Third Round of Performers Announced for 78th National Folk Festival
Salisbury, MD – The National Folk Festival has released the third group of artists who will be performing in downtown Salisbury from September 7 – 9, 2018. The 78th National Folk Festival in 2018 marks the first year of the event’s three-year residency in Salisbury. Over 350 artists—musicians, dancers, storytellers, and craftspeople—will take part in the National Folk Festival, with more than 25 different musical groups performing on as many as seven outdoor performance venues throughout downtown Salisbury.
This group of performers continues to demonstrate the diversity and wide range of grassroots folk traditions the National Folk Festival is famous for celebrating. From tap to klezmer to Inuit throat singing to blues of the Chesapeake region,”—festival goers will experience something new and exciting around every corner.
The artists announced today include:
Jason Samuels Smith (New York, New York) – tap dance
One of the most acclaimed tap dancers of his generation, a bona fide “hoofer” who upholds a great American dance tradition with verve and style.
Michael Winograd & the Honorable Mentshn (Brooklyn, New York) – klezmer
With sounds rousing, raucous, and poignant in turn, this all-star band fronted by one of today’s premier klezmer clarinetists is leading the modern renaissance of klezmer.
Nukariik (Ottawa, Ontario) – Inuit throat singing
A rarely heard tradition, Inuit throat singing blends breath and voiced sound to create playful, rhythmic melodies and imitations of sounds in nature.
Phil Wiggins Blues House Party (Takoma Park, Maryland) – Piedmont blues and dance
A harmonica wizard and a master of dance lead an exuberant celebration of Piedmont blues music and dance inspired by the rural house parties of their youth.
Over a dozen people of different backgrounds—and with a deep knowledge of music and art forms—came together from across Delmarva to serve as the local Musical Programming Advisory Committee. This committee’s role is to consider—and help the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) select—the artists who will perform at the National Folk Festival each year. To learn more about these artists and their stories, please visit nationalfolkfestival.com/performers. More performers will be announced as they are confirmed.
