Two Days of Fun at the Boston Folk Festival
UMass
Boston’s “New Chapter” Opens with Convocation
September
11: UMass Boston Reacts to National Tragedy
Students
Organize Donation Drive
College
of Management Convocation Features Jack Beatty
McCormack
Institute Senegal Partnership Receives New Support
Gerontology
Institute Studies Elders in Housing
A
New Leader for the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy
A
Best Practice: Biology Advising
University
Welcomes Back Students
Two
Days of Fun at the Boston Folk Festival
New
Life-Long E-Mail Accounts for Students
Arts
on the Point Brings Columbia Point History to Campus
Campus
Center Changing UMass Boston Landscape
By Anne-Marie Kent
Expanded
this year to two days, the fourth annual Boston Folk Festival, organized
and run by UMass Boston radio station WUMB 91.9 FM, proved that more
is better, at least when it comes to folk music. For the weekend of
September 22, the festival transformed the entire campus into a musical
showcase for over 40 musical groups, representing traditional and contemporary
folk, gospel, bluegrass, rockabilly, and Celtic styles.
According to WUMB Station Manager Patricia Monteith, diversity is an important part of the event’s success. “The Boston Folk Festival celebrates the wealth and diversity of folk music from Massachusetts and all over the world,” she says. “There’s truly something here for all ages and all musical interests.” She continues, “Adding a second day to the festival this year allowed us bring in some quality talent who were not available to perform on Saturday.”
Folk fans seemed to agree. Some spent each day on the main stage field, tossing frisbees and reading books between sets, while others rushed from stage to stage, hoping to catch favorites or get a sampling of everything.
Nine stages of entertainment on Saturday and two on Sunday provided a dizzying range of options. On Saturday, for example, the afternoon choices included learning African dance from the group Mohamed Kalifa Kamara and the Spirit of Africa, singing sea chanteys aboard a harbor cruise with Lynn Noel and Friends, enjoying the bluesy sounds of Chris Smither outside, or retreating indoors for any of the coffee house stages or song swap workshops. For those with small children, there were kids’ activities near the Fox Point Pavilion and lots of movement on the dance stage, which was open to everyone. Even university staffers and students taking breaks from Saturday classes joined in to rockabilly sounds of Paved Country and the salsa-hot rhythms of Mondo Sweetie.
On
Sunday, the fun started up again under sunny skies with two stages.
At the Fox Point Pavilion, one offered music, storytelling, Irish and
contradancing. The main stage, on the front soccer field, offered music
and more. Serving everything from Brazilian barbecue, Indian curry,
pad thai, Chinese lo mein, fruit smoothies, and ice cream, the congregation
of food vendors formed a kind of bohemian outdoor food court.
Sunday’s main stage line-up consisted of Kerri Powers, Jimmie
LeFavre, Livingston Taylor, Eddie from Ohio, the Holmes Brothers, and
Altan. While Huru remained motionless, a number of people sprang up
to dance, bopping to the upbeat tempos of Eddie from Ohio and the bluesy
rhythms of the Holmes Brothers. When Irish band Altan played in the
late afternoon, a group of unlikely stepdancers gathered for an impromptu
afternoon jig. University President William M. Bulger even took the
microphone for a few songs to close out the event, much to the delight
of the crowd.
“We couldn’t have asked for better weather or better performances
from all the artists, including the president,” joked station manager
Pat Monteith. “This year, I think we also saw a special tribute
to the country that only folk musicians could have offered.”
This year, of course, the festival followed the tragic terrorist strikes
of September 11. American flags flew everywhere: little flags attached
to baby carriages, large flags waved by energetic members of the crowd,
and even a flag-motif button-down shirt worn proudly by one folk fan.
On 
Saturday,
Marcia Ball and ten other performers led the audience in singing, “We
Shall Overcome,” and “Amazing Grace.” On Sunday, performers
Eddie from Ohio, Kerry Powers, Jimmy LaFavre, and Livingston Taylor
offered renditions of “America the Beautiful,” and “This
Land is Your Land.”
“This is a UMass Boston event that has always brought people together in a celebration of diversity,” says Chancellor Jo Ann Gora, who attended both days of the festival. “Following the national tragedies of September 11, this year’s festival provided us with a special time to cherish peace and unity.”