Mar 15, 2011

Tsimshian: Richmond Folk Festival Announces Lineup


The Git-Hoan Dancers will perform traditional Tsimshian dance and song, showcasing a different side of native traditions.

 

Below is an article published by: Richmond Times Dispatch.

This year's Richmond Folk Festival will be about a week later than usual but still packed with three days of music representing a smorgasbord of genres.

Organizers have announced the first group of artists for the 2011 festival, to be held Oct. 14-16 on the downtown Richmond riverfront.

"We try to make it a new festival every year, so none of these groups have been to the festival before," said Joshua Kohn, programming manager for the National Council for the Traditional Arts.

"We try to keep the programming fresh every year, whether that means bringing in different traditions, revisiting and rethinking things we've done before and what tradition means in the United States and the Richmond region," Kohn said.

One of the new acts, the Git-Hoan Dancers, will perform traditional Tsimshian dance and song, showcasing a different side of native traditions.

"The Tsimshian people are of the Pacific Northwest up through Alaska," Kohn said. The performers are led by David Boxley, a Tsimshian carver, he said.

"David is a master carver. He makes these really intricate, gorgeous masks," Kohn said. "Part of their traditional dance is they put these masks on, and the masks actually move and open up, and there are hidden faces inside."

An estimated 190,000 people attended last year's three-day Richmond Folk Festival, at which more than 25 artists and groups performed on seven stages.