Annie & the Caldwell Singers

Annie & the Caldwell Singers

Gospel
West Point, Mississippi

A true family affair, Annie & the Caldwell Singers deliver the glorious quartet gospel singing of Annie Caldwell along with her husband and five of their children. Their energetic and moving musical testimonies, blending fiery gospel sounds with the slow-burn groove of soul, have made them longtime favorites of the traditional gospel circuit in Mississippi’s Golden Triangle—a region formed by Columbus, Starkville, and West Point in the east central part of the state—as well as wherever the gospel highway takes them.

Baba Commandant & the Mandingo Band

Baba Commandant & the Mandingo Band

Manding
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso has always marched to its own drummer, and few artists embody its creative, independent spirit as Baba Commandant & the Mandingo Band. The group is led by the charismatic, enigmatic singer Baba Commandant (aka, Mamadou Sanou), an activist for traditional Mandinka music, who alternately growls, whispers, and chants his way through the group’s repertoire whenever he takes up his n’goni. With a tight focus on the interplay between sparkling guitar and the n’goni’s gutbucket funk, this four-piece ensemble reimagines ancient Mandé musical traditions for the 21st century.

Bio Ritmo

Bio Ritmo

salsa
Richmond, Virginia

On the heels of their wildly successful 30th-anniversary shows in 2022, local legends Bio Ritmo are celebrating a hometown reunion at the 2023 Richmond Folk Festival. Although the band’s hard-charging salsa grooves are celebrated by fans worldwide—there are even two bars in Colombia named for them, one for their iconic song “La Muralla”—Virginia isn’t otherwise known as a Latin music hot spot. It’s this very improbability of a salsa band from Richmond that makes Bio Ritmo such a source of RVA pride.

Cheres

Cheres

Ukrainian
New York, New York

In pre-industrial Ukraine, the cheres was a wide, metal-studded leather belt, so thick it could ward off bullets; over time it became a talisman of good fortune for the people of the Carpathian Mountains. The band Cheres has likewise become protector of the rich Ukrainian cultural heritage that is today under attack by the Russia’s invasion and propaganda campaign; in the face of this existential threat, their vibrant music is a defiant and joyful statement of Ukrainian identity, from an ensemble celebrated as “the best purveyor of authentic Ukrainian folk music in the United States.”

Chris Thomas & His Smoke Dancers

Chris Thomas & His Smoke Dancers

Haudenosaunee social dance
Onondaga Nation, New York

Highlighted by lightning footwork that seems to float on air, the Smoke Dance of the Haudenosaunee Nation is the most dynamic and popular competition dance at powwows across the Northeast. Onondaga artist Chris Thomas is one of this generation’s most celebrated smoke dancers, recognized for the beauty and fluidity of his steps. He is also an inspiring educator who uses performance to teach about Haudenosaunee culture and history, from the public schools to the festival stage.

Chuck Mead

Chuck Mead

rockabilly and honky-tonk
Nashville, Tennessee

For over three decades, singer and guitarist Chuck Mead has been serving up his own irresistible blend of rockabilly, honky-tonk, traditional country, and rock & roll to audiences worldwide. Best known as co-founder of the Grammy-nominated, neo-traditional country group BR5-49, Chuck’s career as a bandleader and solo artist boasts over 170 appearances on the Grand Ole Opry. With a sound equal parts classic and contemporary, he draws inspiration from the golden age of honky-tonk and rockabilly while making the music indisputably all his own.

Cyril Neville with Omari Neville & the Fuel

Cyril Neville with Omari Neville & the Fuel

New Orleans funk and R&B
New Orleans, Louisiana

In New Orleans, as Cyril Neville explains, being a musical family is itself a tradition, and the Neville family is one of the city’s most important musical dynasties—and the first family of New Orleans funk. “It’s the culture here that it’s passed down from one generation to the next,” Neville notes, and his life story certainly illustrates that legacy. At age 74, Cyril Neville, who got his start as the youngest of the four Neville Brothers, is a renowned percussionist who’s been lauded as “one of the last great southern soul singers.” In Richmond, the family tradition comes full circle, as Cyril performs with his son Omari Neville and Omari’s band, the Fuel.

Genticorum

Genticorum

Québécois
Montréal, Québec

Québécois trio Genticorum (pronounced ZHAWN-tee-kore-UHM) has brought traditional French-Canadian music to audiences at home and abroad for over 20 years, driven by a love of the old songs and an encyclopedic knowledge of the dance tunes of Québec. With just three musicians—fiddler Pascal Gemme, guitarist Yann Falquet, and accordionist and flute player Nicholas Williams—Genticorum creates a full-band sound through intricate song arrangements, ferocious playing, and the propulsive rhythm of Québécois podorythmie, the foot percussion that pushes the music to greater heights.

Grupo Mono Blanco

Grupo Mono Blanco

son jarocho
Veracruz, Mexico

Over nearly a half century as the leader of the legendary ensemble Grupo Mono Blanco, Gilberto Gutiérrez Silva has been the driving force behind the resurgent popularity of son jarocho, the signature folk music of the state of Veracruz on Mexico’s Gulf Coast. A movement as much as a band, Mono Blanco has also taught and inspired a new generation of musicians who are creating an international network of communities dedicated to this beloved music.

Halau ‘O Lilinoe

Halau ‘O Lilinoe

traditional Hawai’ian hula
Carson, California

Hailing from Carson, California, Hālau ‘O Lilinoe is one of the foremost hālau (hula schools) in the mainland United States, dedicated to presenting hula kahiko (ancient hula), the traditional dance and chant of the Hawai’ian Islands. Beloved for its graceful and powerful performances, the school also celebrates hula as a means of preserving Hawai’ian history, values, and folkways through the passing down of traditions from one generation to another.

Helobung

Helobung

traditional Tboli music and dance
Lake Sebu, Philippines

Through their gorgeous performances, the enthralling music and dance ensemble Helobung plays an essential role in the stewardship of Indigenous culture in the Philippines. In their striking red-and-black handwoven attire, and backed by a lush soundscape of traditional percussion, their intricate and expressive dancing masterfully interprets what they call the “tales, tunes, and threads” that sustain the Tboli people. By evoking the finest details of life among the Tboli, Helobung weaves a universally relevant message of cultural resilience and interdependence with nature.

Kala Ramnath

Kala Ramnath

Hindustani violin
San Francisco, California

The name “Kala” means “art” in Sanskrit, and as her guru Pandit Jasraj declared, Hindustani violin phenomenon Kala Ramnath “stands true to her name in every way.” One of the youngest people ever to receive India’s highest honor for performing artists, the Sangeet Natak Academy Puraskar, she is also the first Indian violinist to be featured in The Strad, the “Bible” of the classical violin world, and has thrilled audiences from the London Philharmonic to the Sydney Opera House. Appearing in Richmond in a traditional trio backed by tabla (percussion) and tanpur (a bowed drone), Kala Ramnath plays her instrument with the precision, style, and emotional fluency that make her one of the world’s great violinists.

Lutchinha

Lutchinha

Cabo Verdean
Brockton, Massachusetts

The lilting strains of Cabo Verdean music, a blend of African and Portuguese influences, are a familiar sound in coastal New England. The region is home to large, established communities of Cabo Verdeans, who first began immigrating to the region in the early 19th century. Maria “Lutchinha” Neves Leite of Brockton, Massachusetts, arguably the finest Cabo Verdean singer to make her home in the United States, will delight audiences with the soothing, soulful sounds of this distinctive musical tradition at this year’s Richmond Folk Festival.

Melody Angel

Melody Angel

Chicago blues
Chicago, Illinois

Dubbed “the future of the blues” by the Chicago Reader newspaper, Melody Angel is a powerhouse vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. With strong, no-nonsense vocals and thoughtful lyrics that reflect her passion for racial and gender justice, Angel’s singular sound draws upon elements of R&B, rock, and funk, all layered on a strong bed of Chicago blues.

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper

bluegrass
Charlestown, Indiana

One of the foremost fiddlers of his generation, 42-year-old Michael Cleveland has charted an award-strewn course from child prodigy to leader of one of bluegrass’s most exciting groups, the seven-time International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Instrumental Band of the Year, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper. Michael’s many accolades continue to accumulate, with a recent feature on NBC Nightly News coming shortly after his 2022 recognition with a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship—our nation’s highest honor for the folk and traditional arts.

Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas

Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas

zydeco
Lafayette, Louisiana

Representing the crème de la crème of the vibrant Black Creole dance music native to Southwest Louisiana, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas have delivered the rollicking, accordion-driven sounds of zydeco to audiences around the world for almost 40 years. Led by accordionist Nathan Williams, arguably zydeco accordion’s foremost living practitioner, the group is known for its classic style infused with reggae, R&B, and rock—a winning formula for a nonstop party both on and off the dance floor.

Stanley & the Ten Sleepless Knights

quelbe music
St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

One of the most fascinating styles of music to come out of the Caribbean is quelbe music from St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Sometimes known as “scratch,” quelbe is a joyous, percussive homegrown sound. Stigmatized for decades due to its rural roots and seemingly scandalous content, it was declared the official traditional music of the Virgin Islands in 2003. Local legends Stanley & the Ten Sleepless Knights are the leading conservators of quelbe music today. The 10-piece band was launched by a group of friends in 1970, led by flautist Stanley Jacobs, and is recognized as “the premier quelbe band in the world.”

State of the Ozarks String Band

State of the Ozarks String Band

Ozark old-time
Springfield, Missouri

The State of the Ozarks String Band plays distinctive old-time music from its namesake region where string bands provide a rhythmic drive that propels community square dances, the lifeblood of the tradition. The fiddle is front and center in creating this forward momentum, and bandleader David Scrivner is one of the most in-demand dance fiddlers in the Ozarks, following the legacy of his mentor, National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow Bob Holt. With Aaron Tacke on banjo and Joel Hinds on guitar, the State of the Ozarks String Band will take Richmond Folk Festival audiences on a fast-paced ride through the Ozarks.