A pioneer of hip hop, Grandmaster Flash, and the outer limits spacey free-jazz of the Sun Ra Arkestra are among the highlights for this year’s Richmond Folk Festival on the weekend of Oct. 9 – 11. The Times Dispatch ran a list of the last round of performers in Sunday’s paper.

Check out how Sun Ra’s favorite band sounds today in this clip from NPR:

Some other genres include klezmer music, Dominican bachata, Ethiojazz (the Fedeel Band of DC), Sufi devotional, Georgian polyphonic chants, and the bluesy gospel of the Rev. John Wilkins.

Also on the bill is the low-voiced rockabilly/country act Sleepy Labeef (who I saw once in a bar in Chico, Ca. about 15 years ago– he was fun).

We’ll have more in detail on some of the highlights as we get closer to Richmond’s most popular music festival. But for now, just wanted to celebrate the fact that Sun Ra’s music will be played by the rivah. It’s been awhile since the man himself played at VMFA.