Ann Yao

Ann Yao

Chinese guzheng
Orlando, Florida

Guzheng master Ann Yao embodies China’s musical past and present with elegance and grace, deftly performing cutting-edge interpretations of traditional material on one of China’s most ancient instruments. A Shanghai native, Ann brings a deep knowledge of Chinese traditional music and a profound expressivity to the guzheng, a five-foot long, horizontal, plucked zither typically featuring 21 strings. As an artist, educator, and ambassador for an instrument central to so many music traditions throughout China, Ann enthralls new audiences with the lush, evocative sound of the guzheng, bringing traditional Chinese string music to new heights of skill and beauty.

Aurelio

Aurelio

Garifuna
Plaplaya, Honduras, and New York, New York

One of the most extraordinary Central American artists of his generation, Aurelio Martinez is a musical ambassador and champion of the Garifuna, a culturally threatened African Amerindian ethnic minority living primarily along the Caribbean coasts of Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. Hailing from the small community of Plaplaya in Honduras, he grew up immersed in Garifuna rhythms, rituals, and songs. With powerfully evocative vocals; talent as a composer, guitarist, and percussionist; and over 30 years’ experience, Aurelio is central to the perpetuation and innovation of this unique tradition.

The Campbell Brothers

The Campbell Brothers

sacred steel guitar
Rochester, New York

The Campbell Brothers are among the finest ambassadors of the sacred steel tradition, the ecstatic sounds of which fuel the spirit and joy found in African American Holiness-Pentecostal worship services in House of God churches. A family-based band comprised of brothers Chuck and Phil Campbell, Phil’s son Carlton Campbell, their cousin Denise Brown, and family friend Daric Bennett, the Campbell Brothers have broken new ground and redefined the possibilities of the lap and pedal-steel guitars—from electrifying, raise-the-roof solos, to meditative sounds of beauty and reflection.

Don Bryant

Don Bryant

Memphis soul
Memphis, Tennessee

Veteran Memphis songwriter Don Bryant released his first album in nearly four decades in 2017, eliciting rave reviews and declarations about his triumphant return. This spring, the near-octogenarian followed up with another bombshell: You Make Me Feel, a musical love letter to Memphis soul icon Ann Peebles, his wife of 50 years, and a masterful album comprised of new music as well as gems from his back catalog that has solidified his place in the pantheon of great Memphis soul singers. “It feels good to have found my own voice,” says Don. “Music has always been a part of me, I’ve never given up on it, never let it go. If I’m walking around, I’m humming songs. Now, I’m trying to let it all out. What I had, what I got, and what I’m gonna get.”

Eileen Ivers

Eileen Ivers

Irish fiddle
Bronx, New York

Eileen Ivers is one of America’s preeminent Irish fiddlers. Born to Irish immigrant parents in the Bronx, she was raised in the Irish American community there. She began to play the fiddle at the age of eight and went on to study under master Irish fiddler Martin Mulvihill. Ivers has won nine All-Ireland fiddle titles in her illustrious career, winning the first seven of those titles between ages eleven and nineteen, an astounding accomplishment for anyone in such a short time, let alone a teenager. In total, she holds more than 30 All-Ireland medals. Noted Irish American writer Frank McCourt sums up Ivers’s genius eloquently: “Eileen is … a pioneer, an innovator, a universalist. She grew up in boom-box Bronx and she carries sounds from childhood that are surely embedded in her musical soul.”

Jasmine Bell & North Bear

Jasmine Bell & North Bear

Lakota hoop dance and Northern Plains drum
Riverton, Wyoming

Two-time world champion hoop dancer Jasmine Bell is a carrier of a Lakota tradition with roots that go back millennia. The hoop dance is traditionally performed by a solo dancer who uses a dozen or more hoops to create complex shapes symbolizing elements of the natural world and the circle of life. One of only a handful of women performing this traditionally male dance, Bell is a celebrated performer and ambassador of her ancestral tradition, sharing its message of interconnectedness with audiences across the nation.

Jason Samuels Smith & the Winard Harper Trio

Jason Samuels Smith & the Winard Harper Trio

tap dance
New York, New York

Jason Samuels Smith is recognized as one of the finest tap dancers of his generation. In 2004, at age 23, he won both an Emmy and the American Choreography Award for his tribute to the late tap master Gregory Hines, who two years prior had proclaimed the young dancer as “… the next ‘Greatest,’” a prediction that Samuels Smith has since fulfilled. As one reviewer marveled, Samuels Smith “dances as if he carries in his head and shoes the entire legacy of the genre.”

Los Texmaniacs

Los Texmaniacs

conjunto tejano
San Antonio, Texas

Emerging from San Antonio’s vibrant music scene, Los Texmaniacs are among the most exciting exponents of conjunto tejano, a musical form that emerged in the late 19th century when German, Czech, and Polish immigrants introduced the button accordion into the lively dance music of Mexican working-class communities in southern Texas. Melding classic conjunto sounds with rock, blues, and R&B, Los Texmaniacs perform “hip music that everybody in the world can relate to, with the traditional conjunto elements, not ever losing your cultura,” explains bandleader Max Baca.

Martha & Emily Spencer

Martha & Emily Spencer

old-time
Whitetop, Virginia

Hailing from Whitetop, a tiny Appalachian community nestled in the rugged Blue Ridge Mountains of Grayson County, mother and daughter duo Martha and Emily Spencer are a living testimony to the vitality and deep roots of traditional music in Southwest Virginia. Both women are gifted multi-instrumentalists and singers. They carry on the multigenerational legacy of one of the region’s most beloved musical families, known for keeping alive the old-time music tradition unique to Grayson County.

Mythili Prakash Dance Ensemble

Mythili Prakash Dance Ensemble

Bharata Natyam
Los Angeles, California

Mythili Prakash stands at the forefront of the next generation of dancers carrying on the 3,000-year-old South Indian dance tradition of Bharata Natyam. A second generation Indian and American artist, she is among the most celebrated Bharata Natyam dancers and choreographers today. Adored by audiences in India and across the diaspora, her mission is to transcend cultural barriers and bring Bharata Natyam into the mainstream of American arts. “Dance was my first language,” she says. “Through the music, the stories, the characters, and the philosophy … I identified the world around me. That’s perhaps why even though my passport and accent are American, my connection with Indian dance is truly what shapes my identity.”

Pedrito Martinez

Pedrito Martinez

Afro-Cuban
New York, New York

“Cuban music is very cosmopolitan,” declares Havana native Pablo “Pedrito” Martinez, pointing out just how many musical traditions contributed to the development of today’s Afro-Cuban musical sound. Percussionist and vocalist Martinez takes this cultural syncretism even further, wrapping genres from jazz to funk and beyond into his repertoire. But what makes him widely regarded as the leader of Latin percussion is his dedication to infusing everything he does, no matter how innovative, with the most traditional elements of Afro-Cuban musical expression: Yoruba chanting and the sacred beat of the batá drum. Both elements arrived in Cuba with enslaved Africans, and are central to the Afro-Cuban religious and ritual practices of Santería, Palo Monte, Abakuá, and indeed all of Afro-Cuban music. By honoring these traditions, Martinez’s diverse projects are always firmly rooted in Afro-Cuban musical and spiritual expression.

Pine Leaf Boys

Pine Leaf Boys

Cajun
Lafayette, Louisiana

When the Pine Leaf Boys first appeared on the scene over 15 years ago, they were at the forefront of several exciting, young Cajun bands breathing new life into the music and bringing a high-energy sound to dance halls in French Louisiana. Hailed for playing “with an unabashed rock ’n’ roll energy conducive to the elbow-flying, hip-swiveling spirit on the dance floor” (Geoffrey Himes, New York Times), they shared the fiddle-and-accordion-driven sounds of Cajun music with a new generation while maintaining their Cajun music legacy. No longer in their twenties, the Pine Leaf Boys are now a seasoned band, recognized with four Grammy nominations. Yet, their passions remain the same—reminding listeners that Cajun music is not frozen in time. As Wilson Savoy says, “Cajun music is exciting. It’s not dead. It’s evolving.”

The Quebe Sisters

The Quebe Sisters

Texas fiddling and western swing
Dallas, Texas

When Texas sisters Grace, Sophia, and Hulda Quebe (rhymes with “maybe”) take to a stage to fiddle, and sing, in three-part harmony, they delight audiences with their sparkle and verve as well as their instrumental and vocal virtuosity. Add stellar backup by Simon Stipp on swinging rhythm guitar and Daniel Parr on upright bass to their sound, and it’s as if the Andrews Sisters had joined up with Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys in musical heaven.

Rahim AlHaj

Rahim AlHaj

Iraqi oud
Albuquerque, New Mexico

A 5,000-year-old musical tradition from the heart of Mesopotamia is alive and well in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the adopted home of renowned Iraqi oud virtuoso Rahim AlHaj. AlHaj is a cultural ambassador for the deep musical heritage of his homeland. His music evokes the experience of exile, new beginnings, and “the message of peace and compassion and love” that he shares with audiences to heal a world beset by conflict.

Vishtèn

Vishtèn

Acadian
Prince Edward Island and Magdalen Islands, Québec

Vishtèn’s music is a hardy mixture of Acadian, Irish, and Scottish styles, with fiery fiddling and powerful step dancing taking front and center. Formed in 2000 on their native Prince Edward Island, Vishtèn is a trio of young musicians and dancers founded by twin sisters Pastelle LeBlanc (piano accordion, piano, dance, vocals) and Emmanuelle LeBlanc (bodhrán, whistles, mandolin, piano, dance, vocals). Rounding out the trio is Pascal Miousse—from the nearby Magdalen Islands—on fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and vocals.

Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters

Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters

funk and R&B
New Orleans, Louisiana

Walter “Wolfman” Washington is New Orleans’s preeminent funk master. He first appeared on the city’s music scene six decades ago as a budding guitarist, learning licks from his elders. Today he is regarded as another in the long line of singular characters and musical personalities to come out of the Crescent City, known for his unique vocal delivery and a distinctive rhythm and blues sound that has touches of sophisticated soul and jazz.