ONLINE: Brooklyn Folk Festival

media release: The Virtual Digital Online 2020 Brooklyn Folk Festival Schedule:

All performances are free, no tickets required. Donations gladly accepted! The festival performances will be broadcast on  Facebook and YouTube. 

Workshops are ticketed. Workshops will be taught via Zoom. You will receive an email with the Zoom link following your ticket purchase.

Friday, Oct. 23

8pm – Eva Salina & Peter Stan – Balkan vocal and accordion duet

8:45pm – Bruce Molsky – Fiddle, banjo and guitar songs, ballads, and tunes

9:30pm – Willie Martinez and the NYC Salsa All Stars – Dance party at your house!!  Stay home, gather your “pod” and dance!

10:15pm – Puppet Show! The Boxcutter Collective presents… “Judy For President!” the story of one brave woman’s struggle to unite a nation torn apart by…well, whatever’s handy.  She won’t back down!  She won’t give in! She will fight for the best snacks and she will be prepared to share them.  Together we will make it better!

11:00pm – Claudio Montuori, The Birdman of Rome! – Special guest appearance!

Saturday, Oct. 24

Afternoon Workshops:

1pm – Flatfoot Dancing Workshop with Sara Rowbottom of City Stompers – This 50-minute workshop will offer beginner to intermediate dancers the opportunity to hone some key skills and techniques to leave the stresses of 2020 behind and let loose on the dance floor, whether that’s in your living room or masked up in the park. We’ll go over some basic skills and how to add to and embellish them as you gain in skill, put them together in a ‘step’, and practice adding the step to our improvisation. Leather soled shoes and a wooden floor will work best, but feel free to log in as you are! Tickets: $20 PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

2pm – Fiddle workshop with Bruce Molsky – Learn old-time fiddle styles and tunes from an acclaimed fiddler, teacher and friend of the festival. Tickets: $40 PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

[3pm – Songs in Struggle workshop with organizers from The Poor People’s Campaign – Learn about the role of music in grassroots organizing for social change, and sing along with lots of great songs! 100% of proceeds from the workshop go to the Poor People’s Campaign to benefit their work.  PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Performance/Lecture (ticket required): 4:30pm – Dom Flemons presents Black Cowboys – Singer and multi-instrumentalist will sing and discuss the music of Black cowboys in the American west.  This performance/lecture will be broadcast via Zoom with an audience cap of 100 people. Tickets: $20 PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Listening Party (come on in): 5pm – Dust-to-Digital presents: The Harry Smith B-Sides listening party. Label founders Lance and April Ledbetter will discuss and play selections from their brand new box set, which features the flip side of every original 78rpm record featured on Harry Smith’s influential Anthology of American Folk Music.

Evening

7:30pm – Nora Brown – Songs, ballads & tunes with both fretless and fretted banjo

8:15pm – Aaron Frazer (of Durand Jones & The Indications) – Folk and original songs, acoustic set

9pm – Jerron ‘Blind Boy’ Paxton – Blues, ragtime, old time, on guitar, banjo, harmonica, fiddle and piano.  This performance is sponsored by:

Sunday, Oct. 25

Afternoon Performances:

Noon – Dan + Claudia Zanes – Music for children and families

12:45pm –  Claudio Montuori – The Birdman of Rome!

Afternoon Workshops:

1:30pm – Harmony Singing workshop with Phillis Elkind – Gather your pod and learn to sing in harmony with your friends and family members.  This workshop will be taught via Zoom. “Singing harmony requires good listening skills.  We’ll do some exercises to improve our ears, in the context of harmony. Then we’ll learn a song – its melody and harmony parts.  Your singing will be on mute – but you’ll be singing along with recorded parts that will bring the harmony into your home. PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

3pm – Banjo workshop with Jerron ‘Blind Boy’ Paxton – Learn finger-picking banjo styles with a contemporary master of the classic banjo style, who rarely teaches.  The class is formatted as a presentation by Jerron, followed by questions from students. Class size limited to 25 people.  Tickets are $50 PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

4:30pm – Finger-picking Guitar workshop with Valerie Turner of Piedmont Blūz – Finger-picking country blues guitar master teaches a variety of styles.  Suitable for all skill levels.  This workshop will be taught via Zoom. PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Evening Performances:

7:30pm – Piedmont Blūz – Country blues duet

8:15pm – Ali Dineen – Original and folk songs with guitar and piano

9pm – Feral Foster – Original and folk songs with guitar

10pm – Film Screening – Medicine Fiddle – Courtesy of Folkstreams.net – This film explores the music and dance heritage of the Fur Trade among Native and Métis families on both sides of the U.S. and Canadian border. Fiddling and step (clog) dancing was introduced to Native peoples by European fur traders, lumberjacks and homesteaders in the 1600s. Over the past two centuries, in the confines of family gatherings on remote reservations, this music has survived and has permeated the cultural memory of mixed-blood descendants. Some of the music and dance has absorbed a Native musical influence, and a Native spiritual culture sustains it.

And don’t forget to enter our contest to win a free banjo, by playing this video game we made! The Banjo Toss: Banjo Throwing Competition

http://brooklynfolkfest.com/banjo-toss/

The game is now available and working for smartphones as well!

The Banjo Toss: Banjo Throwing Competition replicates in digital format the signature absurd contest of the Brooklyn Folk Festival, held annually on the banks of the Gowanus Canal, a federally designated superfund site. Players get 10 chances to rack up points by hurling the special throwing banjo as far as they can into the canal. Watch out for the Gowanusaurus! and don’t forget to aim for the water!

Whoever gets the high score in the video game during the week of the festival (with screenshot to prove it) gets a free banjo mailed to them or the friend / enemy of their choice!

How to Win: Post a screenshot of your highest score on the social media giant of your choice: Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #banjotossvideogame and also tag the Brooklyn Folk Fest (Facebook: @BrooklynFolkFestivalTwitter/Instagram @BklynFolkFest ).

Contest begins on Monday, Oct. 19