila, Eleazar Delgado, Whipple, Karen Whipple, Josie BEEN IN THE STORM Hector Duarte, Melinda C Evelyn. White, Violet WhiteWing, Medina SO LONG \'alentino Evelyn, Roberto Johnny is produced in collab- Wildcat, Gloria Wilkinson, Diane This program Irekani Ferreyra, Hector Ferreyra, with the National Museum Willard, Mich.icl Williams, Rhonda oration Gonzalez. Juan Garcia. Solera American History and Wilson. Myma Wilson, Arrow- of African Guerrero. Hugo Gutierrez. Jose Established by Congress in Wilson, Lillian Wiser, Laura Culture. Jose Gutierrez, Mercedes Gomez, Wong-Whitebear, Linda Yamane. 200?, the new museum is devoted Gre^orio Gomez. Pedro Gomez to the documentation of African Ibarra. Sotera Gonzalez, Ken Green, American life, ,irt, history, and Al Harris, David Hernandez, Batia culture. The museum's collections Hernandez, Hector R. Hern.indez, will cover topics as varied as slavery, M,atea Hernandez, Rodolfo post-Civil War Reconstruction, Hernandez, Salvador Hernandez, the Harlem Renaiss,mce, and the Beatriz Huerta, Rogelio Linares, civil rights movement. Additional Ramon Lopez, Jose Luis Lopez funding has been provided by Santana, Martin "DJ Boogieman" the Smithsonian Institution Luna Rivera, Daniel "Outbreak" Traveling Exhibition Service. Martinez, Danica Matos, Matiana Medrano Ovalle. Carmen Antonia Special Thanks Mejia, Carlos Mejia, Juan C. Mejia. H. Darr Beiser, Steven Cummings,

Javier "Dedos de Oro" Mendez, Edna Gundersen. David Moreno, Sergio Moyora, Luis Olivares, Raquel Ontiveros,

SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL 103 SPONSORS Festival Participants

Alberta at the Smithsonian

Agriculture and Ranching numerous awards on the circuit, Don Wudel, Meetino Creek, Alberta including the Chuckwagon Colleen and Dylan Bi^s, 1995 Don Wudel IS a pasture roping Person of the Year and the Hanna, Alberta instructor who teaches working 2005 George Normand Lifetime Colleen and Dylan Biggs started cowboys the art of roping cattle Builders Award. He is now a full- that need to be "doctored." Don TK Ranch in 1995, raising beet time small animal veterinarian. is also a rancher naturally from humanely treated whose ranch is often praised by experts as a model animals. Dylan has traveled across Dale RuUell, of rotational grazing. North America teachmg low-stress He owns East St. Paul, Manitoba Caledon Leather in Calgary, and handling practices, Colleen is and Dale Riddell was raised on a farm is an expert an educator teaching marketing in leather and rav\hide for in Ontario and educated at the farmers. Today, braiding. A renowned cowboy poet, three generations of University of Calgary. He spent Don has been featured at every the Biggs family live and work on nearly p years as senior manager at major gathering of cowboy poets the ranch. In 2000, both Colleen the Alberta Wheat Pool; has repre- in Western Canada. and Dylan received the Growing sented the grain industry on boards, Alberta Architecture Environmental Stewardship industry reviews, and foreign and Urban Planning Award. They are joined at the missions; and was involved in the Festival by their daughters Hannah, 4-H program at the provincial and Fran Firman, Edmonton, Alberta Julia, Jocelyn, and Maria. national board level. Dale currently Fran Firman was born in Barbados www.tkranch.com manages his own consulting and moved to England before

company focused on agriculture coming to Canada in Terri Mason, Eekville, Alberta and 1979. She is a director of the Grain Academy. works for the Edmonton office Tern Mason is a cowbov poet, of an international former horse logger, walking plow architectural Hehnuth Scbroeder, Calgary, Alberta and engineering firm where she champion, and editor of Canadian Born and raised on a grain and live- assists the firm's management and Cowboy Country magazine. As a stock farm in eastern Saskatchewan, production team in preparing poet, she has been featured at Helmuth Schroeder left the farm various documentation that includes every major gathering in Western to attend college in Edmonton and technical specifications, contract Canada, was the first Canadian began a 35-year career in the gram documents, and proposals for a female poet featured at Elko, industry with Alberta Wheat Pool. variety of projects. Nevada (home of the National During this time, he worked as an Cowboy Poetry gathering), and operator-manager of a country Nicole Howard, Edmonton, Alberta was the first Canadian featured grain elevator, a territory manager, A registered architect in the prov- at Gene Autry's Melody Ranch. and an education coordinator, living ince of Alberta, Nicole has a Master

and/or working in almost every of Architecture degree from the Doyle Mullamy, Okotoks, Alberta grain growing area of the province. University of Calgary and a Bachelor Dr. Doyle Mullaney has been When the hours of retirement of Fine Arts (Sculpture) degree fi-om driving chuckwagons for over became too long, he took on a the University of British Columbia. 40 years. Newly retired from part-time role with the Grain Having worked with several firms the sport, he spent many of Academy as curator-manager. since graduation, she has had the those years competing on the opportunity to work on a variety World Professional Chuckwagon of projects from hospitals to houses. Association (WPCA) tour, twice

competing in the championship final heat. "Doc" received

PARTICIPANTS 104 SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL Shajraaz Kaha, Edtnoiiton, Alberta and an Engineer Squadron Opera- a former business owner, and

Shafraaz Kaba is a practicing archi- tions Officer. During his time in feature columnist for the Medicine tect with Manasc Isaac Architects in Alberta, James has participated Hal News and Expression Magazine. Edmonton, a firm that specializes in numerous training exercises at Seott Hardy, Longview, Alberta in ecologically-aware architecture. Canadian Forces Base Wainwright. Although Scott Hardy was born Shafraaz is also a fiaundmg member Darryl Parenteau, into a five -generation family of of the Media Art Design Exposed Edmonton, Alberta ranchers, he chose to devote himself in Edmonton Society (MADE Sergeant Parenteau has been a to another aspect of Canadian m Edmonton) that creates public member of the Canadian Armed cowboy culture—working with programs to bring design, art, and Forces for the past i8 years. He has silver. He lives in the heart of the architecture to the public. He writes served in Cold Lake, Alberta on the southern Alberta foothills with his a design column lor the Edinoiilon Primrose Lake Evaluation Range, wife, two children, and a herd of Journal, and contributes regularly and m Edmonton with 1 Combat longhorns. As one of the premier to several architecture magazines. Engineer Regiment, where he is artists in his field, Scott creates

Samuel Obcb, Edmonton, Alberta currently employed. He has been exquisite silver belt buckles and

Samuel Oboh is a registered archi- deployed on military operations in saddle pieces, as well as jewelry tect in Alberta and South Africa, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. and other personal items. He has havmg worked on many projects Darryl has also participated in received numerous awards for his in both regions. He completed his numerous domestic operations such work, which is sought by collectors training and education in Africa, as the ice storms in Quebec and the throughout the world. where he developed a love lor forest fires of British Columbia. www.scotthardy.com architecture, sustainable design, and Crafts Basil Leismeister, the environment. He is committed Marparct Cardinal, Medicine Hat, Alberta to providing innovative sustainable Grouard, Basil Leismeister worked at Medalta design solutions. Alberta Margaret Cardinal grew up on Potteries and Hycroft China. Cold Weather Adaptation a reserve learning traditional Although officially retired, he has been working as the Resident Justin Craw, Edtnonton, Alberta Woodland Cree arts such as Jiggerman at the Historic Clay Corporal Graw left a small family embroidery, doll making, teepee District, producing classic crocks grain and cattle farm in the prairies making, and quill and bead- and bowls using traditional jiggering and joined the Canadian Forces work from family members. She techniques. Admired by modern five years ago. During this time he teaches a variety of crafts as an ceramic artists, he is a consumm.ate has been a member ol I Combat instructor of Native Cultural Arts storyteller of the days when pottery Engineer Regiment m Edmonton. at the Northern Lakes College in was the dominant industry in He has been called upon to fight Grouard, but specializes in teepee Medicine Hat. forest fires and provide securit)' lor making and crafting dolls using the G8 summit held in Kananaskis, natural materials such as smoked D.C. Lund, Taber, Alberta Alberta. Justin was also deployed deer hide, sheep wool, and porcu- DC. Lund IS a cattle rancher, to Bosnia and Afghanistan. He pine quills. She is also an instructor large-animal veterinarian, and recently completed a military junior of cultural history and an expert on champion steer wrestler from leadership course where he placed the importance of traditional crafts. southern Alberta. His father was first overall. Barry Finkelman, also a champion steer rider, and

his wife is lames MaeCreocr. Edmonton, Alberta Medieine Hat, Alberta a champion barrel racer. However, what brings Captain MacGregor has been a Barry Finkelman is General member of the Canadian Armed Manager of the Historic Clay him to the 2006 Festival is his role as an Forces for almost four years. His District at Medicine Hat. He has acclaimed Albertan

painter. D.C. is well first post after completing officer a comprehensive knowledge of the traveled in Canada and beyond (including training was to I Combat Engineer development of the industry in the Arctic), and his watercolors Regiment in Edmonton. While at Medicine Hat and the successful the Regiment he has been employed efforts to preserve the historic reflect his experiences. D.C. joins his son Lund, a as the Regimental Training Officer sites. Barry is an adult educator, Corb well-know musician, at this year's Festival.

ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIA 105 PARTICIPANTS J

Les Manning, Medicine Hat, Alberta her favorite crafts are hide tanning, Energy

Les Manning is currently the porcupine quill work, and moose Vern Blum, Turner Valley, Alberta, artistic director ot the Medalta hair embroidery. Melissa is joined and Duncan, British Columbia International Artists in Residence at the Festival by her husband, Ben. Vern was born and raised in the Program. For over thirtv' years Eli Snow, Morley, Alberta Turner Valley oilfields of Alberta. he has been producing ceramic Although he is only 20 years old. At 17, he started drilling m the works that have been exhibited Ell Snow IS extremely talented western provinces and went on to and collected m Asia, Europe, at beading. He was raised on the work m oil production, pipelining, Egypt, the United States, New Stoney Reserve as a member of the and service industries. He recently Zealand, and Australia. Les also Nakoda First Nation. He is also retired to Vancouver Island, British conducts workshops and finds time active in traditional dance, and often Columbia where he builds model in his schedule for curatorial, jury, researches and makes traditional oil rigs, several of which are on consulting, and design work. Sioux designs for dance regalia. Eli display at the Canadian Petroleum Laura McLaughlin, also does porcupine quill wrappings Interpretive Centre in Devon, Edmonton, Alberta and makes medicine wheels and pipe Alberta. His finely crafted models

Laura McLaughlin was born and bags. He IS joined at the Festival by trace the history and development

raised in Prairie Echo, northern his aunt. Teresa Snow. of oil drilling equipment over the Alberta, and began sewing by hand past hundred years. Teresa Snow, Morley, Alberta with her grandmother when she was Teresa Snow, a member of the Hugh Campbell, four years old. She later decided to Nakoda First Nation, began her Fort McMurray, Alberta make sewing a full-time job so that career by making her own fancy Hugh IS the Environment, Health, she could stay at home with her shawl dance regalia for powwows. and Safety Manager for Suncor's children. Her home-based business She was soon being commissioned Firebag Oil Sands In-Situ Project. specializes in traditional Native and to create outfits tor other dancers. Hugh's primary role is to develop contemporary Metis clothing, ohcn She is well-known for her shawls and promote systems to protect the incorporating the Metis sash. and now creates her own contempo- well-being of workers and the envi-

Ben Moses, Edmonton, Alberta rary designs reflecting her cultural ronment. He has worked in both Ben Moses was raised on the background. Teresa has made fields for more than 20 years. Saddle Lake Cree Reserve and several dancing outfits for a world Dan Claypool, Devon, Alberta now lives in Edmonton. He has a champion hoop dancer, and recently Dan Claypool came to the central Master in Education Policy Studies started her own clothing line. Alberta town of Leduc in 1947, degree and works for the Native Chuck Storines, Millarville, Alberta shortly after the first huge oil strike, Friendship Centres Association Chuck Stormes, a world-renowned and has been involved ever since of Alberta. His free time is spent saddlemaker, lives ne.\t to his shop with the growth and development researching the material culture at the edge of the foothills of of Alberta's oil industry. In 1997, of the traditional Plains Cree southern Alberta. After training Dan Claypool and some of his and making rawhide objects and in the last of Calgary's pioneer oil field colleagues founded the relief carvings. Ben is joined at the saddleries. Chuck opened his own Canadian Petroleum Interpretive Festival by his wife. Melissa. saddle shop nearly 40 years ago, Centre to preserve the artifacts and Melissa Moses, Edmonton, Alberta and has been producing unique history associated with Canada's

Melissa Moses is a Northern Cree- saddles with painstaking craftsman- early oil industry. Now retired, Metts craftswoman who grew up ship for both working cowpunchers he serves as the treasurer of the

in Cold Lake, Alberta. Melissa and private collections ever since. Leduc/Devon Oilfield Historical

has taught at various colleges and His deep knowledge of and respect Society, which operates the

currently works in the Royal Alberta for western traditions and the Interpretive Centre.

Museum's Discovery Room. She is history of the craft have made

well-known for her beadwork, and him a popular lecturer in Canada

and the United States. www.chuckstormes.com

PARTICIPANTS 106 ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAI Nancy Dodsworth, Bill McDougall, currently heads her own company. Fort McMurray, Alberta Fort McMurray, Alberta Seasoned Solutions, which conducts

Nancy Dodsworth is the Education Bill McDougall has resided in Fort a cooking school and culinary tours.

Officer at the Oil Sands Discovery McMurray since 1975, working Gail also works with the hospitality

Centre in Fort McMurray. She has in the support industry to the oil and food service industry as a sands for of those consultant and speaker. held the position for 14 years and most 30 years. is responsible for the planning, Bill is a lead hand journeyman Elsie Kawtilych, Vegreville, Alberta development, and evaluation of heavy duty mechanic employed As a prominent representative of resource education programs, which with Finning, the Caterpillar Ukrainian culture in Alberta, Elsie equipment dealer for western introduce students of all ages to the Kawulych is much more than a Canada, and is directly involved science and history of the oil sands. cook. She was President of the in the maintenance of the largest She is also an organizing member Ukrainian Village, Vegreville s "Operation mining haul truck in the world, the of Minerva," which Volunteer of the Year in 2002, Caterpillar 797. For the past three promotes science, mathematics, and received the Queen's Golden Jubilee decades. Bill also has been very technical careers for young women Medal in 2002, and is a member of involved in the rapidly growing through mentoring and conferences. the Alberta Order of Excellence. A Fort McMurray community. first-generation Canadian, Elsie was Giuseppina Ferrera Sara Schabert, Peoria, Illinois a district Home Economist for the Giuseppina is a graduate of the Sara Schabert is a mining engi- Alberta Government. She continues University of Toronto Lassonde neer born, raised, and educated to participate in and organize Mineral Engineering Program. in Alberta. In 2004 Sara moved bazaars and festivals celebrating She currently works as an engi- culture. to Peoria. Illinois, to work at Ukrainian neer in training for the Closure Caterpillar Incorporated as and Reclamation Department Scott Pohorelic, Calgary, Alberta a marketing representative in at Syncrude, developing and As head chef at Calgary's presti- Its Global Mining division, implementing projects for existing gious River Cafe, Scott Pohorelic where she works mostly with and future mine sites, aiding lets his motto, "Simple approaches, marketing the four largest trucks in reclamation processes, and let quality ingredients speak for the company manufactures. working toward returning the themselves," guide his cooking, land to its original capacity. Foodways while working closely with local growers and producers. Educated in Douo Gibson, Niskii, Alberta Daniel Buss, Banff, Alberta the culinary program at Southern Doug Gibson IS a Pre-Employment Daniel Buss is head chef of the Alberta Institute of Technology, Training Coordinator with Enform. Banffshire Club at the world famous Scott worked for five years as sous Fairmont Banff Springs Resort. He started his career in the Alberta chef before becoming head chef His restaurant offers contemporary oilfields m 1976, working his way earlier this year, www.river-cafe.com up from floorhand to rig manager. North American cuisine featuring the freshest ingredients prepared Fitn Wood, Westerose, Alberta In 1989 Doug became an instructor in a most innovative fashion. The Tim Wood has spent his entire in the Pre-Employment Floorhand Banffshire Club has been awarded career in the food industry of Program for the Petroleum one of the highest restaurant Edmonton. He completed his Industry Training Service, now honors m North America, the Five apprenticeship at Northern Alberta called Enform. He was promoted Diamond Award from CAA/AAA. Institute of Technology (NAIT) at to training coordinator in 1998, and the top of his class and later opened is now responsible for preparing Gail Hall, Edmonton, Alberta his own restaurant, Moveable Feast, students for jobs on drilling rigs, A food activist and well-known with his wife. Deb, offering regional well servicing rigs, and a variety of Edmonton cook, Gail Hall is the and seasonal cuisme of Edmonton. other oil and gas well drilling and primary researcher for and presenter Their current restaurant, ECOcafe, well servicing operations. of the Alberta Foodways area. located in the village of Pigeon She was the founder of Gourmet Lake, reflects their philosophy of Goodies, one of the five largest respecting the land and seasons catering companies in Canada, and while supporting local farmers.

ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN 107 PARTICIPANTS Wilson Ice Sports Wu, Edmonton, Alberta Kevin Campbell, Edmonton, Alberta Along with his sister Judy, Wilson In his role as Manager, Emerging Marvin Bird, Grand Prairie, Alberta Wu is owner and chef of Wild Technologies at Alberta Education, Marv Bird has been a hockey coach Tangerine, an Asian-Albertan fusion Kevin Campbell works collabora- in Alberta for 40 years, guiding restaurant in Edmonton. Wilson tively to provide technical imple- many youth league teams to seasons was born in Hong Kong of Chinese mentation support for emerging that are successful both in victories parents and moved to Canada in broadband applications of Alberta's and in sportsmanship. He has igSo. He attended the University SuperNet. Kevin possesses an served on the board of the Alberta of Alberta, studied chemistry, and astrophysics degree from the Amateur Hockey Association worked m pharmaceuticals. In University of Calgary and also has in several positions, including 1993, Wilson and Judy opened The a background in local and wide director, and has won area Polos Cafe, the iirst fusion cuisine numerous computer networking technologies, awards for his coaching. Recently, restaurant in Edmonton. Wilson is and related teaching and he was learning currently working on a book about inducted into the Alberta application environments. the evolution of fusion cuisine. Hockey Hall of Fame.

Dan Lizotte, Edmonton, Alberta Forestry Patriek Francey, Edmonton, Alberta Dan Lizotte is a graduate student Patrick Francey is the owner of Gail Greenwood, Edmonton, Alberta in the Department of Computing Professional Skate Services (Pro Gail Greenwood became a Junior Science at the University of Alberta. Skate), a retail business that special- Forest Ranger in 1997 and later Dan studied scientific computing in izes in the sales and servicing of went on to get a diploma in Natural his home province at the L'niversity skates and related protective equip- Resource Technology and a degree of New Brunswick before moving ment and apparel for ice sports in Conservation Biology. While to Alberta in 2001. He has since such as hockey and ringette. attending post-secondary school, He has been studying statistics, machine developed specialized and advanced Gail worked as a crew supervisor for learning, and optimization. Dan's skate fitting and blade alignment the JFR program and as a wildland most recent project combines these techniques and systems. Patrick firefighter. She is now the coordi- areas to enable robot to learn and his dogs nator of the JFR program for the business help athletes of to walk faster. province of Alberta. all levels achieve skating excellence, from young beginners to Erwin Loewen, Edmonton, Alberta Greg Nelson, Hinton, Alberta National Hockey League players Erwin Loewen has worked over Greg Nelson is an environmental and Olympic and world class figure 23 years for the Government of educator at the Foothills Model skating competitors. Alberta as a Computer Systems Forest. His theatrical programs, Innovation Analyst providing both teacher workshops, and school mainframe and Local Area Network support programs have educated and enter- Karen Andrews, Edmonton, Alberta services. tained thousands of children and He now works as a Karen Andrews has been a pioneer Senior adults across Canada. In addition Network Analyst with the of videoconferencing and collab- to his work as an environmental Stakeholder Technology Branch, orative initiatives for the past educator, Greg has coordinated Alberta Education, and is currently six years. She has worked with several ecological restoration working directly with K-12 and post- several Canadian school boards projects in west central Alberta. secondary educators on emerging as Instructional Design lead for computing technologies, specifically Do/i Podlubny, Hinlon, Alberta two federal projects, and held the those that use broadband networks Don Podlubny is General Manager position of District Technology such as Alberta's SuperNet. of the Foothills Model Forest in Coordinator for Edmonton

Hinton, Alberta, responsible for the Public Schools. In her new role as

overall management of the research, Manager, Research and Planning communication, and extension with Stakeholder Technology activities of the non-profit organi- Branch, Alberta Education,

zation. He is proud of his 31 years Karen provides support to school of applied experience as a forest districts that are planning or using ranger, forest technologist, wildland videoconferencing over SuperNet. fire fighter, land manager, and

forestry training center director.

PARTICIPANTS 108 ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN Allison MacKenzie, Calgary, Alherla Oral History, Narrative, She has performed as an actress, and Spoken Word As Director of External Relations singer, and storyteller, but always at the University of Calgary. Doris Daley, Calgary, Alberta with the goal of preserving her heritage. Junetta also heads the Alberta Allison works with community and Doris Daley comes from a five- Black Pioneer Heritage Singers, an business partners across Alberta generation ranching family in informal communitv choir. to connect the University's leading Southern Alberta. She is an award- edge innovation, creativity, and winning poet (named the 2004 -6(7/ Kay, Edmonton, Alberta research to external communities. Female Cowboy Poet of the Year Bill Kay, of Chinese-Ukrainian

Born and raised m Ontario, Allison by the Academy of Western descent, was born in Edmonton. moved to Alberta in 1990, one ot Artists), and her campfire coffee A retired businessman, Bill has more than 200,000 Canadians who and beans are widely renowned on been featured in Linda Goyette's migrated to the province between the trails of the Albertan foothills. Edmonton hi Our Own Words and has 1990 and 2004. www.dorisdaley.com written extensively for Edmonton: A City Called Home, an online Platonova, Calgary, Alberta Eagletail, Calgary, Alberta hum Hal project documenting local history.

is the Special storyteller, Inna Platonova Hal Eagletail, a gifted Recently, Bill has been researching

Projects Coordinator at the Light was raised on theTsuuT'ina Reserve. the experiences of the early Chinese

Up The World Foundation where Since the age of 12 he has been communitv in Edmonton and she coordinates a number oi sharing cultural stories he learned northern Alberta and conducting solar-powered solid-state lighting from his grandparents, and has research on oral history with community development projects turned his fascination with culture fellow historian Kcnda Gee. in developing countries. She is also into a career as a "cultural consul- Rochelle Yatnagishi, responsible for supply manage- tant. "Today, he runs his own tourism Lethbridge, Alberta ment, partnership, and organiza- company, Eagletail Enterprises, and Rochelle Yamagishi is a third- tional and resource development. develops interactive programs on generation Japanese Canadian whose Inna is a Ph.D. student at the Northern Plams culture dealing family was moved from British Faculty of Environmental Design, with crafts, history and culture, Columbia to Alberta to work in University of Calgary, working on and contemporary issues. the sugar beet fields of southern diffusion of solid state lighting Alberta during World War II. A Linda Goyette, Edmonton, Alberta and renewable energy technologies Ph.D. in Education, Rochelle works Edmonton writer Linda Goyette is in developing countries. as a school counselor in Lethbridge a passionate collector of Alberta's where she conducts anti-racist Chantal Tacail, Edmonton, Alberta stories. She is the author and editor programs for children. She has also Chantal Tacail has worked as a of numerous books and antholo- compiled ten first-person stories Communications Coordinator in gies, and is currently compiling The of Japanese evacuees in southern Alberta Education's Stakeholder Story That Brought Me Here, a collec- Alberta into a book, Nikkei Journey. Technology Branch for the past tion of immigrants' writing m their Paleontology four years. In this role, Chantal first languages, for the Edmonton collaborates with Ministry staff Public Library. She wrote for the Don Brinkman, Drumbeller, Alberta and others to coordinate all Edinontoii Journal for twenty years as Dr. Brinkman is the head of the branch communications. This an award-winning reporter, edito- research section at the Royal Tyrrell includes researching, writing, and rial writer, and columnist, and Museum and curator of vertebrate editing ministerial correspon- now writes regularly for AlbertaViews paleontology. Originally from dence, newsletters, and content magazine and other regional and a farm near Craigmyle, Alberta, studied at the University of for Alberta Education's website, national magazines. he the Ministry's intranet, as well Alberta and McGill University Junetta Jamerson, Edmonton, Alberta as a private site for technology and worked at Harvard University Junetta Jamerson comes from an leaders in the learning system. before starting as curator m Oklahoma family that immigrated 1982 at the newly established to Alberta in 1910 to settle in the Tyrrell Museum. Don maintains

Amber Valley area. Junetta was an active field-based research raised by her grandmother, Velma program, with research focused Carter, the foremost oral historian on questions of paleoecology of of Alberta's Black pioneer families. Late Cretaceous communities.

ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN 109 PARTICIPANTS Jim McCahe, Driimheller, Alberta Asani, Edmonton, Alberta Calvin VoUralh

Jim McCabe grew up in Kingston, Debbie Houle Calvin V'ollrath, St. Paul, Alberta Ontario, and moved to Alberta in Sarah Pocklington Trent Bruner, Canwoo, Alberta

1977 after completing his Bachelor Sherryl Sewepagahan Rhea Labrie, St. Paul, Alberta

of Sciences degree in Biology at Asani, a contemporary a cappclla Clinton Pelletier,

Queen's University. Jim is the senior Aboriginal women's trio from Edmonton, Alberta

lab technician at the Royal Tyrrell Alberta, formed in April 1997. This musical ambassador of

Museum where he has worked since Carrying with them the traditional Alberta and of Canada is a world-

1981, doing fossil preparation and influences of First Nations and class championship fiddler who

field work and supervising the fossil Metis music, Asani performs has an impressive resume. He has

preparation labs. His extensive held primarily original compositions composed more than 550 fiddle work experience has taken him m Woodland Cree and English. tunes, recorded an e.xtraordinary

to the Gobi Desert in China, the Their musical styles encompass a number of albums, and produced

Canadian Rockies, and the tossil- spectrum ranging from traditional numerous music books and

rich badlands of Alberta. vocals accompanied by drums instructional videos. In August and rattles, to the contemporary 2005 Calvin received the "Lifetime Earle Wiehc, Dniiiiheller, Alberta sounds of jazz, folk, and blues. Achievement Award" from the Earle Wiebe is the Science www.asani.org Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Education Administrator at the Championship, in recognition and Royal Tyrrell Museum, responsible Blaekfoot Medicine Speaks appreciation of his outstanding; lor marketing, administration, Treff Deerfoot, contribution to old time fiddling. program development, and evalua- Lethbridge, Alberta www.calvinvollrath.com tion of" school and public programs. Julius Delaney, Standoff, Alberta

Earle completed a Bachelor of Troy Delaney, Standoff Alberta Corb Lund

Science degree from the University Craig First Rider, Calgary, Alberta and the Hurtin' Alhertans

of Regina and has worked as a Cecile Good Eagle, Corb Lund, Taber, Alberta

Science Educator with the Canadian Sik Sika Nation, Alberta Kurt Ciesla, Lethbridge, Alberta Wildlife Service and Alberta Parks Dila Houle, Brocket, Alberta Grant Siemens, Winnipeg, Alberta and Protected Areas. Barney Provost, Brocket, Alberta Brady Valgardson, Taber, Alberta Blaekfoot Medicine Speaks was Music and Dance Corb Lund was raised in a multi- established to preserve the stories, generation ranching family in rural Allez Quest, Edmonton, Alberta songs, and dances of the Plains southern Alberta. Son of western

Jason Kodie people and celebrate the connec- artist and veterinarian DC. Lund, Joel Lavoie tion to the artists' Blaekfoot Corb grew up around the rodeo

Mireille Moquin ancestors. From southwestern and began his music career as a

Robert Walsh Alberta, Blaekfoot Medicine Speaks bass player in urban punk-rock Allez Quest's members are four features dance, dance regalia, bands. Ultimately, he turned to of the most prominent, vibrant, and druinming, and traditional songs country music and began exploring

engaging singer-songwriters from celebrating the rich culture, tradi- his roots by writing and playing his Northern Alberta's Francophone tions, and spirit of the Blaekfoot. own songs. The Corb Lund band community. Their music is unlike has begun attracting enthusiastic

French music found elsewhere, crowds on several continents. Their

blending the open sound of the songs are thoughtful, deliberate, prairies and the sensibilities of the and evocative of Alberta's culture West with a French flair color- and landscapes, www.corblund.com fully unique to Alberta. Using acoustic instruments, the group

performs their songs in a simple

and uncluttered style, marrying

folk, roots, and blues with contem-

porary songwriting values.

PARTICIPANTS 110 ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN Cowboy Celtic towns and those people with the The MeDades, Edmonton, Alberta Joseph Hertz. courage to leave them, to stay, and Shannon Johnson Black Diamond, Alberta to return. John champions the Jeremiah McDade David Wilkie, working class, the way things used Solon McDade Turner Valley, Alberta to be, falling in love, and falling Francois Tiillefer Denise Withnell, apart. His songwriting and record- Andy Hillhouse

Turner Valley, Alberta ings have won awards and acclaim, The McDades' Celtic-rooted music Ken Lynn Zwicker, including being named one of the incorporates the spontaneity of Edmonton, Alberta best newcomers m 2003 by Penguin jazz improvisation and infectious Eggs. Canada's global rhythms. The sound of Cowboy Celtic, folk and roots maga- The McDade zine. siblings Shannon, Jeremiah, combining old world Celtic www.johnworthannam.com — and Solon grew up in Alberta instrumentation and balladry with — Maria Dunn, Edmonton, Alberta performing traditional Irish music cowboy songs, ranges from wild Fiona Coll, Edmonton, Alberta with their parents. With the release and rambunctious one minute to A storyteller through song. Maria of their second CD, Bloom, the hauntingly beautiful the next. Their Dunn writes historical and social McDades continue to stretch the second Ceihdh, CD, Cowboy won the commentary with an ear tor melo- boundaries of modern tradition and Oklahoma City National Cowboy dies that fit seamlessly into the are rapidly becoming major players Hall of- Fame Wrangler Award Celtic and North American folk on the international music circuit. for Outstanding Traditional traditions. Her latest CD, Wc Were www.themcdades.com Western Music Album in iggg. Cood People (2004). features songs Tim Hus, Calgary, Alberta www. cowboyceltic.com inspired by the vibrant people's Although Tim Hus is a young song- history of Alberta. In 2002, Maria Ian Tyson writer, he writes the kind of songs received a Juno nomination for her Ian Tyson, Turner \'alley, Alberta that come from experience. His second recording. For A Song. Cord Matthews, www.mariadunn.com well-received debut album. Songs of Edmonton, Alberta West Canada, was followed by Alberta Gord Ma.xwell, Calgary, Alberta Sid Marty, Pincher Creek, Alberta Crude—a collection of songs about

Ian Tyson's songs reflect the things Sid Marty is known as a mountain hullriders, firefighters, roughnecks,

that matter to him: the prairies, bard and musician and as the rig drivers, and others who populate the legends of the West, and the author of four non-fiction books the Canadian west, www.timhus.ca

changing life of a veteran artist. and three collections of poetry. Zabava, Edmonton, Alberta At the age of 24, he formed the He writes primarily on natural Brian Cherwick legendary singing duo Ian and history and western life and Alex Maduck Sylvia and became one of the culture, often reflecting his forma- Walter Heppner pioneers ti\'e experiences as a park warden of country-rock. In the Biin'acey in the Rocky Mountain national mid-1970s, Ian realized his dream Annette Bidniak parks. His poems have appeared in of returning to the beautiful ranch Jason Golinowski numerous school textbooks, literary country of southern Alberta, and Tricia Kushniryuk magazines, and poetry anthologies. began writing new songs about the Orest Semchuk His latest CD of original songs is reality ot "western culture" and the Many of Alberta's early settlers were entitled Elsewhere, www.sidmartv.com mindset of a cowboy in a some- Ukrainians, and their traditions and times alien contemporary world. communities remain an important Su-Chono Lint, Calgary, Alberta www.ianryson.com part of Albertan culture. Zabava, A regular performer at several "The Ukrainian Dance Party," Calgary folk clubs and major Wort Hannam John brings together four master musi- Canadian festivals throughout the John Wort Hannam. cians (fiddle, accordion, tsyndmly 1980s and 1990s, Su-Chong Lim Fort MacLeod, Alberta [hammered dulcimer], and bass), remains a well-known, respected, Tyler Bird, Lethbridge, Alberta and four respected Ukrainian dance and talented performer and song- Brad Bouwers, Lethbridge, Alberta instructors from some of Alberta's writer. His songs reflect the tradi- Darcy Stamp, Calgary, Alberta world-renowned Ukrainian dance tions of his Chinese origins and his John Wort Hannam, a folk roots ensembles. Their performances interest in all things Canadian. artist from southern Alberta, feature traditional old-time performs blue-collar roots music, Ukrainian music and social dances crafting songs about small that are typical of Ukrainian community dances in Alberta.

ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN 111 PARTICIPANTS Zephyr, Edmonton, Alberta creativity, cooperation, and mask- Program Director. Like so many of

Isabelle Laurinr making. www.shawnkinlev.com his colleagues, Brian was born and

Aline Dupuis raised in Alberta, and has a deep Mark Meer, Edmonton, Alberta Casey Edmunds love for the province. Mark Meer has been performing Ginette LeBlanc with Rapid Fire Theatre tor over ten Don Marcotte, Edmonton, Alberta Amanda Tardif years, appearing around the world As CKUA Production Supervisor, Daniel Gervais at numerous festivals and tourna- Don IS responsible for preparing Created in 2002 under the direc- ments. He IS a founding member and scheduling programming, tion of Isabelle Laurin, Zephyr is of a local comedy troupe, stage and commercials, giveaways, and promo- an Edmonton-based performing film actor, host of a monthly local tions. In addition to a long career troupe. Zephyr is part of variety show, and a former writer- in television as a producer-director, I'Association la Girandole, an orga- performer for Radio. plays bass around nization committed to promoting CBC Don Edmonton www.rapidfiretheatre.com francophone culture through dance with several musical groups.

and folklore. Basing its repertoire Radio Monica Miller, Edmonton, Alberta mainly on French-Canadian dance Monica Miller has been working Allison Brock, Calgary, Alberta and advanced step-dance, Zephyr at since her first job as Allison Brock owns and oper- CKUA presents a dynamic and authentic a part-time record librarian in ates her own independent radio image of Franco-Albertan culture. production company. Bloodstone 1977. Since early 2000, she has Theatresports Productions. She developed and been hosting "How I Hear It," a show that combines music with Julian Faid, Edmonton, Alberta hosts "Wide Cut Country," an thoughtful commentaries. Presently completing a sociology alternative country-Americana program that has been airing on degree at the University of Alberta, Holger Peterson, Edmonton, Alberta the radio network since Julian has been with Rapid Fire CKUA Holger Peterson founded the

Theatre for seven years and is a cast 2000. Before venturing out on her Stony Plain recording label in 1976 own, Allison worked in promotion member of Theatresports as well as as a result of his ties to musicians Chimprov, Fire's long and marketing for A&M Records, Rapid form he encountered as the host of a improvisation show. recently Sony Music, and Virgin Records. He blues radio show at CKUA. Stony represented Rapid Fire Theatre at the Plain showcases contemporary Bob Chelmick, Edmonton, Alberta Vancouver Theatresporti Tournament roots music and has Bob Chelmick produces and hosts released and took part in the Winnipeg records. the musically eclectic "Alberta almost 500 Holger was International Improv Festival. awarded Morning" on the CKUA Radio the Order of Canada in 2005 for his contributions to Jackie Eries, Calgary, Alberta Network. Bob is an award-winning Canadian arts and culture and Jackie has traveled across Canada broadcaster, film maker, writer, currently hosts "Saturday Nite taking her original brand of improv and widely-exhibited photogra- Blues" on CBC Radio. and comedy with her. to the delight pher based in his home town of of many and dismay of some. She Edmonton. He started at CKUA Lionel Raiilt, Edmonton, Alberta began improvising with Loose in 1969, took a twenty-eight year At CKUA, Lionel Rault hosts Moose Theatre in 2000, and now side trip into television, anchoring "Nine to Noon," a program that lives in Calgary where she spends the news for CBC and CTV, often involves live interviews her time writing sketch and finally came home to "the comedv and and performances, and "Lionel's eating Kraft Dinner. best radio station in the known Vinyls," which celebrates music that universe." Bob also hosts "The has stood the test of time. Lionel Shawn Kinley, Calgary, Alberta Road Home," a Sunday night is also a musician, with a 30-year Shawn Kmlev joined Loose Moose program with a devoted following. career as a successful folk-roots Theatre in the 1980s and has guitarist and singer-songwriter. become an integral part of the Brian Dunsmore, Edmonton, Alberta He currently lives in Edmonton company as performer, instructor, Brian Dunsmore has been involved and plays with his brother in a and director. Shawn also teaches at CKUA since 1979. He first band called The Rault Brothers. and performs around the world, worked as host of a classical music developing programs and workshops program, then as a producer. Since

on subjects such as improv, miming. 1999, he has served as the CKUA

PARTICIPANTS 112 ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN Royal Canadian Wilderness, Outdoors, Ken Regan, Edmonton, Alberta Mounted Police and Mountain Culture Ken Regan began in radio in 1982 when CKUA hired him to Leilani Collins, Edmonton, Alberta Jenny Burke, Fort Maeleod, Alberta

is based read early morning newscasts. Leilani Collins has been a member Botanist Jenny Burke m Mounted Fort Maeleod in southwestern He left in 1994 to explore the of the Royal Canadian where she applies her world ot television with CBC Police for the past six years. Alberta, Alberta News, and independent Throughout this time she has knowledge of Alberta's flora to her TV production with Discovery served in three locations within scientific research at the University Channel USA. He enjoyed those Alberta as both a general duty of Lethbridge and her second career soaps using local experiences, but returned to CKUA investigator and a member of a of crafting fine section or unit. She flowers and herbs. as general manager in 1999. specialized

is currently posted at Alberta's Cia Cadd, Jasper, Alberta Darcie Roux, Edmonton, Alberta Ben and RCMP Headquarters located in A recognized authority on the Formerly a full-time announcer, Edmonton. Leilani is a volun- Mountains, Ben Gadd has Darcie switched positions to Rocky teer member of the K Division written seven books, including the image as a help shape CFWE's Ceremonial Display Troop, which award-winning guide Handbook of the province-wide community radio participates in various events and Canadian Rockies and the novel Raven's station that caters to First Nations parades displaying the force's End. He is an independent natural listeners. Darcie is also responsible rich colors and traditions. history guide in Jasper National for co-creating CFWE's new Park, and is well-known for his domain on the internet. A part- Ed fobson, Hobhema, Alberta tours, guided walks, and presenta- time host Saturday nights, Darcie Cpl. Ed Jobson has ig years tions, as well as his writing and helps promote independent and of service in the RCMP and is lectures. Educated as a geologist, Aboriginal musicians from across currently posted at Hobbema has appeared on numerous Alberta and throughout Canada. Detachment. Originally from Ben Alberta, he served his first posting TV shows and several documenta- Rod Setter, Edmonton, Alberta at St. Paul Detachment in Alberta. ries on the Rockies. Ben is accom- Rod began at CKUA in 1978 and his wife, Cia, a respected He is also a member of the K panied by helped build the original network. Division Ceremonial Display Troop. naturalist in her own right, as Aker taking a break to run his own well as sculptor and photographer. Edmonton, Alberta business. Rod returned to CKUA in Sylvain Roussell, www.bengadd.com Originally from Montreal and 1997 and has been there ever since. a native French speaker, Sylvain Luka Symons, Calgary, Alberta Lynda MeLennan, Roussel has served for 14 years in Jim and Luka Symons was the host of the RCMP, stationed in Alberta Okotoks, Alberta several radio shows at CKUA before are for the entirety of his career. Jim and Lynda McLennan settling down with "nightcap,' fly-fishing and have Over the years, Sylvain has been experts on late-night show featuring new a posted on various uniform duties, taught, written, and photographed music and Canadian talent. Before in Alberta for drug investigations, and, most about fly-fishing

Luka's career included is a skilled CKUA. recently, investigations of white over thirty years. Lynda and lighting technical work, has sound coUar crime, including financial photographer and her work writing music, and art direction maga- crimes, corrupt public officials, appeared in many outdoor cooking shows. for television and currency counterfeiting. zines. Jim was one of the original fly-fishing guides on Alberta's beau-

tiful Bow River. He has written three books and regularly writes articles

for several fly-fishing magazines. www.mclennanflyfishing.com

ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN 113 PARTICIPANTS Festival Participants

Carriers of Culture: Living Native Basket Traditions

Native Hawaiian kmims (master teachers). Gwen, Harriet Soong (Native Hawaiian),

a member of the Ulana Me Ka Kailua Kona, Big Island, Hawai'i Gladys Grace (Native Hawaiian), Lokomaika'i weaving club, is now Harriet Soong was first taught Honolulu, Hawai'i passing her skills on to others. She weaving by her mother and, as a Gladys Grace, born in South Kona, weaves purses, baskets, and hats (her teenager, in summer school classes. Hawai'i, learned to weave as a child special love) as a way of preserving In 2000 she apiprcnticcd under by watching her grandmother who the culture behind the weaving. master Big Island weaver Peter traded weavmgs tor groceries during Park. Recognized also as a master the Depression years. Gladys, Sahra Kauka (Native Hawaiian), quilter, she says weaving offers acknowledged as a master kumu, Libii'e, Kaua'i, Hawai'i different conceptual challenges has been instrumental m teaching Sabra Kauka is a journalist- than quilt making. Harriet has and passing on weaving knowledge turned-educator and activist who served as president of the to younger generations through IS committed to the perpetuation Ka L'lu Lauhala O Kona, a Big such programs as the Hawaiian of Native Hawaiian language, Island weavers' organization. Traditional Arts Apprenticeship traditions, and art, including the

Program and the Ulana Me Ka weaving of lauhala [pandanus]. She Alaska Native

Lokomaika'i weaving organization coordinates and plans training for Sheldon Bogenrife (Inupiaij), on Oahu. Gladys is known especially all Hawaiian studies teachers in Anchomoc, Alaska for her extraordinary hats. Kaua'i and pursues her keen interest Inspired by his grandfather's craft in ethnobotany as the Hawaiian Edwin T. Kaneko Qapanese of baleen boat making, Sheldon culture specialist for the Garden and Native Hawaiian descent), Bogenrife is a self-taught weaver Island Resource Conservation & Holualoa, Hawai'i of Inupiaq baleen baskets. After Development, Inc. She coordinated Ed Kaneko grew up on a coffee more than 15 years of experience a gathering of Native Hawaiian farm in Kona and learned to weave and learning from baleen masters basket weavers m 2004. lauhala [pandanus] at age six to help Elain Frankson and Greg Tagarook,

his parents in their side business. Marcjues Hanalei Marzan (Native Sheldon has become a master of Todav, retired from an aviation Hawaiian), Kane'ohe, Hawai'i his craft. He has participated in

engineering career, Ed enjovs Marques Marzan's journey as demonstrations and exhibitions

teaching weaving hats, participating a weaver began as a youth with with the Anchorage Museum of

m a weaving group, running a small teacher Minewa Ka'awa at the History and Art, and at the Heard

coffee farm, and volunteering at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu in Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. Kona Historical Museum. 1995. As a cultural collections tech- Delores Churchill (Haida), nician at the Bishop, he now studies Gwendolyn Kaniisitgi Ketchikan, Alaska the museum's collections of woven (Native Hawaiian), Delores Churchill has been a Haida items made from many materials Wahiawa, Oahu, Hawai'i spruce-root and cedar-bark basket including lauhala [pandanus]. Today Gwen Kamisugi took classes in weaver for nearly 35 years. She trained Marques is especially interested in weaving at the Kamehameha School under her mother, the renowned reproducing historical items made in 1970, but considers Gladys Grace weaver Selina Peratrovich. Delores with indigenous materials. and Molly Dupree, with whom she is a veteran workshop and basketry

started instruction in 1975, as her education presenter, and demonstrates

weaving at museums worldwide.

PARTICIPANTS 114 CARRIERS OF CULTURE and Holly Chun-hill (Haida), she began weaving at the age of Pat Courtney Gold (Wasco Ketchikan, Alaska 12, she has mastered the weaving Tlingit), Scappoose, Oregon Taught by her mother, master techniques of twined grass baskets. Pat began basket making in the Haida basket maker Delores Her skillfully constructed works earlv 1990s and is now known as Churchill, Holly Churchill weaves have been greeted with praise at one of four people credited with both spruce-root and cedar- numerous venues. June is involved reviving the Wasco art of full-turn bark baskets. Her works include in a range of diverse efforts to twine with geometric images and many functional items unique to educate about Native Alaskan motifs. Pat now teaches classes Haida traditions and have been historic and modern traditions. on her home reservation in Warm the displayed at museums such as the Springs and throughout Ten Rofkar (Tlingit), Sitka, Alaska Anchorage Museum of History, Northwest. Pat is a recipient of As a Tlingit spruce-root basket thcTongass Historical Museum, the First Peoples Fund Cultural weaver, Ten Rofkar holds firml\- to Traditional .and the Smithsoni.in Institution. Capital Award, Oregon the ancestry of her culture's basketry and a Following in the footsteps ot Arts Apprenticeship Award, tradition as the materialization of a her mother. Holly participates in fellowship through the National relationship between Tlingit people basketry education, holding classes Museum of the American Indian. and the spirits of the plants and at the University of Alaska, in the animals from which they harvest Elaine Crinnell (Jamestown Heritage Centers of Anchorage and the materials used in their weavings. S'Klallam and Lummi), Ketchikan, and many other educa- Teri's baskets utilize Alaska's indig- Sctjuiin, Washington tional organizations. enous resources such as spruce root, Elaine Grinnell is not only a master grass also a drum Daisy Deiiiiciitieff (Athabascan), maidenhair fern, cedar, and basket weaver, but Anchoraoe, Alaska to produce the traditional twining maker, teacher, and storyteller, Athabascan basket weaver Daisy and plaiting weaving techniques sharing stories passed down to most Demientieff specializes in the tech- of the Tlingit tribe. her by her grandfather. She nique of woven splir-willow root recently began working as a cultural Lisa Telford (Haida), in S'Klallam language trays, characteristic of her home specialist the Everett, Washinoton the region. Both highly skiUed in weaving program, after retiring from Lisa Telford is an accomplished school district. and talented in demonstrating this Port Angeles Haida weaver of red and yellow is a former president and craft to others, Daisy is devoted to Elaine cedar-bark baskets. She has partici- of the passing this time-honored tradition current board member pated in exhibits all along the west American along to her family, and is involved Northwest Native coast and has had extensive involve- Association. in instructing ,ind guiding prospec- Basketweavers ment with the Eiteljorg Museum of tive young weavers. Indianapolis and the Smithsonian Khia Crnmcll Qamestown ot £vf/v;i Douglas (Yup'ik), Institution's National Museum S'Klallam and Lummi), Anchorage, Alaska the American Indian. Sequim, Washington Khia Grinnell began her involve- Born in Hooper Bay, Alaska, Evelyn Northwest with the basketry tradition of Douglas is a highly skilled weaver ment Elaine Timentwa Emerson ancestors of traditional Yup'ik coiled grass her S'Klallam and Lummi (Colville), Omak, Washington child, gathering cedar baskets. She first learned her craft as a small Elaine Emerson learned weaving grandmother, master as a young girl watching her mother with her techniques at the age of six Elaine Grinnell. and other women in her community basket weaver from her mother, Julia "Cecelia" weaves her weave baskets. Evelyn, who has been Fifteen years later, Khia Timentwa, and completed her first shares the skill making coiled grass baskets for own baskets, and basket at age 14. For over 25 years, with her siblings as she perfects her more than ?o years, is admired for she has been actively engaged in the art. Khia's art has her mastery of technique and the own talents in weaving baskets and teaching classes Northwest unique patterns of her baskets. been shown in the 2006 to keep the art, heritage, and culture Folklife Festival and in her local Parduc [Alutiu] and June Simeono_ff of her people alive. Elaine is a tribal gallery. Khia has also taught Suqpiaq), Wasitla, Alaska recipient of the First Peoples Fund weaving at St. Lawrence University Simeonoff Pardue is June Cultural Capital Award. in Canton, New York. descended from both Ifiupiaq Eskimo and Alutiiq origin. Since

CARRIERS OF CULTURE 115 PARTICIPANTS Nettie Kniieki Jackson (Klickitat), Theresa Mendoza (Makah and weaving from her cousin, Elaine White Swan, Washington Lummi), Neah Bay, Washington Emerson, Bernadine now teaches

Nettie Jackson spent most of her Since the age of six, Theresa and demonstrates basketr)' to others.

early years around accomplished Mendoza has woven baskets. Craig Phillips (Colville), basket makers, and lived with her Since she was 13, she has lectured Omak, Washington Klickitat grandmother Mattie and demonstrated at the Makah Craig has been gathering and Spencer Slockish, an accomplished Cultural and Research Center. weaving since he was three years basket maker, every summer until Theresa loves her craft and eagerly old, taught by and assisting his she was iz. Today, Nettie is recog- shares her knowledge. Oi her art mother, Bernadine Phillips, nized as one of the most skilled she has said, "Weaving shows who and other members of his and creative Klickitat basket makers I am. Weaving shows our ancestors family and community. and has published a book on are still with us."

Klickitat basketry. Nettie received LLarold "Jimmi" Plaster (Lummi), June Parker (Makah and Lummi), the 2000 National Heritage Belliiigham, Washington Neah Bay, Washington Fellowship h'om the National Taught by his mother Lisa Plaster At a young age. June Parker was Endowment tor the Arts. and other elders in his community, taught to gather traditional basket hmmi began weaving at the age Robert Kentta (Siletz), materials. Her maternal grand- of 12, and by 15 he was already Siletz, Oregon mother inspired June to weave, and teaching others. As Director of Siletz Cultural her paternal grandmother encour-

Resources, Robert Kentta is active aged her to preserve old patterns. Lisa Plaster (Lummi),

in supporting and promoting She shares these basketry traditions Bellingham, Washington

Native heritage and cultural events, and her culture through weaving and Lisa Plaster has been gathering

particularly in local schools. Robert teaching. In 2005 Jime was commis- for 20 years, weaving for 16 years, studied basket making with master sioned to create a basket with flags and teaching for 11. She is a weaver Gladys Muschampis, and of the United States and Norway, respected weaver not only within

exhibits, among others, baskets such presented to the King of Norway. her Lummi community but also

as the ceremonial young girl's dance among neighboring communities. Theresa Parker (Makah and hat. He IS also a regalia maker. Lummi), Neah Bay, Washington Karen Reed (Chinook and Puyallup), Puyallup, Washington Bud Lane (Siletz), Siletz, Oregon Theresa Parker learned her basket weave baskets For over 20 years Bud Lane has making skills through her grand- Karen learned to been weaving baskets of gathered mothers' patience, and has been with her grandmother, Hattie Allen Cross, and with Beatrice Black, a materials, including hazel, spruce creating baskets for over forty Quinault weaver. Since then she root, bear grass, and willow, but years; she shares her knowledge of has learned from many different he is known especially for his basketry and its techniques across teachers, including National hats. He teaches Siletz traditional the United States and abroad. Heritage Fellowship awardee Bruce arts, language, and culture at the Theresa is Educational Curator Subiyay Miller. Karen primarily Siletz Valley School and in nearby of the Makah Cultural and creates cedar baskets but also communities. In 2005 Bud served Research Center and a founding researches and revives traditional as chairman for the Northwest board member of the Northwest techniques that are almost extinct. Native American Basketweavers Native American Basketweavers Karen has served as a board member Association's annual Gathering. Association. of the Northwest Native American Bud has served three times as a Bcrnadinc Phillips (Colville), Basketweavers Association. master artist with the Traditional Omak, Washinoton Arts Apprenticeship Program of Lynda Squally (Chinook and Bernadme is a founding member the Oregon Folklite Program. Puyallup), Milton, Washington and current executive director of Lynda Squally, who learned to the Northwest Native American weave at the age of 12, has had Basketweavers Association. many teachers, including her Adopting the ancient methods of mother, master weaver Karen the Okanogan and Methow bands, Reed, and Maori weavers of New Bernadine has been weaving coiled Zealand. Lynda is known for her cedar root baskets for the past 14 woven cedar baskets and has done years. Learning the skills of coil many public demonstrations.

PARTICIPANT?? 116 CARRIERS OF CULTURE Laura Wong-Whitehear (Colville), Sue Coleman (V^asho), Leona Chepo (IMstern Mono), North Eork, California Seattle, Washington Carson City, Nevada of to make baskets Laura, president ot the board of Sue Coleman learned the art Leona, who learned basket weaving as a teenager from Chepo, is the Northwest Native American from her mother, Mary her mother, Theresa Smokey cradleboards or hmips. Basketweavers Association, was first noted for her Jackson. She uses willow to She made her first one on the occa- taught weaving in 1994 by Arlme make cradleboards, winnowing her first grandchild and now Cailing and Gladys Gonzales. sion of trays, burden baskets, and other for other members of Before joining NNABA, Laura supplies many pieces. Sue teaches and exhibits pigment worked mainly with non-traditional her communit)'. Leona uses and has been honored with gathered in the Sierras to decorate materials, but she is now dedicated many awards, including the 2005 the hood of her cradleboards with to learning and researching tradi- Nevada Governor's Arts Award for red dots; her sister Betty sometimes tional plateau basketry. She was a Excellence in Folk Arts. fingerweaves the straps used to bind recent recipient of an artist fellow- the infant in the basket. ship at the National Museum of Rebecca Eagle (Pyramid Lake the American Indian and is involved Pa lute), Widsworth, Nevada Lots Jean Conner (Chuckchansi, Eagle made her first in many other Native American Rebecca Southern Miwok, and Western willow basket as a girl of 12. Today, and activities. causes Mono), ONeals, California Rebecca weaves single rod coiled Great Basin Taught to weave by her mother baskets of willow and redbud. and two aunts, Lois e.xcels at both size from Elicaheth Brady (Western Shoshone), some beaded, ranging in twined and coiled works and is miniature to large, and is known Elko, Nevada known especially for her gambling her skill in the split stitch tech- Elizabeth Brady received the for Rebecca has been honored travs, soaproot brushes, and Nevada Governor's Arts Award nique. curator with the Nevada Governor's Arts cradleboards. Formerly for Excellence in Folk Arts and Award for Excellence in Folk of the Sierra Mono Museum, her artwork has been recognized Arts and many other awards. Lois IS now a full-time basket with many ribbons and awards. weaver whose work is widely She IS known especially for her Sandra Eagle (Pyranud Lake collected and exhibited. She is a cradleboards, the first oi which she Paiute), Sutcliff, Nevada member of the California Indian made at age -o. A fluent Shoshone Sandra Eagle was taught by her Basketweavers Association. speaker. Elizabeth is a respected grandmother to prepare willow cradleboards, elder m her tribe and is active in all and use it to make Ursula Jones (Yosemitc Mtwok, areas of her Native culture. and at age 22 was taught by her Mono Lake Paiute, Kashaya Pomo, sister how to make one-rod coiled and Coast Miwok), Mammoth Leah Brady (Western Shoshone), weaves baskets. Mostly, Sandra Lakes, California Elko, Nevada earrings, and willow coiled baskets, Ursula Jones began her involvement Leah Brady is the great-grand- necklaces. The winner of many with Coast Miwok and Kashaya daughter of Mary Hall and awards and active participant in Pomo basketry in her earliest years daughter of Elizabeth Brady, both manv shows and exhibits. Sandra as she accompanied her mother well-known Western Shoshone sells her work to local Native stores, Lucy Parker and grandmother basket makers. Leah specializes museums, and individual collectors. Julia Parker in a cradle basket as in traditional twined baskets such California they gathered materials for their as newborn baskets, winnowing weaving. Ursula's work consists trays, and burden baskets, and has Jennifer D. Bates (Northern primarily of the traditional coiled won numerous awards. She was Mewiik), Euolumne, California basket design in the styles of the an organizer ot the Great Basin Jennifer has been a traditional Yosemitc Miwok. Paiute, and Pomo Native Basketweavers Association, basket weaver and dancer for o\'er traditions. Ursula trains students serving m many capacities 30 years. A founding member and, of all ages, including her n-year-old of the including board member and for 13 years, board chair Naomi, as part of her Basketweavers daughter chairperson of the organization. California Indian devotion to continuing the tradi- Association, she has been very tion of her family matriarch, the involved in the growth of that orga- Telles. nization. Jennifer shares her Mewuk renowned weaver Lucy culture with others through classes, demonstrations, and lectures.

CARRIERS OF CULTURE 117 PARTICIPANTS Julia Parker (Kashaya Poino and Eva Salazar (San Diego KiinteyaayJ, whom she received her training as

weaver at Coast Miwok), Mariposa, California Alpine, California a Navajo basket 1 5 years

Julia learned to weave from her Eva Salazar, who grew up on the of age. Lorraine's first-class training

husband's grandmother, Lucy San Jose de la Zorra Reservation and brilliant originality are reflected

Telles, a Mono Lake Paiute artist in Mexico, has been weaving coiled through her stellar design creations

who worked as a cultural specialist baskets since she was seven years that have earned her first place in

at the Yosemite Museum in old. A member of the California the Navajo Show at Flagstaff 's Yosemite National Park, a posi- Indian Basketweavers Association, Museum of Northern Arizona and

tion Julia now holds. At the park Eva's work has received many awards an award at the Gallup Ceremonials.

she tells stories, demonstrates and she has demonstrated and Mary Holiday Black (Navajo), making acorn soup and baskets, taught weaving techniques in many Mexican Hat, Utah and provides park visitors with different settings. She has served as Over the course of her life, Mary information on Native history and a master artist in the .'Kpprenticeship Holiday Black has been a pioneer traditions. Julia's basketwork has Program of the Alliance for m the revival and preservation of been featured in man\' exhibitions, California Traditional Arts. Navajo basket weaving. Trained and examples are now housed Linda C. Yaniane (Ohlone), to weave at the age of 11, she was in many collections, including Seaside, California among the first to incorporate that ot the Queen ot England. pictorial representations of Linda Yamane learned to weave in Navajo Ruby Pomona (Western Mono), belief and culture into baskets, her 20S, but it wasn't until her 40s North Fork Mono, California giving birth to the form now that she began to weave baskets. One ot the few remaining speakers known as Navajo "story baskets." Through intensive research, she of the Western Mono language, In 1995, Mary received the Utah learned to gather and prepare plant Ruby is a master weaver of several Governor's Folk Art Award; a year materials and weave the traditional types of traditional baskets, later her work was recognized with baskets of her tribe. She was the including both cradle baskets a National Heritage Fellowship first to weave an Ohlone basket in and winnowing trays. Ruby takes from the National Endowment nearly 150 years. A graphic artist pride in being knowledgeable for the Arts. Mary has contributed as well as weaver, Linda exhibits, about her culture and history substantially to the apprenticeship teaches, and writes about her culture current weavers, and is often called upon to of many Navajo and basket making. participate in festivals and events including 9 of her 11 children, and

as a cultural demonstrator. Southwest—Navajo her granddaughter, Kayla.

IVilvenm Reece (Kanikj, Kayla Black (Navajo), Sally Black (Navajo), Happy Camp, California Mexican Hat, Utah Mexican Hat, Utah

At age 50, Wilverna beg.in to collect Raised by her grandmother, Navajo Sally Black, the eldest daughter

baskets before she took classes to basket weaver Mar)' Holiday Black, of Mary Holiday Black, is one

learn to make baskets. Her Karuk Kavla Black has been involved in of the best-known contemporary

teachers, Grace and Madeline Davis, the craft of basket making since she Navajo basket weavers. Drawn to the craft at the age of eight, Sally told her that after she learned, it was three years old, beginning with would become her responsibility the preparation of materials for her has learned many basket designs in both to pass on weaving traditions to grandmother and eventually weaving and specializes weaving story baskets as well as tradi- others, so Wilverna now teaches her own baskets. Now 10 years old, tional ceremonial baskets. Sally's basketry classes. Wilverna still Kayla continues to weave and culti- outstanding work has received acco- enjoys weaving and her baskets vate her prodigious talent. lades in Colorado's Indian Spaniard for babies are in high demand. Lorraine Black (Navajo), Marker; the Indian Market in Santa

Mexican Hat, Utah Fe, New Mexico; and the Heard Combining her inventive use of Museum of Phoenix, Arizona. designs and dyes with traditional

Nava|o weaving styles, Lorraine

Black is a weaver of great innova-

tion and creativity. She is a daughter

of Mary Holiday Black, from

PARTICIPAN 118 CARRIERS OF CULTURE Southwest—Apache, Hopi, began to seriously pursue and 1993, Eleanor was recognized and Tohono O'odham master weaving m the last two years, with the Mississippi Governor's

tutelage ot his mother, Award for Excellence in the Arts. Evalena Henry (San Carlos under the weaver Esther jaimes. He Apache), Peridot, Arizona master John Darden (Chitimacha), has Evalena Henry learned weaving also acknowledges the help he Charenton, Louisiana from her mother, Cecilia Henry, received from his aunts, who are Currently a museum interpreter and who made baskets until she was also basket weavers. Although he assistant curator at the Chitimacha 89. In the late 1970s, people began was trained in traditional designs, Museum, John remains one of the asking Evalena to make burden Joseph enjoys creating works of last four local Chitimacha split-cane baskets for the Sunrise Dance, a sculptural form in his basketry. basket weavers. Learning the secrets coming of age ceremony for girls Wa:k Tab Basket Dancers of the trade from his grandmother, that has enjoyed a renaissance in (Tohono O'odham), the renowned Lydia Darden, John recent years. Evalena is recog- San Xavier District, Arizona has worked with other tribal nized as a master basket weaver Cecelia Enemas members and the National Resource among her own people and was Karlette Miguel Conservation Service to restore the honored with a National Heritage river cane plant in order to ensure Fellowship from the National Verna E. Miguel Angclique M. Moreno reliable supplies tor the future. Endowment tor the Arts in 2001. Celestine Pablo Scarlette Darden (Chitimacha), Esther fainics [Tohono O'odham), Lien Pablo Clarenton, Louisiana Tucson, Arizona Victoria M. Pablo As a young woman, Scarlette Esther Jaimes learned weaving at Wynona Peters Darden learned only one design age 20 from her grandmother, Carolyn M. Reyes and the basics of split river cane with added advice from sisters- Rhonalee Stone basketry trom her grandmother, in-law. Esther has exhibited The Wa:kTab Basket Dancers, Ernestine Walls. Alter her widely and was the recipient formed in 1990, are a group ol grandmother's death, Scarlette of the Award ot Excellence in talented young women ranging taught herself other designs and the Basketry at the Southwest Indian from 3 to 17 years of age who come techniques of d)'eing. Today, she She Art Fair on three occasions. from the San Xavier District of the specializes in single weave baskets, is a Native language instructor Tohono O'odham Nation (Desert the most popular being trays and in a local elementary school. People). The group performs bowl- and heart-shaped baskets. An dances that showcase the art of Dorleen Cashweseonia Lalo (Hopi), award-winning exhibitor, Scarlette O'odham basketry, a skill that has Hotevilla, Arizona passes on her basketry knowledge to been taught and handed down Dorleen, a basket maker from her children and grandchildren. from generation to generation. Third Mesa, was inspired by the Louise Wallace (Choctaw), masterful basket making of her Southeast—Choctaw and Chitimacha Bogue Homa, Mississippi mother and grandmother. Now Louise Wallace comes from a she is a master weaver in her own Eleanor Ferris Chickaway distinguished basket making right and a recipient ot numerous (Conehatta Choctaw), family in Conehatta. She has awards, including most recently the Conehatta, Mississippi been active in perpetuating her Arizona Governor's Arts Award. Eleanor Chickaway comes from cultural traditions and sharing her first she submitted The time a long line of basket makers knowledge and skills in basketry. work to the 72nd Annual Hopi and grew up immersed in the Louise has participated in the Culture at the Festival of Arts and craft. Her mother, master weaver Mississippi Arts Commission's Arizona, Museum of Northern Janic Shumake, taught her the folk arts apprenticeship programs her baskets won five awards, complicated double weave tech- and the Pine Hills Community including Best of Show award. nique. Eleanor makes a variety Scholars Program, begun in 1996. of basket types including egg Joseph Lopez (Tohono O'odham), and vegetable baskets, hampers, Tucson, Arizona and decorative miniatures small Although he has been around enough to wear as earrings. In weaving all of his life, Joseph only

CARRIERS OF CULTURE 119 PARTICIPANTS ,

Northeast Maine Southeast—Cherokee Robin McBride Scott (Cherokee), —

New Castle, Indiana Pegoy Sanders Brennan (Cherokee), Cancssa Bryant (Penobscot), Robin began weaving at age 31, Edmond, Oklahoma Princeton, Maine taught by her own trial and error Peggy Brennan is a master weaver Ganessa Bryant is from a long line and by her adopted relative Gwen and a historian of Cherokee of weavers, yet did not begin to Yeaman. Now an accomplished basket traditions. She is steeped in weave until she had reached the artist and teacher, Robin is a knowledge about how to gather and age of 20. Ganessa's work consists recipient of many awards for prepare plants for weaving and for mostly of brown ash and sweetgrass her weavings. As a member of making dyes. Among her teachers pieces, made distinctive through theTri-State Native American have been Mavis Doering and her use of stunning color combina- Community. Robin volunteers her Robin McBride Scott, but today tions. Under the instruction of time and energy to help educate Peggy herself is m demand as a Jeremy Frey, Ganessa's skill as a the public about Native American teacher, demonstrator, and lecturer. multi-colored point basket weaver culture, particularly the tradi- Peggy is also an activist and has has nourished rapidly, as her work tions of gathering, processing, been instrumental in establishing has already appeared in the Abbe and weaving with river cane. the Oklahoma Native American Museum of Maine, on a PBS

Basketweavers Association. Kathy VanBuskirk (Cherokee), television feature, and in private worldwide after only Tahlequah, Oklahoma collections Louise Goings (Eastern Band of weaving. Creating baskets and teaching three years of Cherokee), Cherokee, North Carolina basket techniques for over 19 Cherokee weaver Louise Goings Jeremy Frey (Passannujuoddy), years, Kathy is credited with has been making white oak baskets Princeton, Maine passing down the knowledge of since childhood, learning the Jeremy learned the skills and basketry to hundreds of children cratt from her mother, renowned techniques of weaving from his and adults. Kathy is known for Cherokee basket maker, Emma mother Frances Frey, who learned making bells, turtles, and other Taylor. She returned to the craft as from the late master weaver Sylvia objects with her weaving, but she an adult to demonstrate the process Gabriel. Although a relatively mostly weaves effigy and double- of Cherokee basketry. Louise uses young weaver, Jeremy, who special- walled Cherokee baskets. She and natural materials such as bloodroot izes in making fancy baskets, has her husband Perry were named and black walnut to dye the white already won awards for his work Cherokee National Living Treasures, oak splints she gathers and uses to including prizes at the Celebration the first husband and wile to weave her baskets. of Basketry & Native Foods Festival receive the award simultaneously. at the Heard Museum. He enjoys Lucille Lossiah (Eastern Band of doing weaving demonstrations Perry VanBuskirk (Cherokee), Cherokee), Cherokee, North Carolina and workshops with the public, Tahlequah, Oklahoma Lucille Lossiah is a Cherokee basket and his baskets are included in Perry comes from a long line of weaver in the Painttown commu- many museum collections. traditionalists and is an accom- nity in Cherokee, North Carolina. plished artist in many traditional Taught by her mother and grand- George Neptune (Passamaquoddy) art forms. He has been employed mother, she continues the tradition Princeton, Maine since 1996 at the Cherokee of her family, transforming white Weaving traditional baskets is a Heritage Center where he is now oak, maple, and river cane splints passion for George Neptune, who in charge of the Ancient Village into colorful, beautifully woven learned the craft at age four from and enjoys sharing his knowledge masterpieces. Lucille travels all his grandmother, master weaver with others. Perry and his wile along the East Coast presenting MoUy Neptune Parker. He primarily Kathy are also recipients of the the tradition of Cherokee basket weaves fancy baskets of brown ash Cherokee Medal of Honor from weaving, but demonstrates primarily and sweetgrass, a form traditionally the Cherokee Honor Society. at the Oconaluttee Indian Village, woven by women, but he also makes

where she first learned to weave utility baskets, a form typically

river cane baskets. woven by men. He weaves because

he enjoys it and hopes to pass this

cultural tradition on to his children.

PARTICIPANTS 120 CARRIERS OF CULTURE Great Lakes Molly Neptune Parker Cherish Neheshanze Parrish (Gun Lake Band of Potawatomi), (Passamacjuoddy), Kelly Church (Grand Traverse Michigan Indian Township, Maine LLopkins, Band of Chippewa and Ottawa), of Cherish has been weaving since she A devoted board member Hopkins, Michigan her the Indian Basketmakers was 12, having learned from Mame Kelly Church, a fifth-generation Church and other Alliance, Molly is an outstanding mother Kelly weaver, did not start weaving until family. tradition bearer ot the knowledge, members of her extended she was in her early 30s, learning best known language, customs, and culture ol Kelly and Cherish are mainly from her father Bill Church market Passamaquoddy tribe. Raised for their black ash bracelets, the and her cousin John Pigeon. Having strawberry baskets, but in a family of basket makers, Molly baskets, and mastered the form, she taught her chess weaves both functional and fancy they also make checker sets, daughter Cherish Parrish, with baskets of black ash and sweetgrass, sets, and baby cradles. In 2004 whom she now enjoys weaving. specializing in baskets shaped as Cherish was one of three youths Kelly recently received a Michigan acorns and strawberries. Considered awarded a Youth Fellowship for the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Santa Fe Indian Market. a master artist since the early 1990s, Award. In 2006 Kelly organized a Molly has done many public work- symposium for black ash weavers John Pigeon (Pokagon Band demonstrations. shops and by the on the destruction caused of Potawatomi Indians), Northeast—Mohawk Emerald Ash Borer, as part of an Dorr, Michigan outreach program for the National John Pigeon learned from his Linda Cecilia Jackson (St. Regis Museum of the American Indian. parents and grandparents how to Mohawk), Akwesasne, New York select a black ash tree, pound it, and Linda began weaving in her 40s, Jacob Keshick (Little prepare the splints for weaving into learning from her sister-in-law, Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa), baskets. A master weaver, his work Mae Bigtree, and now she herself Pellston, Michigan can be found in many museums and enjoys teaching. She particularly Jacob and his sister Odemin were private collections. As a teacher, he favors weaving fancy baskets using taught the art of making birchbark is committed to increasing under- the curled splint technique known boxes decorated with porcupine quill standing about his cultural heritage locally as the popcorn weave. Linda embroidery by their mother, master among non-Natives and passing on has been honored with awards artist Yvonne Walker Keshick. this tradition to the next genera- for her work from the Akwesasne Yvonne Walker Keshick (Little tions of weavers within his own Museum and the Iroquois Indian Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa), familv and community. Museum in New York. Pellston, Michioan Johnny Pigeon (Pokagon Band Sheila Ransom (St. Regis Mohawk), Yvonne Keshick is descended from of Potawatomi Indians), Akwesasne, New York a lona line of excellent quiU workers Dorr, Michigan Sheila (known as Kanieson, including her grandmother, Mary Johnny learned to weave from his which translates in English as Anne Kiogima, one of the region's father, aunts, uncles, and grand- "extravagant") is a Records and finest quill workers of the early parents, and although still a young Licensing Manager for the St. twentieth century. Yvonne began man he has become very proficient Regis tribe. She was inspired by making porcupine quill boxes in in the skills and knowledge related her godmother and mentor, Mae 1968 with her aunt and teacher, to weaving with black ash. He also Bigtree, to learn to weave at age Susan Shagonaby, and eventually enjoys doing public demonstrations her 41, and her tutoring was continued became a master and teacher in and classes on weaving and recently by other family members and own right. In 1992 she was honored served on a panel for the Emerald friends. Sheila mostly weaves fancy with a Michigan Heritage Award. Ash Borer symposium sponsored sweetgrass baskets m various sizes. by the National Museum of the American Indian.

CARRIERS OF CULTURE 121 PARTICIPANTS ,

Kellogg Cultural Heritage Fellows Kellogg Next Generation Weavers Cherish Nebeshanze Parrish (Gun Lake Band Potawatomi), Kellogg Cultural Heritage Fellows Kellogg Next Generation Weavers of Hopkins, Michigan are young Native people partici- are young Native people who have

pating "behind-the-scenes" at the demonstrated a strong interest Craig Phillips

2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in basketry and wiU be weaving (Colvtlle), and at the National Museum of at the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Omak, Washington the Ar\merican Indian,Indi, madeade possiDleible Festival alongside older mentor Johnny Pigeon by a generous grant from the culture-bearers. Their participation (Pokagon Band of W.K. Kellogg Foundation to the in the Festival is made possible Potawatomi Indians), Michigan State University Museum. by a generous grant from the Dorr, Michigan W.K. Kellogg Foundation to the Sainantba Jacobs Michigan State University Museum. Harold "Jimmi" Plaster (Seneca Nation of Indiatis), (Lummi), Collins, New York Kay la Black Bellingham, Washington (Navajo), Crystal Marie Keta Mann Mexican Hat, Mexico New Lynda Squally (Tsimshian and Tlingit), (Chinook and Puyallup), Ketchikan, Alaska Ganessa Bryant Milton, Washinpton (Penobscot), Vanessa Manuel Princeton, Maine (Onk Akimel O'odbam),

Seottsdale, Arizona Jeremy Frey (Passamaquoddy) Mary Mokihana Martin Princeton, Maine (Native Hawaiian), Honolulu, Hawai'i Khia Grinnell Qaniestown S'Klallani and Lummi), Elizabeth Ann Parker Sequini, Washington (Makah),

Neah Bay, Washinpton Ursula Jones

(Yosemite Miwok, Mono Lake Paiute, Gabe Paul Kashaya Ponio, and Coast Miwok), (Penobscot), Mammoth Lakes, California Indian Island, Maine

Jacob Keshick Laura Sanders (Little Traverse Bay Bands (Karuk and Yurok), of Odawa), Orleans, California Pellston, Michigan

Ahtkwiroton Skidders Joseph Lopez (Mohawk), (Tohono O'odham), Rooseveltown, New York Tucson, Arizona

Lynda Squally Marques Hanalei Marzan (Chinook and Puyalhip), (Native Hawaiian), Milton, Washinpton Kane'ohe, Hawai'i

Tony Stevens Theresa Mendoza (Wasco, Confederated Tribes (Makah), of Warm Springs), Neah Bay, Washington Warm Springs, Oregon George Neptune Carly Tex (Passamaquoddy), (Western Mono), Princeton, Maine Rohnert Park, California

PARTICIPANTS 122 CARRIL, ULTURE Festival Participants

Nuestra Musica: Latino Chicago

Music and Dance Groups: Banda Ansiedad Los Chalanes Justino Roman, manager AfriCiirik' Roberto Arce, guitar Simplicio Roman, Alfredo Espinosa, cajon, guitar Evarisco "Tito" Rodriguez, director,

keyboard, accordion Los Chalanes is drums, voice, dance an Afro-Peruvian Moises Roman, electric bass Charles Barbera trio formed by Roberto Arce, Melecio Roman, voice Niolani Halloway Anibal BelJido, and Alfredo Salomon Roman, drums Isabelino Landor Espinosa in the 1990s. When lead Jesiis Ocampo, sjnthesizer, Alicia Marrcro guitarist Roberto Arce moved electric tuba Jose Natal to Florida, Bellido and Espinosa Alejandro Ocampo, alto Rafael Quinones sa.\ophone continued playing with other Simplicio was in Evelyn Rodriguez Roman born guitarists, calling themselves Trio Acatlan del Rio, Guerrero, Mexico, Jessica Rodriguez Peni. For the Festival, two of the where his uncles had a traditional Ruth Venegas three original Los ChaLanes will hand. He came to Chica^JO in 199.) come together again to perform. AfriCaribe was established in 2000 and attended Benito Juarez High Their instrumentation includes two by Evaristo "Tito" Rodriguez to School, where he played with the guitars and a cajon. cajon, the celebrate the African influence in The

band and the mariachi group. center of Afro-Peruvian is Puerto Rico and other countries music, Simplicio and his brothers started a wooden box of the Caribbean. The organization turned into a drum, playing together for birthdays and which dates back to the days provides educational and cultural of the other family occasions, forming slave trade in Latin America. programming through four main Often their band in 1996. The band's joined by traditional dancers, programs: an academy in which style is rooted in traditional the professional dancers and musi- brass group plays traditional Afro- orchestra music datin

the nineteenth century, but played such as the marinera, the fcstejo, and and dance of several Puerto Rican now by smaller groups of four the alcatraz. In Chicago, they have bomba rhythms; a performance to si,x musicians who are able to rediscovered their Afro-Peruvian ensemble that prepares and presents reproduce the sound of large brass heritage, which they continue to various st]'les of folk music from sections with electronic keyboards pass on to younger generations. Puerto Rico and the Caribbean and synthesizers. Their repertoire through song, dance, drums and includes musica ranchem, mmhias, and other percussive instruments; a luiisica tropical a little bit of every- production company responsible — thing. Among the genres Ansiedad for annual events including folklore plays IS the pasito duranguense, conferences; and an education a style of music and dance that evolved department that offers workshops in Chicago and has gained such and lectures.

popularity that it is now emulated

by people in Me.xico.

LATINO CHICAGO 123 PARTICIPANTS The Essence dedicated years to the investigation Latin Street Dancing, Inc. Ronald "Don Evoua"\'asquez and research of Aztec dance both Manuel Ceja, dancer Thomas "P.R.ism" Cubas in Mexico and the U.S. Members Rosa Villanueva, dancer WiDiam "Casino" Colon of the group also bring other skills. Latin Street Dancing is a dance Montserrat Alsina, originally from entertainment company Guest DJ: Jorge "DJ Maddjazz" Ortega studio and artist Hip-hop and reggaeton artists who Valencia, Venezuela, is a visual that performs all forms of Latino

have performed in Chicago together and dancer. Anabel Tapia started music and dance. Headed by and with others recently formed the dancing with the Mexican Folkloric Lisa "La Boriqua," Latin Street crew The Essence. Their repertoire Dance Company as a child. She Dancing provides classes in mcludes hip-hop. Spanish hip-hop. plays the jarana (a small stringed salsa, merengue, bachata, cumbia traditional to jarocho and reggaeton, but as Don Evoua instrument sonidera. cha-cha-cha, and other Mexico). explains, "They call it Spanish music from Veracruz. Latino styles. The company plays various indigenous folkloric hip-hop, they call it re^aeton, and The group also includes a dance including the huehuetl dances they call it hip-hop. But I just call it instruments department offering from

music." The Essence cites a variety drum, rattles, whistles, and a Mexico, Chile, and Puerto Rico. of influences. On the one hand, guitar made from a turtle shell. Manuel Ceja and Rosa Villanueva

the musicians admire the breath are students of Samuel Cortez, Guarionex control of Eminem or the beats of choreographer and director, and Javier "Dedos de Oro" Mendez, WuTang Clan. But they are also Carmen Gallardo, the first dancer cuatro interested in taking regoaelon back to of the Mexican Dance Ensemble. Mario CarrasquiUo, voice its Latino roots by invoking more Israel Medina, guitar Carlos Mejia Ciiatemalan Marimba sounds of the clave and marimba. Orlando Otero, bass Carlos Mejia, marimba They want their audiences to Efrain Otero, giiiro Katalina TrujiUo, marimba understand that their music is William Velez, congas Carlos Mejia, a master Maya not only about catchy rhythmic Guarionex is dedicated to Quiche marimhero originally from a beats but also about the content, preserving and presenting musua small town a two-hour drive from truth, and passion in their lyrics. jihara, music from the mountainous Chicastenango in Guatemala, is the Gntpo Nahiii Ollin/Tarima Son regions of Puerto Rico. The founder and director of the cultural Roberto Ferreyra, Director group is named after Guarionex, organization Ixchel. At an early age, Celeste Alsina an Arawak warrior who fought he discovered his talent tor playing Montserrat Alsina against the Spanish colonization the marimba, learning from neigh-

Irekani Ferreyra of the island of Borinquen, as bors and in school. He later trained Anabel Tapia Puerto Rico was originally called. in marimba, guitar, and woodwinds

Roberto Ferreyra, a visual artist In musua jihara. stringed instruments at the conservatory. He had his first

originally from Morelia, Michoacan, and sung poetic forms that date professional job at the age of 12, Mexico, learned Puerepecha back hundreds of years to Spanish and later joined the Guatemalan indigenous traditions from his prototypes are combined with the national army orchestra. A victim grandmother and learned to play Caribbean percussion sounds of the of torture during the Guatemalan

guitar, Puerepecha songs, and sones giiiro rasp and hand drums. Javier civil war, he came to the United as de Oro, de la laguna from his grandfather. Mendez, known Dedos States in 1987 as a political exile.

is the director of the group and a As a child, he danced regional In 1993, he came to Chicago where to dances in street festivals: later, in virtuoso on cuatro, considered be he has been a major educator of Mexico City, he learned Latin the Puerto Rican national instru- marimba and Mayan culture in the American protest songs known as ment. He also teaches cuatro at the Guatemalan communit)-. Kathy

camion nucva and started dancing Ruiz Belvis Puerto Rican Cultural TrujiUo, also Guatemalan, has with Concheros (sacred Aztec Center and formed the Primera been an apprentice with Mejia for

dancers). In Chicago, he formed Rondallita de Cuatro. a group of many years. Mejia and TrujiUo are cuatro musicians. Guarionex s Nahui OUin in 1995 to perform child recipients of the 2006 Illinois Arts indigenous ceremonial dances of repertoire includes traditional forms Council Master/Apprentice Award.

5fis, aguinaldo, plena, as well as Mexico. He .and his family have of and compositions by Mendez. Recently,

they recorded a CD, Untendo Rakes.

PARTICIPANTS 124 LATINO CHICAGC Gustavo Lopez The Mexican Folklortc Dance Sones de Mexico

Winner of the 2004 Illinois Arts Company of Chicago Ensemble of Chicago

Council's Artists Fellowship Award Jose Luis Ovalle, artistic director Victor G. Pichardo, artistic

for his contributions to the arts, Mariana Medrano Ovalle, director, vocals, huapanguera, jarana,

bolero musician Gustavo Lopez artistic director guitar, clarinet

rose to national prominence in In 1979, Jose Luis Ovalle was Juan Dies, vocals, ouitarron

Mexico with Trio Los Angeles director of El Alma de Mexico Lorena Iriiguez, vihuela, jarana, small

before joinmg the legendary trio dance group, one of two groups that percussion

Los Tres Ases (1960-66), one ot joined together in 1983 to form the Victor Zacbe Pichardo, percussion the best-known bolero groups in Mexican Folkloric Dance Company, Jose Juan Rivera, vocals, requmto,

the world. After 1968, he launched of which he is now artistic director. violin

a solo career and was once listed He first realized his talent when he Javier Saume, drums, percussion

among the eleven best voices in was learning to dance in Chicago. Sones de Mexico is a Chicago-based

Mexico. In 1970, he moved to He returned to Mexico on scholar- ensemble dedicated to performing

Chicago to continue his solo career. ships with various institutions and regional styles of Mexican music

Alter working for a few years with studied with renowned instructors. interwoven with contemporary creativity. Trio San Pedro in California, he Ovalle keeps the repertoire fresh, They play a variety of returned to Chicago and joined instruments and musical genres, changing it every year, but the audi- Trio Los Duques, with he and their repertoire reflects the whom ence always expects the jarahe tapatic still performs on occasion. The diverse backgrounds of Chicago's from Jalisco, and polkas and dances bolero is a musical genre (often distinctive Latino community, from \'eracruz. He presents about accompanied by dancing) born in Mexican and beyond. Sones de 13 Mexican regional dances in a Cuba in the nineteenth century Mexico has established itself as year. He is the recipient ot the 2006 and a descendant from the Cuban Chicago's premier Mexican folk Illinois Arts Council Fellowship and cancion. The themes are music group and has expanded usually Master/Apprentice Award. about love in all its variations: its performing radius to twelve eternal love, unrequited love, love Peru Profunda states. Their work has included lost, and separation. Carmen Mejia, Director, dancer concerts, studio work, film scoring,

Hiledebrando Alcazar, dancer educational programs, live accom- MAYCO Amies Judith Glikberg, dancer paniment of Mexican folkloric Hugo "Hugito" Gutierrez, winds Daniel Glikberg, dancer ballets, and an artistic collabora- Rogelio Linares, guitar Carmen Mejia is the co-founder tion with the Chicago Symphony Ernesto Rodriguez, percussion and director of Perii Profundo, a Orchestra over the past two years. Milton Perugachi, charango guitar dance troupe that teaches about MAYCO Andes is an altiplano the roots and diversity of Peruvian

(highland) Andean folk music tradition, Mejia was born in ensemble founded by its director Peru where she learned to dance

Hugo "Hugito" Gutierrez. Their and performed for festivals and repertoire consists mainly of Bolivian cultural events. She believes that musical traditions including sayas, through dance, Peru Profundo tundiqui, and camaval (music for teaches history, culture, and a carnival dance troupes). They also way of life. Their repertoire perform different rhythms from includes Peruvian traditional other altiplano regions of Ecuador, dances such as marinera, tondero,

Peru, Chile, and Argentina. The vidicha, festejo, huaylani) and Lndo. members make their own Andean wind instruments, which include queua, quenacho, moxerio, siku, zampofia, and ihoyo.

LATINO CHICAG 125 PARTICIPANTS Community Radio Historical Society, and the Mexican Nelson Sosa and Paola Alemdn Fine Arts Center Museum, and m Sosa was born in the Nelson Radio Arte Estudio Museo mountain town of Los Andes, Mexico at the Casa Silvia Rivera, Radio Arte manager Diego Rivera. Duarte has received a Santiago, Chile. During his near Argelia Morales, interviewer of awards, including a he learned music with his number 1995 youth, Tania Unzueta, youth radio producer Chicago Bar Association Award for family. In Chicago, he is known Dulcc Jatziri Garcia, youth radio best work of public art and a of the peiia, an 1994 as the grandfather producer National Endowment for the Arts informal music gathering, usually In 1996, the Mexican Fine Arts project grant. Duarte is a co-tounder which started in in restaurants, Center Museum bought WCYC of the Ruelas Print Workshop the 1960s. Sosa Julio South America in and established Radio Arte as one in Zacatccas, Mexico; La Casa de to Chicago in to perform came 1985 of its youth projects. A publicly- la Cultura in Zamora, Mexico; and Latin jazz with the Epoca Quinta owned Latino radio station. Radio Tiller Mestizarte in Chicago. Sirena. Band at a club called La Arte provides a place lor young repertoire was When he arrived, his people to learn the art of radio Gamaliel Ramirez folk music, but South American through a one-year program that Originally from New York, in his surroundings, he had new trains them on the basics of broad- Gamaliel Ramirez is a self-taught learn Mexican, Puerto Rican, to cast journalism and production. Puerto Rican artist, muralist, print- songs. Today he sings and Cuban The station, broadcasting around maker, and art instructor. A leader different styles of Latin many the clock, is an important place tor in cultural activism in the Lincoln accompanied by American music community-centered programming Park neighborhood during the civil lyrics and has guitar. He composes that includes oral histories, popular rights movement, he was co-tounder involved in educational also been and traditional music, politics, of El Taller (the Workshop), an for children, performing, programs news, intormation, and current artist collective that offered free and writing songbooks composing, events. Central to their mission is silk-screen, music, dance, mural, and Nelson for them. Paola Aleman, addressing community issues. Silvia poetry workshops to the commu- Sosa's daughter, has accompanied Rivera is currently radio manager nity. Since 1972, he has worked in years, also him singing tor 17 and for Radio Arte. Argelia Morales is numerous communities throughout children's works with him doing Education Program Coordinator Chicago in cultural programs such Recently, programs and workshops. and community interviewer for the as exhibitions, newsletters, and dance into they have incorporated Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum. festivals, and he has coordinated

their programs. workshops in silk-screen, drawing, Muralists painting, and mural production. He Hector Duarte has painted alone and collaborated

Hector Duarte was born in with other artists in over 50 outdoor Michoacan, Mexico and studied and indoor murals and public

mural painting at the workshop installations, and has exhibited in in of David Altaro Siqueiros 1977. several cities in the United States, Since moving to Chicago in 1985, Turkey, and Scotland. Duarte has participated in the

creation ot more than 45 murals. He has exhibited his paintings and

prints in solo and group shows

at such local venues as the School

of the Art Institute, the State

of Illinois Gallery, the Chicago

PARTICIPANTS 126 LATiNO CHICAGO Special Guests Siini Paz and Rafael Manriquez Ratael Manriquez—singer,

Suni Paz is a singer, a pioneer composer, guitarist, and multi- Trio Chalchihuecan of Latin American music "with instrumentalist—has been one Jose Gutierrez, reqitinto a conscience," an educator, a of the leading exponents of Marcos Ochoa, jarana composer, and a social activist. Her Latin American music in the San Felipe Ochoa, harp experiences as a youth in Buenos Francisco Ba\' .Area tor over twenty National Endowment tor the Arts Aires filled her with the sounds years. Originally trom Santiago. National Heritage Fellow Jose and sentiments of tango, bolero, Chile, he joined the mainstream Gutierrez and the Ochoa brothers milonga, and folk music from rural ot the South American tolksong represent the best of the son Argentina. After resettling to the movement, drawing from regional jarocho tradition from the southern United States during the South folk instruments and genres to coastal plain of Veracruz, Mexico. American political turmoil ot the create new compositions, musical The virtuosic interaction among 1960s, she recorded several albums textures, and lyrics calling for these musicians-singers creates for Folkways Records and another social justice for the poor and an exciting dialogue ot musical for the Paredon label, now part ot oppressed. Alter moving to the and textual flow that defines the the Smithsonian Folkways collec- Bay Area in 1977, he became the simple harmonic, yet rhythmically tions. Throughout her career, her lead singer and musical director complex, style ol the dance music music making has toUowed her ot Grupo Raiz, an internationally that is the son jarocho. social commitments. Her 2006 acclaimed Chilean "new song" Son de Madera album on Smithsonian Folkways, nueva cannon ensemble that recorded albums, including two on the Ramon Gutierrez Hernandez, rcqmnto Bandera Mia: Sonos of Argentina, is three label that torms part Juan Perez, bass her first recording that embodies Monitor now

Laura Marina Rebolloso Cuellar. the regional song traditions ot of the Smithsonian Folkways coUec-

Itona (jarocho bass guitar) her homeland, intused with her tions. Since 1984, Rafael has worked

Andres Vega Hernandez, jarana own creativity and tinged by the as a solo artist, recording several

Founded in 1992, Son de Madera sensibilities ot the South American CDs and teaching and performing seeks to ditluse son jarocho based urban tolk song movement. throughout northern Calitornia. on research ot traditional jarocho www.sunipaz.com www.rataelmanriquez.com music from Veracruz, Mexico, and the incorporation ot new sounds. The group has been featured on numerous television and radio programs in Mexico and the United

States. In 1995, they toured to folk and traditional music festivals in Canada, the Netherlands, Spam, and Morocco. Their recordings have

been used in film soundtracks, tele-

vision documentaries, and theater.

LATINO CHICAGO 127 PARTICIPANTS Festival Participants

Been in the Storm So Long

Friendly Travelers has continued with several direct Big Chief Monk Boudreaux Carl Barrow descendents of first generation and the Golden Fagles Mardi Al Caston jazzmen. Widely considered among Gras Indian Tribe Kenitra Figaro the most authentic and popular Joseph Boudreaux L.D. Hiriams jazz groups in New Orleans, Ervin Banister Wanda Joseph the Original Liberty lazz Band Joseph Hill Alfred Penns has performed at major festivals Jonahthan Limjuco Lucain Randolph and concert halls throughout John Lis

Floyd Turner the world including Carnegie Glenard G. Siggers Jr. the Apollo Formed in 1959, the Friendly Hall, Lincoln Center, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and the Travelers have performed gospel Theater, the Hollywood Bowl, and Golden Eagles Mardi Gras Indian

standards and original songs New York's Village Vanguard. Tribe are one of New Orleans's

a cappella and with a rhythm most celebrated and cherished The Hot S Brass Band section in venues around the institutions. The Golden Eagles Keith "Wolf " Anderson world. This celebrated group won performed at the inaugural Jazz Terrell "Burger" Batiste first place in the Los Angeles Fest in 1970 and have appeared on Harry "Swamp Thang" Cook Harmony Sweepstakes in 1989 and numerous recordings. As Monk Jereau "Cousin" Fournett an "Outstanding Contribution Boudreaux said in a post-Katnna Alvarez "B.I.G. Al" Huntley to Gospel" award from The interview, "Mardi Gras is a time Jerome "Baybay" Jones New Orleans Jazz and Heritage to put all your little problems on Bennie "Big Peter" Pete Foundation in 1990. the side, all your jobs on the side, Dinerral "Dick" Shavers and come down and have a good Dr. Michael White and the Wendell "Cliff" Stewart time and enjoy yourself, 'cause Original Liberty Jazz Band Raymond "Dr. Rackle" Williams that's what you're going to have Detroit Brooks Founded in 1995, The Hot 8 Brass Because we suffered a great loss, Lester Caliste Band has been a staple of New you know. So we don't have to sit Herman Lebeaux Orleans's traditional second line down and cry about it. I mean, Kerry Lewis parades, even while they have found it's over, it's gone. It's finished. John Royen time to tour the world. They have You gotta go on with life. Gregory Stafford performed at the New Orleans Jazz Michael White & Heritage Festival and have played The Original Liberty Jazz Band in the Zulu Parade. Since Hurricane

was formed in 1981 by Dr. Katrina, the Hot 8 has been active Michael White, with the purpose in Save Our Brass!, a project to of continuing the heritage of bring traditional New Orleans authentic traditional New Orleans music to New Orleanians who have

jazz. Early members of the band been dislocated by the hurricane. included legendary performers whose musical careers began when

jazz was still young, and the group

PARTICIPANTS 128 BEEN IN THE STORK -ONG Festival Participants

Ralph Rinzler Memorial Concert

The Dixie Cups John Cephas Linda Lay and Springfield Exit Marc Adams Although he was born in Linda Lay was brought up in Cranston Clements Washington, D.C., John Cephas's Bristol, Virginia, and early on Barbara Ann Hawkms family hails from the Piedmont performed with her parents in a Rosa Lee Hawkms region, where he now lives near family band. She has teamed up Bernard Johnson Bowling Green, Virginia. He has with her husband, rhythm guitar James Markway been one of the major proponents player David Lay, to perform Athelgra M. Neville of the Piedmont-style blues guitar on the National Council for the Joseph Saulsbury and his performances have devel- Traditional Arts' Masters of the The Dixie Cups began singing oped new audiences over decades. Steel String Guitar tour and CD

together as "Little Miss and the His role as a "statesman of the (Arhoolie CD485). They have

Muftets" in New Orleans in blues" was honored by the National been joined more recently by

1963. As the Dixie Cups, they Endowment for the Arts, which David McLaughlin, one of the

recorded the number one hit awarded him a National Heritage founding members of the Johnson

"Chapel of Love" in 1964 and Fellowship in 1989. Mountain Boys, on mandolin, the traditional New Orleans and Ricky Simpkins, a fiddler Phil Wiggins song, "Iko Iko," m 1965. The with the Lonesome River Band John Cephas and Phil Wiggins met Dixie Cups now include original and session artist with Tony Rice at the 1977 Smithsonian Folklite members, sisters Barbara Ann and Emmy Lou Harris. For this Festival and have been pla)'ing Hawkins and Rosa Lee Hawkins, performance they will also be together ever since. Phil's harmonica joined by Athelgra Neville of joined by Sammy Shelor, a bril- complements John's powerful guitar the famous Neville family. liant banjoist from Meadows of and together the duo has performed Dan in Southwest Virginia. Davell Crawford throughout Europe and the U.S. Davell Crawford and on nine CDs. Phil lives in The Whitetop Mountain Band Craig Adams Takoma Park. Maryland. The Whitetop Mountain Band

Melany Batiste from Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, Daryl Davis Mark Brooks is firmly rooted at the heart of Daryl Davis, a well known blues Walter Harris the Crooked Road. Whitetop is and boogie piano player, performed Telissa Long essentially a family band led by with John and Phil on the acclaimed Jabial Reed Thornton Spencer, his wife Emily, Flip, Flop and Fly recording in 1992 Rhvthm & blues piano player Davell and daughter Martha. The Spencers (Flying Fish 850) and recently put Crawford is a part of the long and are regularly joined by Spencer out a solo album as well, American august line of New Orleans pianists Pennington on rhythm guitar and Roots (Armadillo 10). that includes Jelly Roll Morton, Michelle Lyle on bass, almost Professor Longhair, and Dr. John. members of the family. "We're Since Crawford began performing a together bunch," says Emily.

at the age of seven, he has played

around the world and recorded

prolifically. His CDs include Love

Like Yours ijr Mine and The B-3 and Mt\

both on BuUseye Blues.

RALPH RINZLER MEMORIAL CONCERT 129 PARTICIPANTS r une 30 ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Wild Rose Chinook Northern Jubilee Foodways Lights Stage Stage Stage Stage 11:00

Smithsonian Folklite Festival Opening Ceremony

12:00 SupcrNet: "The Cal^ar)" Stampede and Treat)' 7 First Theatresports: Tim Hus: Cowboy Celtic Nations." Piitoayis Elsie Kawulych Calgary vs. Edmonton Son^s oi Alberta Family School. Calgary & Galileo Educational Network «,