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More Performers Announced for 81st National Folk Festival

MEDIA RELEASE
DATE: May 17, 2022
CONTACT:  Caroline O’Hare, National Folk Festival Local Manager / nff@ncta-usa.org

More Performers Announced for 81st National Folk Festival

SALISBURY, MD (May 17, 2022) – The 81st National Folk Festival is excited to reveal several more performers who will be sure to enchant and delight attendees in Downtown Salisbury, MD, this August 26-28, 2022. This year’s festival will mark the final year of the event’s residency. In 2023, the festival will transition to the Maryland Folk Festival in Salisbury.

Approximately 350 artists—musicians, dancers, storytellers, and craftspeople—will take part in the National Folk Festival, with more than 25 different musical groups performing on four outdoor stages throughout Downtown Salisbury.

The artists announced today include:

Eileen Ivers (Bronx, New York) – Irish
Raised in the Irish American community in the Bronx, this musical pioneer and innovator has won over 30 All-Ireland medals and redefined the boundaries of Irish traditional fiddling.

Gene Tagaban (Guuy Yaau) (Ruston, Washington) – Tlingit storyteller, musician, and dancer
Dancing in a stunning, hand-painted mask and feathered wings, this renowned storyteller and Raven Dancer brings audiences into active participation with timeless Indigenous teachings.

Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas (Lafayette, Louisiana) – zydeco
Led by arguably zydeco accordion’s foremost living practitioner, this rollicking group represents the crème de la crème of the vibrant Black Creole dance music native to Southwest Louisiana.

Free to the public, the National Folk Festival strives to present the nation’s very finest traditional artists. Music and dance traditions from every part of the country are represented—authentic blues, rockabilly, gospel, jazz, polka, tamburitza, cowboy, bluegrass, klezmer, R&B, old-time, Cajun, rhythm and blues, mariachi, beatbox, breakin’, western swing, honky-tonk, and zydeco, as well as traditional music and dance from Native American, Celtic, Acadian, Middle Eastern, Caribbean, East Asian, Appalachian, Latino, Eastern European, West African, and Pacific Island cultures, among others.

To learn more about these artists and their stories, please visit https://nationalfolkfestival.com/performers/.

The National Folk Festival will feature individual artists on Facebook (facebook.com/NFFMaryland), Twitter (twitter.com/NFFMaryland), and Instagram (Instagram.com/nffmaryland) throughout the next month roulette win.

Performer photos, bios, and audio clips may be downloaded here:

https://bit.ly/81NFF-artists-051022

Photo credits should be listed and can be found in image file names.

Details about performers and demonstrators for the Maryland Traditions Folklife Area & Stage as well as the return of the festival’s Family Area will be announced later this summer.

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About the National Folk Festival
Since it was first presented in St. Louis in 1934, the National Folk Festival, the NCTA’s flagship event, has celebrated the roots, richness and variety of American culture. Championed in its early years by Eleanor Roosevelt, it was the first event of national stature to present the arts of many nations, races, and languages on equal footing. It was also the first to present to the public musical forms such as the blues, Cajun music, polka, Tex-Mex conjunto, Peking Opera, and many others. Today, the National is an exuberant traveling festival, produced by the NCTA in partnership with communities around the country, that embraces the diverse cultural expressions that define us as a people in the 21st century. http://www.nationalfolkfestival.com/

About the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA)
A leading non-profit in the field, the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) is dedicated to the presentation and documentation of folk and traditional arts in the U.S. Stressing excellence and authenticity, the NCTA presents the nation’s finest traditional artists in major festivals, tours, concerts, workshops, demonstrations, exhibitions, media productions, school programs, cross-cultural exchanges, and other activities. It works in partnership with American communities to establish new, sustainable traditional arts events that deliver lasting social, cultural, and economic benefits. Over 7,000 hours of the NCTA’s archival audio recordings dating from the 1930s are permanently housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. The NCTA champions the interests of folk and traditional artists and organizations in the arena of public policy. https://ncta-usa.org/

About the City of Salisbury, Maryland
Founded in 1732, Salisbury is the county seat of Wicomico County, a place where John Smith touched land in 1608 during his exploration of the Chesapeake Bay. Situated on Maryland’s historic Eastern Shore at the crossroads of the Delmarva Peninsula, Salisbury is now one of the region’s largest cities, and serves as the capital of the Eastern Shore, a rural area defined by its agricultural and maritime traditions, landscapes, and industries. The Chesapeake Bay is central to this distinctive identity. Though a relatively small city, Salisbury is the geographic and economic hub of one of the nation’s fastest-growing Metropolitan Statistical Areas. Led by a dynamic mayor, the City of Salisbury is working to build its reputation as an arts and culture destination and is aligning its downtown development and revitalization efforts with the arts. Salisbury believes hosting the National Folk Festival is the perfect catalyst to further a cultural renaissance and urban renewal.  https://salisbury.md/

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