Grupo Rebolú’s CD, Abriendo Caminos
(or Opening Roads), offers the listener 10
high energy tracks featuring the sounds of
Colombia’s northern Caribbean coast. Nine
of these tracks were written by the group’s
director, Ronald Polo, with arrangements
by co-director, Morris Cañate. Friends since
childhood, Ronald and Morris grew up together
in Barranquilla, Colombia, and first
met as youngsters enrolled in the Escuela
de Música de Barranquilla, Carlos Franco.
Column
NYFS News and Notes
News included New Staffing for VOICES, New York Folk Arts Roundtable, NYFS Coming to Your Community, and Community Cultural Documentation
From the Director
In July 2012, the
New York Folklore
Society was asked to
help document the
second reunion of Camp Woodland
campers—a gathering
of people from
all over the US who
shared the childhood experience of once attending
a children’s camp which had existed
in Phoenicia, New York, from 1939–1962.
From the Editor
The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress has been the inspiration for my work in public sector folklife for some 30 years….Some 10 years later, in the mid nineties, AFC helped create my home base, the Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library
From the Director
As we all move more fully into the digital age, New York Folklore’s concern has been to provide our full catalog to as many people as possible. Our catalog is substantial, as it represents more than 75 years of consistent publishing, with content that spans every corner of New York State.
From the Editor
We saw the Strawberry Moon rise over
Eldridge Swamp two nights ago. Just south
of our home in Shushan, New York. At a
place we had never visited. Nor knew of its
existence. No interfering lights. No one else
nearby. No other sounds. Only the chorus of
frogs encouraging the moon’s performance.
Upstate
Musicians love good instruments, and they love to play them for receptive people. Audiences love to be entertained and for the length of a performance, the musician,instrument, and audience share the same space. This is the story of some of those spaces.
Downstate
In Chinese, there is a phrase, (chi ku). It means “to eat bitterness,” to endure hardship, to carry on, to persevere. My great-grandparents, Kao Tsao-Yuan and Loh Mei-Chun fled Shanghai for Hong Kong in 1949, before settling in the Bronx in 1960. They crossed through Ellis Island amid intense immigration restrictions from Asian countries. Leaving Shanghai was their bitterness to eat, as was navigating a new country.
ALN8BAL8MO: A Native Voice
Writer, storyteller, healer, athlete,
and crane operator—in many ways, Ted
Williams was an original. In other ways,
he was also the inheritor of more than
one tradition from his Tuscarora people.
Born in 1930, on the Tuscarora Reservation
near Niagara Falls, New York,
Ted’s father Eleazar Williams was a Turtle
Clan sachem and an Indian doctor whose
reputation as a healer was widely known.
His mother, Amelia Chew, served as the
Clan Mother of Ted’s own Wolf Clan.
From the Waterfront
…Over the following weeks, I received calls
from FEMA and the National Park Service,
who wanted to see the bungalows and the
bay houses that survived. The staff of these
large agencies were as curious as I was as to
why the bungalows showed little damage.
From that point on, they recommended that
residents begin planting beach grass to create
dunes, a scene we saw happening throughout
coastal communities in the following months.
The Poetry of Everyday Life
…clichés are also part of the poetry of
everyday life. When my close friend Carol
Reuben starts conversations with “What’s
the story, morning glory?” and ends them with
“Okey-dokey, artichokey,” she is not only using
rhymed clichés; she is expressing her characteristic
playfulness. Some people even use silly clichés to create others: Toodle-oo, Kangaroo; Take care, Polar Bear; Keep on Talking, Steven Hawking. When Lucas Dargan, my late father-in-law, said, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt,” the time-worn phrase nevertheless captured his thoughtful, succinct, and sparing use of words. He had made it his own.
From the Director
With an expanded and competent staff, New York Folklore
has experienced increased activity within the
greater Capital Region, including the inauguration
of the Mohawk Hudson Folklife Festival in
Albany’s Washington Park. In addition, NYF is
experiencing a resurgence of activity in folk arts
education, much of which involves partnerships…
From the Editor
John Michael Vlach (1948–2022) served as the Director of the Folklife Program at George Washington University (GWU) for over 32 years. He was a giant in the field, a Fellow of the American Folklore Society, a leading expert on folklife, folk arts and craft, vernacular architecture, and cultural history …
Upstate
[T]he sounds from our surroundings carry many stories: the rivers’ roar in spring; the brooks’ summer babble; the songs of chickadees, jays, and white-throated sparrows; the call of the loon; the chilling howl of coyotes; and the mysterious, everchanging voices of the trees.
Announcement
Our heartfelt congratulations to storyteller, author, poet, Abenaki elder, and Voices columnist, Joseph Bruchac, for being appointed as the first Poet Laureate of Saratoga Springs. The ceremony took place at City Hall on January 17, 2023. Bruchac was selected through a competitive nomination and interview process by members of the City’s Poet Laureate Committee. His two-year appointment will run through December 2024.