Daily updates from the Folklife Festival http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx As an employee of the Coed Cymru Company in Wales, Andy Steward has eagerly presented the ty unnos house that was constructed over the course of a two-day period on the Mall... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_07_05_W-1 Joni L. Jones (Olorisa Omi Osun Olomo) of Austin, Texas, performs a narrative in honor of a storyteller who had recently fallen ill... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_07_03_GV Representing several generations and a range of song styles, the musicians in this all-star group hail from small towns and ranches on Colombia's Caribbean coast, a region known as La Guajira... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_07_03_LA_2 Mariachi Chula Vista is a little different than the rest of the groups in the Las Américas program in that most of the members are probably too young to vote and some of them still are not allowed to drive... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_07_03_LA With Grupo Cimarron, Carlos Rojas Hernandez brings together an all-star team of instrumentalists and singers from Colombia... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_07_02_LA Vickie Burnett (San Juan Capistrano, California) is a storyteller who mixes stories and music... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_07_02_GV The marimba is a vivid legacy of African presence in Latin America. But only on the Pacific coast of southern Colombia and northern Ecuador does it keep its close connections to a strongly African culture... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_07_01_LA Linda Griffiths (Aberystwyth, Wales) and her daughter, Lisa Healy, are accompanied by Ceri Rhys Matthews (Pencader, Wales).Griffiths has participated in Wales's folk scene for more than thirty years... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_07_01_W-2 During the first week of the Festival, Angela Gray demonstrated a traditional method of making fruit crumble and preserves at the Taste of Wales stage of the Wales Smithsonian Cymru program... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_07_01_W Here are two videos featuring participants of the Las Americas Festival program. Jarocho musician Tereso Vega from Xalapa, Mexico improvises lyricsto "Cupido" accompanied by Chicano musician Quetzal Flores on jarana... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_06_28_LA Gareth Johns learned how to cook traditional Welsh food while sitting comfortably on the knees of his grandmother. By his early teens he knew he wanted to cook professionally, and years later, after stints in kitchens across Europe... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_06_28_W As the Smithsonian Folklife Festival hums along on the National Mall, inside the Festival Marketplace exciting things are happening. Spanish is joyfully used and Welsh words... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_06_27_LA Ana Rees (Gaiman, Patagonia, Argentina) runs the Welsh Tea Room in Gaiman, which was started by her great-grandmother sixty-five years ago. Recently, she won first prize in Chubut's annual Agricultural Festival... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_06_27_W Two videos featuring participants of Giving Voice. Ella Jenkins, Smithsonian Folkways recording artist, performs for families at the Festival. Christylez Bacon puts a new twist on Go-Go music, merging those sounds with the "Human Beatbox." http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_06_26_GN The 43rd Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival opened yesterday to inspiring performances and enthusiastic crowds... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_06_25_GN2 A tribute concert to Diana Parker, director of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, will be held on Saturday, June 27, 2009, at 7 p.m., on the Welsh Dragon stage. The concert features BeauSoleil and Phil Wiggins and Corey Harris... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_06_25_GN The 43rd Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival opens today, and Las Américas, the final and most broad-reaching program of the Nuestra Música: Music in Latino Culture Smithsonian Folklife Festival "living exhibitions" series, is featuring outstanding artists from the United States and Latin America in an engaging cultural dialogue.... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_06_24_LA In conjunction with the Festival, Smithsonian Folkways releases four albums today. One, A Voice Ringing O'er the Gale! The Oratory of Frederick Douglass Read by Ossie Davis, is part of the Giving Voice: The Power of Words in African American Culture program.... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_06_23_GV By incorporating blues and rock lines into steady rhythms, Max Baca takes the bajo sexto, the 12-string instrument common in the music from northeastern Mexico and southern Texas... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_06_22_LA Today Smithsonian Folkways releases 'Blodeugerdd: Song of the Flowers,' an anthology of Welsh music and song recorded in a 15th century gatehouse on the luminous Preseli hills in Wales.... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_06_23_W Music from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings—the non-profit record label of the Smithsonian Institution—will play an important role in Giving Voice: The Power of Words in African American Culture at the 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_06_22_GV Paraguayan harp music is unique and stands out as a favorite for harpists the world over—not least for its driving rhythms, compelling melodies, and rich ornamentation... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_06_22_LA This week, in addition to the tents and trailers already on the National Mall, visitors have been able to see stone walls being constructed around the edge of the Wales Smithsonian Cymru program site... http://www.festival.si.edu/2009/from_the_mall.aspx#2009_06_22_W