National Folk Fest in Richmond

Held 13-15 October 2006 on Brown's Island, the National Folk Festival had its second year in Richmond VA (and 68th year overall).


Above are two performers from the group AltaiKai, a bunch of fine folk who twanged and throat sang, made birdsongs and horse whinnies. Pretty my personal faves this year.



Another fave was Mythili Prakash (pictured above) and the Dance of India Ensemble.


The hands above belong to Grace Chang. And the instrument she's goin' to town on is the zheng.


Gourd instruments, gourd hats and gourd masks--the Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra are homegrown and homemade. They played and had hands-on exhibits like the gourd petting zoo and gourd instruments folks could play with.













Next October will be the last of these held in R'mond. If you're in the neighborhood, check it out.