[Chronicle]

Feb. 2, 1995
Vol. 14, No. 11

current issue
archive / search
contact

    Toe-tappin' music annual tradition at Folk Festival

    Traditional music from all over the world will be featured at the 35th annual University of Chicago Folk Festival, which will be held from Friday, Feb. 3, through Sunday, Feb. 5. The festival is sponsored by the University of Chicago Folklore Society.

    Three concerts in Mandel Hall -- one on each day of the festival -- will feature music from a variety of international traditions as well as American blues, bluegrass and old-time music in several regional styles. Free workshops, jam sessions and dancing will take place in Ida Noyes Hall from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 5.

    The festival, which has long prided itself on presenting some of the finest players of American "mountain music," will include performances by old-time fiddler and banjo player Clyde Davenport of Kentucky, as well as the Bing Brothers, an old-time string band from West Virginia.

    Other highlights include the return to the festival of piano player Mose Vinson, who will bring to Chicago the blues and boogie music that he plays around the Memphis area. Blues guitarist Dave Myers -- who recorded with Junior Wells and Little Walter for Chicago's legendary Chess Records in the 1940s and 1950s -- also will perform his swing-influenced brand of the blues.

    International artists performing at the festival will include Flory Jagoda, who was born in Sarajevo and is one of the few Bosnian Ladino speakers who survived World War II. Jagoda will sing songs in the Spanish-based language of the Sephardic Jews, accompanying herself on guitar and accordion. Mario Zuleta y los Vallenatos de Colombia will play an accordion-driven, salsa-style dance music indigenous to the northern coast of Colombia. Concert times and lineups follow. Friday, Feb. 3, 8:15 p.m.

    Bing Brothers (old-time string band)

    Mose Vinson (blues)

    Clyde Davenport and Bobby Fulcher (mountain fiddle and guitar)

    Canray Fontenot and Bois Sec Ardoin (Creole)

    Traditional Grass (bluegrass)

    Mario Zuleta y los Vallenatos de Colombia (Colombian traditional) Saturday, Feb. 4, 7:30 p.m.

    Flory Jagoda (Sephardic)

    Broken Pledge Ceili Band with Liz Carroll (Irish traditional)

    Louis Killen (British ballads)

    Clyde Davenport and Bobby Fulcher (mountain fiddle and guitar)

    Traditional Grass (bluegrass)

    Bing Brothers (old-time string band) Sunday, Feb. 5, 6:15 p.m.

    Dave Myers (blues)

    Louis Killen (British ballads)

    Mose Vinson (blues)

    Canray Fontenot and Bois Sec Ardoin (Creole)

    Flory Jagoda (Sephardic) Tickets for each concert are $14, $7 for students and children. Tickets are on sale at the Reynolds Club box office or by phone at 702-7300. In addition to its regular hours -- 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday -- the box office will also be open for two hours before each concert. For more information, call 702-9793.