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This year, we plan to include narrative sessions which deal with music, education, holiday traditions, horse riding clubs, and healing traditions. The Festival will also include traditions from around the state such as Easter Rock from Winnsboro, the Mardi Gras Indians from New Orleans, black cowboys from northern Louisiana, blues, zydeco, and gospel music as well as material culture, oral narratives, and foodways traditions. While our emphasis at the Festival this year will be upon the influence of African-American culture on folk traditions, musicians and craftspeople from many ethnic backgrounds will also perform and demonstrate their skills. There will be Cajun, western swing, and traditional Anglo-Scots-Irish music in addition to the music related to the African-American culture.
Narrative sessions allow presenters and audience members to have an opportunity to discuss many aspects of folk traditions. The Festival staff feels that these sessions provide visitors to the Festival with a chance to learn more about the theme of the Festival. Providing visitors with information regarding cultural context for these activities has become a major goal of the Festival, and we hope that you gain useful and interesting information from these sessions.
African-Americans in Sports and Games: This session will focus upon the role of African-Americans in sports such as baseball, football, and basketball. Members of the Listach family will discuss the Negro Leagues and the influence which sports has had upon their family. Nora Listach, Sr. played in the Negro leagues, and his grandson, Patrick Listach, continued the family tradition by playing for the Seattle Mariners. Other notable African-American athletes will join in this discussion of the importance of sports in African-American culture.
Healing Traditions in African-American, Anglo, Cajun, and Native American Culture: Participants in this session will discuss home remedies and folk healing traditions. This session will provide a cross-cultural view of healing practices as they have occurred in the past and continue to be practiced.
Mardi Gras and African-Americans: This session will provide visitors with the opportunity to talk to members of the Golden Eagles/Wild Magnolia Mardi Gras Indians about costume construction and design, parading, and other New Orleans Mardi Gras traditions. Additionally, members of the Prince of Wales, Second Line Group will be present to provide visitors with an overview of their activities.
African-American Music: Hardrick Rivers, Willie May Kennedy, and other African-American musicians will discuss music and its importance to African-American culture. Blues, gospel, and zydeco music will be the primary focus of this session.
African-American Horse Culture/Riding Clubs: These club members will talk with the audience about the history of riding clubs in Natchitoches Parish. The riding clubs provide a social outlet for many of their members.
Education and African-Americans: Rolonda Teal will moderate this narrative event which will focus upon the role of African-American schools in communities such as Converse, Louisiana. From the years, 1905 to 1929, the Sabine Normal and Industrial Institute functioned as a training school for African-Americans in northwestern, Louisiana. Presenters will include Ms. Sybil Woods and Susan Dollar, author of The Freedmen's Bureau Schools of Natchitoches Parish Louisiana: 1865-1868. This will be a valuable session regarding education and African Americans.
Fraternity Stepping: This narrative session will introduce visitors to the long standing tradition of Fraternity Stepping. Members of African American fraternities and sororities will present their group's interpretation of the tradition and will then demonstrate the activity.
Traditional African-American Folk Stories: Ms. Vialeen Gay will share traditional African-American folktales with audience members. Both children and adults will surely be delighted with Ms. Gay's interesting and artful presentations of these stories.
Blues Music Narrative Session: Mr. Junior Doughty and Mr. Monty Brown, noted blues specialists, will moderate a discussion of the many aspects and forms of blues music in the United States. Junior Doughty is the creator of one of America's best websites relating to blues music: www.Deltablues.net. Monty Brown has conducted extensive research into the life of Shreveport's own, Huddie Ledbetter "Leadbelly" and has worked with Jessie Thomas, another notable Shreveport blues musician. This session will indeed be memorable and interesting.
Billy and Bobbye Keyes will once again offer their very popular dance lessons. The Keyes have demonstrated their skills at a variety of Cajun dance events nationally, and their skill in teaching has proven exemplary. Even people with two left feet can learn to dance with these two as teachers, so bring your dancin' shoes and get ready to have a good time with the Keyes and with the many Cajun bands who will be playing at the Festival.
Fisher Snell - Handmade rocking chairs
Gilbert Harris - Split oak baskets
Geraldine Robertson - corn shuck dolls and other items
Lair LaCour - quilts, Creole Ma-Man dolls
Dempsey and Brenda Perkins - wool felting, hand turned wooden bowls and objects
Edna Rushing - quilts
Elaine Bourque-weaving
Natchitoches Council on Aging-quilts
The Moran Family-File grinding
Los Adaes Quilters - quilts and other hand made items
Ken and Mary Royston - woodcarvings, whittling, crocheted items
Roy Gandy - walking sticks
Essie May Arsan - wax flower wreathes
Willie Ray Newton - walking sticks
Alfrey Wade-memorials, headstones
Stacy Fontenot-tatting
Lorena Langley-pine straw baskets
Myrna Wilson-pine straw baskets
Kathleen Thomas-baskets, Native American craft items
After selecting the 2001 Festival theme, the Steering Committee decided to get a jump on next year's Festival by selecting the theme for next year. In 2002, the Festival will focus upon the ways in which the military has influenced Louisiana's folk culture. Louisiana residents involved with present day military installations such as Barksdale Air Force Base and Fort Polk as well as those who have had experience with former military installations such as Camp Livingston are invited to contact the Louisiana Folklife Center Staff as soon as possible since we would love to involve as many people as possible in the production of the 2002 Festival.
At the 2002 Festival, the Festival staff plans to present an audio visual, interactive display regarding the military in Louisiana. If you have any photographs of former military installations such as Camp Livingston or current military bases, or family photos of soldiers home on furlough during war, please share them with us. We will scan them into a computer and will promptly return your original copies to you.
Fieldwork has already begun for next year's Festival, and the Louisiana Folklife Center staff has planned a project which will document narratives about life during war time both overseas and abroad. If you or someone you know might be interested in sharing stories relating to life stateside or abroad during World War II, Korea, Vietnam, or the Gulf War please call the Louisiana Folklife Center. We would love to meet with you and hear your stories.
The Friday night main show will commence with Don Fontenot and Les Amies de Acadiens. Fontenot's innovative music style has pleased many Cajun dancers, and this band is always a hit with the crowd. Following Don Fontenot and his band, a country dance band will play for the crowd.
Mardi Gras Indians and Second Line Presentations: In northern Louisiana, many are unfamiliar with the tradition of the Mardi Gras Indian. Mardi Gras Indian groups dress in beaded and feathered suits to parade during the Mardi Gras season. Walter Landry, a Mardi Gras Indian states that the African-Americans adopted this practice as a tribute to Native Americans and hence, this is why they dress in these colorful costumes reminiscent of Native American headdresses. The Mardi Gras Indians will prove to be an exciting addition to the Festival and their dance and costumes will be a treat for all to enjoy.
Baton Rouge Blues Review: This afternoon session will showcase the talents of Baton Rouge Blues artists such as Little Ray Neal and other prominent blues musicians from the southern part of the state. Born March 16, 1960, Li'l Ray (Raful Neal III) is the third of the Neal Brothers.
A full-time musician since leaving the Exxon plant in the early nineties, he has long been regarded as one of the finest blues guitarists in the business. Raised in Erwinville, Louisiana, he started playing at Spooner's, a country-store-cum-club owned by his grandfather, when he was about twelve years old. Ray's father, Raful Neal, played there regularly with his band and during the break Ray would get up with his brothers, Kenny, Larry, and Noel to play.
His favorite guitars are Gibsons, and the collection includes a much treasured 1958 model that he bought from James Cotton. It was built as an experimental model with a tremolo that needs to be pulled away from the body of the guitar, rather than moved up and down. he says, 'No one else plays that. And I mean, no one. It's priceless to me. It's just totally different from anything else I've ever played.' He also likes to play an old 1930's acoustic guitar, that he bought froman old man in Scotlandville, Louisiana.
Blues Workshop: Noted blues musicians Hardrick Rivers and Peter Lamson will host a blues workshop for musicians, but certainly, those who are not musicially inclined will indeed learn from this experience. The artists will focus upon traditional African-American blues music and upon variations of blues forms.
Easter Rock: This event is a unique African-American holiday tradition. Yearly, on the night before Easter, Members of the Original True Light Church in Winnsboro gather and participate in the Arock. Long tables are positioned on the church's hardwood floor. As the lights dim, members carry in twelve cakes and twelve lanterns and place them on the tables. The participants sing and rock to several songs which are sung without the accompaniment of musical instruments. Watching Easter Rock is indeed a treat, and the church members have participated at the Natchitoches/NSU Folk Festival and the Louisiana State Folk Festival many times.
In September, the Louisiana Folklife Center announced that a contest would be held in order to select a design for this year's Festival t-shirt and poster. Seven artists submitted their work, and the decision to select only one design indeed proved difficult for the Steering Committee Members who served as judges in the contest. All the entries depicted various elements of the African-American culture in a colorful and interesting manner. Denise Johnson's depiction of an African-American stilt walker who balances two baskets of African-American traditions Bone urban, one rural upon his shoulders-won the contest.
Denise Johnson grew up in Niagra Falls and Buffalo, New York and attended McKinley Vocational High School where she studied advertising art and photography. She then attended State University of New York at Buffalo for two years while majoring in art. She, later, moved to Houston and began to study at the Art Institute of Houston. Ms. Johnson moved to Louisiana in 1998 and lives in Many. She has been active in arts in the schools programs and has worked with many young people and their art projects. Ms. Johnson has three daughters and presently, she runs a home based business--Affordable Framing. She has designed logos, brochures and window graphics for many local businesses and has painted murals and numerous pieces of art.
Saturday night's show will begin with noted blues musician, YZ Ealey. Mr. Ealey has been playing blues music since March 1952. He began by playing gospel and then worked into the blues. He and his brothers organized a six piece band "YZ Ealey and the Merry Makers, and the band played throughout the Mississippi Louisiana area. Ealey has opened for B.B. King, Tina Turner, Little Milton and Big Joe Turner. For many years, he and his band played at Haney's Big House in Ferriday. Mr. Ealey's music will surely please blues fans of all ages.
Mr. Ealey's performance will be followed by a tribute to Overton Owens's music. Overton Owens, also known as Dr. Drip Drop, was a Natchitoches favorite until his death in 1998. Local bands, Roques Blues Band and The Gators, will entertain Saturday night's crowd with dance music and some stories of the importance of Overton Owens to north Louisiana's music.
This year, as in past years, special activities will be presented for children. Local members of the North Division Riding Clubs will provide activities for kids relating to horse riding. Mardi Gras Indian costume makers will demonstrate to children and adults the ways in which their intricate costumes are made. The festival encourages the little ones bring their yo-yos, bone up on their jump rope songs, and practice their hand-clap games, for some exciting contests will occur. Ms. Vialeen Gay will present ring games for the children and will tell them a few stories about this tradition. Spoon races, egg toss, and other fun games will be held. Additionally, both adults and children can participate in domino tournaments which will be held during both days.
Download the Festival Stage Schedule in PDF format
The Festival is held in comfortable, air-conditioned Prather Coliseum, on the campus of Northwestern State University in historic Natchitoches. The site provides ample, nearby parking and is handicap-accessible. No alcohol is allowed or sold on the site. To reach the Coliseum, take Natchitoches exit from I-49. From Shreveport, turn left (from Alexandria, turn right) on Highway 6/College Ave. to South Jefferson. Turn right on South Jefferson. Prather Coliseum is on the right past the President's house and the tennis courts.
Contact the Center at Box 3663, NSU, Natchitoches, LA 71497, (318) 357-4332 or folklife@alpha.nsula.edu
Please donate to the festival:
Friend of the Festival $20 - Receives: 1 pass (all events), Listing in program
Member $50 - Receives: 2 passes (all events), Listing in program, 1 souvenir T-shirt
Sponsor $100 - Receives: 4 passes (all events), Listing in program, 2 souvenir T-shirts
Patron $250 - Receives: 10 passes (all events), Listing in program, 2 souvenir T-shirts
Grand Patron $500 - Receives: Passes as requested up to 20 (all events), Listing in program, 3 previous Festival posters
Corporate Sponsor $1,000 - Receives: Passes as requested up to 40 (all events), 4 previous Festival posters, Listing in program, Appropriate logo placed on stage
Please send donations with your name, address, e-mail, work phone, home phone, and the amount you are sending to:
Natchitoches/NSU Folklife Festival
NSU P.O. Box 3663
Natchitoches, LA 71497
Note: Donations received after June 15, 2001 may not be listed in the Festival Program. Fair market value of items received may not be deducted from your Federal Income Tax.