Folklife Festival focuses on endangered languages + cultures
By hola | Published | 2 Comments
Wayuu dancers from La Guajira, Colombia. Photo by Daniel Sheehy
Performers from Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, and Central America bring Latin America’s cultural diversity to Washington at this year’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Participants will perform traditional music and dances, and present other cultural traditions such as cooking and medicinal healing at the free outdoor festival on The National Mall, which run between June 26-June 30 and July 3-July 7.
Among the performers showcased in the “One World, Many Voices” program are the Hatun Kotama Flute School, a group from Ecuador that specializes traditional Andean music; Los Masis, a Bolivian group that will play and dance to Andean compositions in Quechua; and dance performances by the Garifuna diaspora, whose West African ancestors currently live in Central America and the United States. The traditional medicinal practices of the Kallawaya people of the Bolivian Andes promise a few surprises, festival organizers say. Visitors can also get to know the cultural traditions surrounding Mexico’s Zapotec language, and hear four different Colombian indigenous languages (Arhuaco, Kamentzá, Uitoto, Wayuunaiki) plus the music from the Palenque community of Colombia.
According to Cristina Díaz Cabrera, the Festival’s production manager, “One World, Many Voices” program seeks to highlight the importance of maintaining a language because it is a way of thinking and seeing the world.
“We want to show people the different languages, but also the culture that surrounds those languages,” she says.
This year’s festival also features cultural offerings from other parts of the world – including programs on Hungarian heritage and African American style – each taking place on an outdoor stage near the Smithsonian Castle. The aim is to introduce the people behind the traditions and encourage cross-cultural conversation with the public, Díaz-Cabrera said.
The Latin American dance and musical performances will take place on the Voices of the World Stage. Smaller, more intimate and interactive presentations will be held in the Song and Story Circle stage, while the Talk Story stage will be dedicated to discussions.
Here are some “must-see” Latin American events:
Garifuna Drumming and Dance
Country: Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, St. Vincent, and the United States
Language: Garifuna
Garifuna dancers. Photo by Michele Goldwasser.
Voices of the World Stage
Wed., June 26, 3:30pm-4:00pm
Thu., June 27, 2:00pm-2:30pm
Fri., June 28, 1:00pm-2:00pm
Sat., June 29, 11:30am-12:30pm
Sat., June 29, 2:30pm-3:30pm
Sun., June 30, 11:30pm-12:30pm
Sun., June 30, 2:30pm-3:30pm
Thu. July 3, 3:30pm-4:30pm
Fri. July 5, 1:30pm-2:00pm
Sat. July 6, 3:30pm-4:30pm
Kennedy Center Millennium Stage
Tue., July 2, 6:00-7:00pm
The Garifuna people perform.
Garifuna Wanaragua Dancers
Country: Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, St. Vincent, and the United States
Language: Garifuna
Voices of the World Stage
Wed. July 3, 12:30pm-1:30pm
Thu. July 3, 12:30pm-1:30pm
Fri. July 5, 4:00pm-5:00pm
Sat. July 6, 1:00pm-2:00pm
Los Masis musicians with Roberto Sahonero, the group’s director. Photo by Monika Stockheim
Los Masis: Quechua Music from Bolivia
Country: Bolivia
Language: Quechua
Voices of the World Stage
Wed., June 26, 2:00pm-2:30pm
Thu., June 27, 11:30am-12:30pm
Fri., June 28, 11:00am-11:30pm
Fri. June 28, 6:00pm-8:00pm. Evening concert
Sun, June 30, 1:30am-2:00pm
Wed. July 3, 11:00am-11:30am
Wed. July 3, 3:30pm-4:30pm
Fri. July 5, 5:00pm-6:00pm
Sat. July 6, 2:00pm-3:00pm
Sun. July 7, 12:30pm-1:30pm
Sun. July 7, 3:30pm-4:30pm
Kennedy Center Millennium Stage
Thu. June 27, 6:00-7:00pm
Palenque dancer Élida Cañate
Ri Palenge: Traditional music and dance from Palenque, Colombia
Country: Colombia
Language: Palenge
Voices of the World Stage
Wed., June 26, 5:00pm-6:00pm
Thu., June 27, 4:00pm-5:00pm
Sun., June 30, 5:00pm-6:00pm
Ecuador’s Hatun Kotama Flute School. Photo by Jessie M. Vallejo
Kichwa Music and Dance: Hatun Kotama school performs traditional flute music in Quechua
Country: Ecuador
Language: Kichwa
Voices of the World Stage
Thu., July 4, 1:00pm-2:00pm
Fri., July 5, 11:30pm-12:30pm
Sat., July 6, 12:30pm-1:30pm
Sat., July 6, 6:00pm-7:30pm. Evening concert
Sun., July 7, 2:00pm-3:00pm
Kennedy Center Millennium Stage
Fri, July 5, 6:00pm-7:00pm
Also Don’t miss…
Arts, crafts, poetry, and storytelling on the Song and Story Circle stage and Talk Story stages will have representatives of the Colombian Arhuaco, Kamentzá, Uitoto, Wayuunaiki indigenous people, as well as Zapotec tortilla making demonstrations and discussion of traditional medicinal practices by the Kallawaya community of Bolivia. (Photo: Kallawaya healer Lola Palluca de Quispe. Photo by Beatriz Loza)
Related exhibition:
Céramica de los Ancestros: Central America’s Past Revealed. This bilingual (English/Spanish) exhibition of Central America’s 160 objects will be on exhibition through early 2015 at the National Museum of the American Indian, also on The Mall. It features ancient ceramic art unearthed by archeologists in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.
– by Lucía Camargo Rojas with additional reporting by Edwin Martinez
Photos courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution
Recent Stories
