This morning, the Richmond Folk Festival announced a dozen more artists for its 15th annual festival to be held the weekend of Oct. 11 – 13 along the downtown riverfront.
Check out the full list below with video samples of the artists (CASYM the steel orchestra looks like the bomb.com, as a friend says). Among the new additions is Richmond’s own Plunky & the Oneness of Juju, a jazz fixture in the city.
The annual poster reveal and listening party will be held on Thursday, Sept. 12 at Glave Kocen Gallery from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Volunteer recruitment for the festival is currently in high gear, according to publicist Kelly Vance. She mentioned the Beer and Bucket Challenge where groups of four volunteers can get extra perks when they sign up to pour beer or man the all-important bucket brigade. If you’re thinking about it, might as well bring your friends.
Themes for the Richmond Times-Dispatch Virginia Folklife Area and Stage and CarMax Family Area and Stage will be announced in September, according to a press release.
Here are the 12 newly-announced Richmond Folk Festival artists:
CASYM
Steel Orchestra (steel pan orchestra) from New York, New York.
Conjunto Guantanamo
Afro-Cuban from New York, New York.
Petroloukas – Halkias & Vasilis Kostas
Traditional music from Epirus, Greece. The artists are from Boston, Massachusetts, and Epirus, Greece
Mangum & Company
Gospel brass “shout band” from Charlotte, North Carolina
Aleppo Ensemble
Aleppian wasla music and whirling dervish dance from Syria.
The performers are from New York, New York.
Balla
Kouyaté & Mamadou Diabaté (balafon masters) from Boston, Mass., and Vienna, Austria
Julie Fowlis
Traditional Scottish songs, pipes and whistles from North Uist, Scotland.
Native Pride Dancers
Powwow dance traditions from St. Paul, Minnesota
Plunky & the Oneness of Juju
Funk and go-go orchestra from Richmond, Virginia
Riley Baugus
Appalachian songs and ballads from Walkertown, North Carolina
Saraswathi Ranganathan
Carnatic veena from Chicago, Illinois
Stax Music Academy Alumni Band
Memphis soul from Memphis, Tennessee
