The Labor & Ethnic Heritage Festival is an opportunity to celebrate the experiences, histories, music and art of the many cultures and communities that built and continue to build Rhode Island and the nation. From 1990 through 2001 the Rhode Island Labor & Ethnic Heritage Festival became a focal point for those Rhode Islanders who were interested in sharing their stories, celebrating their heritage and embracing others. Bringing back this festival in 2008, it was an opportunity to bring together people from diverse backgrounds, work environments and traditions and continues in 2009.
The Festival included great music as well as activities for all ages, vendors, exhibits and cultural demonstrations. Social action groups, fine craftspeople and area labor unions are also represented.
"Made in Rhode Island" Traditional Music & Dance, Fine Crafts, Food, Demonstrations
Attending Performers:
Atwater-Donnelly (4 - 5:00 PM)
Atwater-Donnelly inhabit a region of American folk music, song, and dance where the borders extend from Appalachia and the Ozarks to the hills of New England and over the water from Prince Edward Island to England and Ireland. Their concerts and recordings resonate with an astonishing array of instruments including the mountain dulcimer, old-time banjo, tin whistle, guitar, limberjack, mandolin, harmonica, “feet,” and more. Traditional songs and original poetry draw audiences into the landscape of an American folk dream made real by Aubrey and Elwood’s lullabye-soothing harmonies and toe-tapping dance repertoire. More Information...
The Fiddle and Dance Project & Students from Community MusicWorks (12 - 12:30 PM)
Rachel Panitch studied classical violin and minored in Music and Culture at Vassar College before bringing her major passion for early American fiddle music to Providence and the nationally acclaimed Community MusicWorks. Along the way, she has played in Europe with the Providence Mandolin Orchestra and studied contradance fiddling at the famed Joseph C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina. Taking her final bow as a Community MusicWorks Fellow, Rachel brings CMW’s urban neighborhood energy and youth-artists to her Fiddle and Dance Project where friends and young classical musicians transform from violinists to fiddlers, ready to make the old-time tunes come to life.
Bridget Fitzgerald (Sylvanus Brown House, intermittent times)
From singing sessions in her native Galway to the American folk music stage as a founding member of the internationally acclaimed Irish music ensemble Cherish the Ladies, Fitzgerald is considered a leading lady of the sean nos (old-style singing in the Irish language) tradition in America. With songs in Gaelic and English in her repertoire, Fitzgerald represents the willful and pioneering spirit of “Mill Girl Bridget,” the Irish immigrant who led a small band of sister millworkers to strike in 1858 Rhode Island.
Fraternidad Folklorica Boliviana
Founded in 1993 with a mission to promote and preserve the traditions of Bolivian culture through folklore, Fraternidad Folklorica Boliviana is a diverse dance ensemble that cherishes a timeless legacy and cultural history. Young men and women move to the rhythms of Bolivian history where dances such as the Morenada evoke both the pride and pain of slaves forced to work in the mines or the Cueca, a national dance of Bolivia which expresses the romance of courtship. With exquisite costumes and the music of young instrumentalists learning panpipes, Fraternidad Folklorica Boliviana provides a welcome to their “Made in Rhode Island” folklore family.
French Roast (2 - 2:40 PM)
Evoking the taste and texture of a richly roasted brew, French Roast creates a blend of Franco tunes and dances known as quadrilles, reels, circles, contras, and squares danced in New England from town halls to grange halls for centuries. Fiddles, accordion, bass, and guitar carry the melodies and pay tribute to generations of French Canadians who came to Rhode Island to work in the mills and whose language and dance steps are still part of the rhythm of Rhode Island. Members of the audience take to the dance floor, welcome to learn the steps from delightful caller Lucia Watson, who joins Michelle Kaminsky on fiddle, Alan Bradbury playing accordion, and Boston’s Rob Saunders on guitar. More Information...
Joyce Katzberg (12 - 12:45 PM)
Joyce Katzberg sings a unique blend of topical and traditional, historical and “hysterical” songs in an exquisite voice that commands any stage and conveys both personal grace and an American conscience, at work through music. Katzberg in concert entertains and nourishes a folk music audience with the songs they have come to love, as well as the songs they need to hear. Her voice and songbook have kept her in good company, sharing the stage at times throughout her career with Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Holly Near, and the Freedom Singers…..among many more. Bob Gulla, music writer for The Providence Phoenix describes her as “…one of the local scene’s most prized acoustic music possessions.” As a founder of the early Labor & Ethnic Heritage Festival, Katzberg’s brilliant voice and vision honor time, place, and topic. More Information...
Ken Lyon (1 - 1:45 PM)
American folk and blues master Ken Lyon recently celebrated forty years in music. His career is bookended by the American Folk/Blues Revival of the 1960’s in New York and Cambridge, and by his most recent rave- review revival of the legendary Ken Lyon and the Tombstone Blues Band. Lyon’s rich baritone voice stands the test of time, gaining range, reach, and richness with every concert performance and with every new recording or ensemble project. From his near sold-out, major house anniversary performance in 2007 to his solo concerts that allow his voice to match every virtuoso note on his twelve-string guitar, Ken still stands as the icon of a folk music life made in Rhode Island. His early road out of town may have been paved with recordings for Epic, Decca, Columbia, and Capitol, “but he never forgot his way back home.” A true Rhode Island heritage legend. More Information...
Pendragon (2 - 2:45 PM)
Pendragon fashions the music of tradition into the music of tomorrow performing their original songs and dance tunes on an innovative combination of bouzouki, fiddle, concertina, banjo, guitar, whistle, flute, percussion and step dance. Pendragon is comprised of step dancer and percussionist Kevin Doyle, Bob Drouin on fiddle, bouzouki and tenor banjo; Russell Gusetti on guitar and concertina; Josh Kane on flute and whistles; and Mary Lee Partington on vocals. More Information...
Lydia Perez and Yoruba2 (1 - 1:45 PM)
Afro-Caribbean Traditions in Music and Dance
Lydia Perez & Yoruba2 an award-winning, nationally renowned presents traditional music and dance from Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. The group includes such known genres as “bomba”, “plena” , “rumba”, Yoruba songs, and other rhythms. She offers Solo/Residency of Bomba or Plena for ensemble group in school or after school program. More information...
The Yankee Yeoman (Sylvanus Brown Garden, intermittent times)
“Circa 1806-Labor from the Land
An Interactive Dramatic Recreation from the Yankee Farm to Factory Experience
Marvelous Marvin
Circus Workshops More Information...
Issa Coulibaly (2:45 - 3:30 PM)
Master Djembe Drummer Issa Coulibaly bagan studying the djembe and djun djun when he was 11 in his home city of Bamako, Mali…in West Africa. Coulibaly toured Africa and Europe, extensively, before emigrating to America where his skills as a mult-instrumentalist, vocalist, and arranger created a demand for his gifts. Whether serving as Musical Director for African dance troupes, leading workshops and retreats, or offering finely made drums from Mali…Issa’s drumming make listeners’ hearts skip a beat…with rhythms that resonate long after the music has ended. More Information...
Ladies of the Rolling Pin
The Ladies of the Rolling Pin are one of only a few women’s Border Morris dance teams. The “Border” referred to is on the English side of the border between England and Wales, and despite a legacy of several hundred years, the English Industrial Revolution that sent Samuel Slater to the banks of the Blackstone River…nearly put an end to this festive, group dance custom. The Ladies of the Rolling Pin cross more than the borders between cultures. Costumed in chef hats, aprons, and bright ragtag fabric, the Ladies wield their rolling pins and leave their audiences rolling with laughter. The team has been the pride of Rhode Island since 1998, and they have performed in both New England and “merry olde England,” as well.
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