That eerie wailing sound you might have heard earlier?

[jaunthie]

That was probably the bagpiper they wired up with four separate microphones. He was almost certainly audible from low Earth orbit. Granted, he was playing with three separate drummers, all of whom pounded their skins with serious vigor, but still. Watching the dance pit - can't call it a mosh pit - form in response to their tunes was especially interesting, featuring as it did everything from Highland dancers to step-dancers to bellydancers to contradancers to just-shake-it-in-time-to-the-music folks.

It's been a day full of bluegrass, Haida carvers, Tlingit basket-weavers, tribal drummers, Zimbabwean dances, Native American chanters, solo guitarists, Chinese dragon-dancers (including four dragons who crashed one of the bluesgrass performances; the picking was just too tasty for them to resist, I guess), student fiddlers, acapella gospel, Celtic rock, and "punk-folk" that owed more to Lawrence Welk (the accordionist and fiddler were both technically excellent) than to punk or folk. Not to mention food vendors and craft sellers everywhere you looked, and hordes of people everywhere. Yes, it's that magical time of year again, the four-day free extravaganza of music, arts, cultural heritage and pride, and open-air good times that is the Folklife Festival. fisherbear and I spent a goodly part of today at the festival, enjoying the ambiance, occasionally attempting to take pictures, and soaking in the sunshine. Good stuff!

Comments

[tangerinpenguin.livejournal.com]

Sounds like The Bag n' Pipe Hoppers? They busk downtown and are Folklife staples; I'm pretty sure I saw them with a crowd dancing at one point this afternoon.

[jaunthie.livejournal.com]

Nope - it was Nae Regrets (http://www.myspace.com/NaeRegrets), also Folklife stalwarts (at least the last couple of years). Although for all I know they might share members with the Hoppers, or even be a new incarnation. All I can say is that Nae Regrets played a fabulous set, and I'm glad we were there to see it.

[sunkrux.livejournal.com]

Ah Folklife. I miss it. Sounds like you two had a good time. :D