12 July 2006
Folklife Festival Shows Importance of Tradition, Change
Events range from Canadian cooking to Latin music at 40th annual event
Washington -- For 10 days this summer, tents, corrals and crowds of visitors covered the grassy expanse between the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument. The occasion was the 40th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which for the first time featured a Canadian province, Alberta.
This year's festival also hosted “Been in the Storm So Long,” a special evening concert series celebrating African-American musical traditions from the regions devastated by Hurricane Katrina. (See related article.)
"Nuestra Musica," a group of Latino artists from Chicago, appeared for the third time in four years, and there was also a section on basket weaving.
The festival is an annual celebration of contemporary cultural traditions. It is "a national, even international, family reunion asserting the ability of people to converse with and understand each other,” according to the Smithsonian Institution's Web site.
ALBERTA AT THE SMITHSONIAN
In the Alberta section, visitors had a chance to interact with native Albertans, eat traditional foods, learn about ranching, dance and listen to music and time-honored stories.
In one tent, children played in hay and climbed on saddles as Canadian ranchers explained their jobs. In another, cooks prepared pan-fried buckwheat bread -- a Ukrainian specialty -- and cheesecake sandwich cookies, for which the town of Calmar in central Alberta is known. In yet another large tent, couples and children danced to traditional fiddle music.
From robotic dogs to traditional crafts, from ice sports to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the festival covered many facets of Alberta. It especially honored traditions that have been passed from generation to generation. On the Chinook Stage, Hal Eagletail performed songs and told stories of the Tsuu T’ina Nation of indigenous Canadians.
On the Wildrose Stage, four women from Alberta told stories, continuing the traditions of their grandmothers. Margaret Cardinal explained what it was like to grow up a Plains Cree, an indigenous North American tribe. “The winter was time for stories -- about time, history, our ancestors,” she said.
Besides telling stories, Margaret taught festival visitors about teepee-making, crafting dolls, embroidery and using natural materials like smoked deer hide, wool and porcupine quills.
The stories Margaret heard as a child were told in her native Cree, an Algonquin language. Although many in her tribe have lost their fluency in that language, Margaret did not forget Cree. "The only reason I remembered it was because I was stubborn," she said. "All the time I spent with my nose in the corner [for getting in trouble at school], I’d talk to myself in Cree. Stubborn, I tell you."
To which somebody yelled, "Here’s to the stubbornness of Alberta women!" and the audience applauded.
CARRYING ON TRADITION
Another section of the festival, “Carriers of Culture: Living Native Basket Traditions,” exhibited the work of Native American basket weavers from North America, including Alaska and Hawaii.
Approximately 80 master artists from tribes throughout the United States came to the festival to explain how they sustain their skills and customs. Their accounts were supplemented with panels and maps that described the obstacles the Native American tribes had to overcome, such as the forced resettlements of the 19th century, the continuing depletion of forests and the disappearance of plants used in their art.
John Pigeon of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians from Dorr, Michigan, and his son Johnny Pigeon demonstrated how they remove the growth rings of black ash trees -- their main source of weaving material -- by cutting a gash into the tree and pounding the trunk until the growth rings peel away in strips.
John, one of the few male weavers at the festival, learned his skill from his parents. "We need to pass on the knowledge so that our traditions don’t die," he said. "I take my children out into the forest and teach them how to find a good tree, to check the diameter, everything they need to know."
Yvonne Walker Keshick of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa in Pellston, Michigan, explained the intricacies of working with porcupine quills. Her tribe stored dried foods in quill boxes during their winter and spring camps. The tribe did not have a written language, so woven patterns were used not only to decorate the boxes but also to let people know what was inside.
"A mother might send her son to get some dried squash from the store, so he would look for the box with a picture of squash on the top," explained Keshick. "Quill boxes were the original Tupperware [popular contemporary plastic storage containers]."
Woven baskets and other pieces are important components in today’s Native American ceremonies and practices, she said. Most important, the transmission of knowledge about these crafts helps bring together the tribes’ different generations.
NUESTRA MUSICA
Folk music, on the other hand, is not just about maintaining traditions, but also about transformation. This is one of the strongest messages of "Nuestra Musica," which shows some of the diverse sounds coming from Latin music in Chicago.
The music, from 17 groups that range from hip-hop to traditional, helped prove that folk music evolves constantly through the movement and interaction of peoples.
AfriCaribe, who performed at the festival July 7-10, play plena and bomba, two styles from the Puerto Rican musical tradition.
"Bomba is still alive, it's a living art … something we are nurturing throughout the United States and Puerto Rico," said Evaristo "Tito" Rodriguez, director of the group, drummer and singer.
The group Essence, performing with Jorge "DJ Madd Jazz" Ortega, showcased some "turntablism" and break dancing.
Hip-hop and reggaeton both influence Essence's music, and the group members return to their Latino roots through an emphasis on instruments such as the clave and the marimba.
Two performers of traditional folkloric dancing entertained visitors as well. Jose Luis and Matiana Ovalle, of the Mexican Folkloric Dance Company of Chicago, accompanied the group Sones de Mexico.
Hector Duarte, a muralist from Chicago, worked on a mural of the world in the area between stages. On the side, children had the opportunity to practice their own painting.
Duarte's work appears around Chicago, and he currently is working to bring his artwork to native city in Mexico with help from the Chicago Public Art group.
Additional information on the Smithsonian Folklife Festival is available on the Smithsonian’s Web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
