World-class guitarist, harmonica player, and songwriter Ray Bonneville has been on the Lotus wish list for years. A favorite of blues, jazz, and roots critics alike, Ray combines a bluesy sound with poetic, storytelling vocals and a steady foot-tapping beat. Born in Canada, he has spent time in many cities in North America, but he says, “New Orleans is where I learned to take my time, to allow space between the notes so the songs could truly groove.” That groove earned him a Juno Award (Canada’s version of a Grammy) in 1999.
Artist website | Back to top
Sogbety Diomande’s West African Drum and Dance Company
(Friday, Lotus in the Park [Saturday], Saturday)
Drummer and dancer Sogbety Diomande was born in the village of Toufinga, a small farming community in the Ivory Coast. As a stilt mask dancer, he acts as a mediator between the world of the living and the spiritual world of the ancestors. For the 2008 Lotus Festival, he brings a troupe of more than 10 male and female dancers who perform athletic mask dances and other dance styles and drumming from Côte d’Ivoire. Sponsored by Women of Lotus, IU African Studies Program. Supported by the Performing Arts Fund, a program of Arts Midwest funded in part by the National endowment for the arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art, with additional contributions from the Indiana Arts Commission, General Mills Foundation, and Land O'Lakes Foundation.
Artist website | Back to top
Etran Finatawa
(Friday, Saturday)
The musicians of Niger’s Etran Finatawa (“the stars of tradition”) come from the nomadic Tuareg and Woodabe-Fulani cultures, and were first drawn together to demonstrate peace and reconciliation. Their combination of Saharan tribal traditions is a modern interpretation of ancient music from the confluence of North African Arab and sub-Saharan traditions: a powerful, hypnotic music characterized by bluesy electric guitars, traditional instruments, and the polyphonic songs of the Woodabe people. Sponsored by IU African Studies Program.
Artist website | Video | Back to top
Etugen Ensemble
(Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
These young musicians play two-stringed horse-head fiddles, zither, and sing in the classic overtone style familiar to aficionados of traditional Mongolian music. The rhythms and instrumentation directly evoke the traditional landscape: galloping horses, the calls of camels, the rush of wind across the plains. Sponsored by Women of Lotus, IU Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center.
Artist website | Back to top
Julie Fowlis
(Thursday, Friday)
Julie Fowlis’s precise, lilting voice and mastery of Gaelic folk songs have earned her a list of awards as long as your arm, including BBC Radio 2’s Folk Singer of the Year for 2008. A native of North Uist, Scotland—where the majority of residents speak Gaelic as their first language--she sings in Scottish Gaelic, making ancient songs of the Hebridean Islands accessible to audiences around the world. She plays whistles, pipes, and other instruments, too. Her live performances move from tragic ballads, to light airs, to lilting, nonsensical “mouth music,” offering audience a rare listen to beautiful music from a rugged, ancient way of life. Sponsored by Women of Lotus and IU West European Studies Center, Friends of Old Time & Celtic Music.
Artist website | Video | Back to top
The seven young musicians of Frigg play exquisite, lyrical string music rooted in Finnish and Norwegian traditions, with a hint of North American and Irish folk twang. The group contains three young Järveläs, two sons and a daughter of the most famous fiddle family in Finland, whose fathers and uncles founded the Finnish fiddle ensemble JPP. Frigg’s traditional sounds are supercharged with innovative arrangements, and combined with mandola, cittern, double bass, guitar and dobro. These Lotus fan favorites appear for one night only at this year’s Lotus Festival (Thursday). Sponsored by Women of Lotus, IU West European Studies, and IU Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center.
Artist website | Video | Back to top
Funkadesi proudly hails from Chicago, representing the diverse multi-ethnic communities within the city. Their Lotus sets are always transcendent celebrations of cultural and musical diversity. Funkadesi takes Indian Ragas, reggae, Latin, African, funk, and other rhythms and grooves and puts them together into music that is hard to walk away from (and easy to dance to). One of the Lotus Festival’s great fan favorites returns. Sponsored by Women of Lotus.
Artist website | Back to top
Marta Gómez
(Friday, Saturday)
A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, Colombian singer and composer Marta Gómez performs original compositions based on a many Latin American rhythms (including Colombian cumbias and bambucos, Argentine zambas, Cuban sones, and Peruvian landos), taking indigenous folk music into a new realm. Goméz is a rising star in the newest generation of Latin American musicians. "With an exquisite voice, Gomez manages to sound like a pure folk traditionalist and jazzy pop adventurer at the same time" (Boston Herald). Sponsored by IU Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Women of Lotus.
Artist website | Back to top
Bill Harney & Paul Taylor
(Friday, Saturday [Lotus in the Park])
Story-teller and didjeridoo maker/player Bill Harney is an Elder and the last Senior Male Aboriginal custodian of the Wardaman people of the Northern Territory in Australia. Harney is mentor to storyteller and didj player Paul Taylor (who visited Bloomington earlier this year for Lotus Blossoms educational outreach programs). Together, they bring stories and music of the Australian and Aboriginal cultures to life. Bill Harney is also an artist, and a selection of his paintings will be on display Sept. 15-Oct. 4 at Athena (116 N. Walnut, downtown Bloomington). Supported by the Performing Arts Fund, a program of Arts Midwest funded in part by the National endowment for the arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art, with additional contributions from the Indiana Arts Commission, General Mills Foundation, and Land O'Lakes Foundation.
Artist website | Back to top
James Hill & Anne Davison
(Friday, Saturday)
Virtuoso ukulele and cello from the northern half of North America. James Hill brings classical and folk elements to this classic Hawaiian instrument. The ukulele (pronounced "oo-koo-lay-lay") is being embraced worldwide by young musicians eager to push the instrument into uncharted territory. Hill’s original repertoire ranges from bluegrass, to jazz, to compositions for the uke and string quartet. Performing partner Anne Davison plays cello, and although you won’t see it at Lotus, she has created “ArModa” (“Art Music Meets Modern Dance”), which combines music of cello and related instruments with modern dance. Sponsored by Women of Lotus.
Artist website (Hill) | Artist website (Davison) | Back to top
Gaida Hinnawi
(Saturday, Sunday)
Gaida Hinnawi is a vocalist and composer working at the intersection of the New York Arab and improvised music scenes. Her compositions draw on classical Arabic song, Syrian folk traditions, and improvisations that expand on traditional Arabic maqams (modes) to produce an original and highly personal style marked by great emotional intensity. An acclaimed singer from an early age, Gaida was raised in Damascus and later lived in Kuwait, Paris, and Detroit, where she received classical voice training at Wayne State University. Sponsored by Women of Lotus.
Artist website | Back to top
Little Cow has been described as “Hungary’s hottest export since goulash.” Raucous joy, melancholy, absurd humor: it’s all there in music that could keep a party going until daylight comes. The band itself calls their sound “crazy listening or underground pop … it mixes and matches Gypsy, Balkan, rock, pop, ska, and dance music in the best proportion." Sponsored by IU Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center, Russian & East European Institute.
Artist website | Video | Back to top
Lo Còr de la Plana
(Saturday, Sunday)
Lo Còr de la Plana (pronounced “loh cor deh la plahn”) matches six male acappella voices with the stomping, clapping beat of hand drums. Its Mediterranean roots include Arabic and African influences, and Gregorian chant. Singing in the little known ancient language Occitan, the group creates intricate harmonies that soar between the dissonant and the sacred, and they are devoted to resurrecting and modernizing a traditional repertoire that has been confined to churches and religious ceremonies. Their music result is a joyful, vocal celebration that needs no translation. Sponsored by IU West European Studies Center.
Artist website/audio | Back to top
March Fourth Marching Band
(Saturday)
March Fourth (the name comes from the date of their first gig) is a high-energy marching band from Portland, Oregon. A little Fellini, a little Mardi Gras, a little Afro-Latin, and a lot of brassy, big-band energy: March Fourth is a happening in the street and on the stage. Accompanied by stilt-walkers, dancers, and other surprises, they were a hit at Lotus Festival 2007 and they’re returning for one night of Lotus 2008. Sponsored by Women of Lotus.
Artist website | 2007 Lotus Festival video! | Back to top
This 30-piece marching band (one of two at this year’s Lotus) from Chicago describes itself as “grown-up dorks with too much energy and too little self-restraint, stupefying their audience with music that should never be performed by a marching band.” They play on snare drums, glockenspiel, sousaphone, electric guitar, and other not-so-traditional band instruments; their music includes “zombie-mambo, snake-charmer-metal, gypsy-reggaeton and classical.” And they like to use “speaker helmet” technology to get the sound nice and loud. They’ll take the Friday-night festival procession to new heights. Sponsored by Women of Lotus.
Artist website | Back to top
Take the traditional music of Spain (dance tunes, love songs, music for weddings and village celebrations), perform it on traditional instruments (bagpipes, wooden flutes, hurdy-gurdy), then add something comtemporary with accordion, guitar, fiddle and clarinets. This is the sound of La Musgaña (“the water rat”). This quartet has done extensive field work to learn traditional tunes and songs of the Castilian countryside, music that reflects a swirl of influences: Europe and Africa, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Sponsored by IU West European Studies Center.
Artist website | Video | Back to top
The New York Gypsy All-Stars
(Saturday)
The young Macedonian/Turkish clarinet virtuoso Ismail Lumanovski plays jazz-inflected Turkish, Balkan, and Mediterranean Romani (Gypsy) songs with some of New York's finest musicians, including Turkish musician Tamer Pinarbasi on kanun (a zither-like stringed instrument), Greek musician Panogiotis Andreu on bass; Macedonian Seido Salifoski on percussion/darbouka, and Philadelphia native Jordan Person on drums. Sponsored by IU Russian & East European Institute.
Artist website | Back to top
Based in New York City, Pistolera defines the latin alt-folklorico genre. Applying a pop-rock sensibility to traditional Mexican music, the quartet features the Spanish lyric songs of vocalist and guitarist Sandra Lilia Velásquez, the driving accordion melodies of Maria Elena, and the rhythm section of bassist Inca B. Satz and drummer Ani Cordero. “One part ranchera and one part indie pop” (The New Yorker). Sponsored by Women of Lotus.
Artist website | Video | Back to top
Reelroad plays traditional Russian music in an original “post-folk” style. The band brings ancient Russian to life with modern arrangements, global rhythms, and youthful energy. The use of traditional Russian vocals and folk instruments reveal the band’s close ties to its roots as it plays songs from northern and central Russia and Siberia, music driven underground for decades. Reelroad teaches Russian folk dance as well – they’ll have a workshop at Saturday’s Lotus in the Park. Sponsored by Women of Lotus, IU Russian & East European Institute, Friends of Old Time & Celtic Music.
Artist website | Video | Back to top
Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
(Friday, Saturday)
This family act— comprised of fingerstyle guitarist Reverend Peyton, his wife and washboard player Breezy Peyton, and drummer/brother Jayme Peyton—has only been around for three years, but these country-blues aficionados from rural Indiana have logged more miles in their van than most acts who have been around for a decade. Peyton isn’t big on metaphor and symbolism, preferring to let people know exactly how he feels, whether he’s singing about being too poor to afford health insurance or just missing Mama Peyton’s fried potatoes. Sponsored by Women of Lotus.
Artist website | Video | Back to top
Solas is one of the world’s best Irish folk music groups. Anchored by founders Seamus Egan (flutes, whistles, banjo, mandolin, guitar bodhran) and Winifred Horan (fiddle), Solas is known both for exquisite, strictly trad tunes, as well as pushing Irish traditional music into other realms. In addition to Egan and Horan, Solas boasts Mick McAuley (accordion and concertina), Eamon McElholm (guitar, keyboards), and newest member Máiréad Phelan (vocals). Solas has been to Lotus in an earlier incarnation; now 10 years old, the band is as good as it’s ever been. Sponsored by IU West European Studies Center, Friends of Old-Time & Celtic Music, Women of Lotus.
Artist website | Back to top
Son de Madera
(Friday, Saturday)
Son de Madera plays music and song from the son jarocho genre of Veracruz, Mexico. The rhythms of son jarocho derive from Spanish, Indian, and African influences. A hallmark of this rousing music is the small guitar known as the jarana; the staccato dance steps of the zapateado; vocal improvisations; and call-and-response. Son de Madera takes a centuries-old tradition and infuses it with modern verve. Sponsored by Women of Lotus, IU Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies.
Artist website | Back to top
Jayme Stone & Mansa Sissoko
(Friday, Saturday)
The music of Jayme Stone and Mansa Sissoko illuminates the shared history of African and North American music. Stone plays the banjo (a classic American folk instrument that came to the U.S. via African slave populations) and Sissoko is a griot singer and master-player of the kora (a 21-string African harp). From his work with Sissoko and with Malian traditions, Stone says, “I’ve become more attuned to the communal aspect of making music, particularly the powerful effect it has on our daily lives, emotional experience, sense of ritual and feeling of belonging.” Sponsored by IU African Studies Program.
Artist website | Back to top
This dynamic guitarist and singer is the son of the late Mali blues artist Ali Farka Touré. He plays his own, contemporary, version of the “desert blues,” paying homage to his father’s musical legacy, while incorporating new musical influences, from reggae to rock. “Music is personal expression,” says Vieux. “Everyone has their own ideas and their way of doing things. No one can replicate what someone else has done. I am working to follow my father’s path, but that path continues into new areas. I am of a new generation, so there are things that inspire me in today’s world that I put in my music, just as he did in his time.” Sponsored by IU African Studies Program.
Artist website | Video | Back to top
Waltz with Me
(Thursday, Friday)
Waltz with Me is the brainchild of Norwegian Hardanger fiddle virtuoso Annbjørg Lien, whose cohorts here are fiddler Mats Edén, cellist Christine Hanson, and old-time fiddle master Bruce Molsky, The music of Waltz with Me crosses cultural and genre boundaries, moving from bluegrass, to Celtic, to Swedish fiddle music with ease and grace. Sponsored by Women of Lotus and IU West European Studies Center, Friends of Old Time & Celtic Music.
Artist website | Back to top
The Wilders
(Friday, Saturday)
* 2008 Lotus Dickey Artist *
Live and unplugged, this Kansas City band delivers deliver high-octane country / stringband / hillbilly rave-ups. Four musicians tear it up around a single microphone: Ike Sheldon (guitar), Betse Ellis (fiddle), Nate Gowron (upright bass), and Phil Wade (dobro, banjo, mandolin). Their playlist is chock full of original country, bluegrass, and hillbilly songs; fiddle tunes; and covers of classics from the 1940s and ‘50s honky-tonk tradition, and the Grand Ol’ Opry’s early days. They’ve performed at the Kennedy Center and on A Prarie Home Companion, and they made their Lotus debut in 2007 at Summer Night of Lotus. As the 2008 Lotus Dickey Artist, the Wilders help us honor the spirit of Indiana folk treasure Lotus Dickey (1911-1989) Sponsored by Women of Lotus and Friends of Old Time & Celtic Music.
Artist website | Video | Back to top
Lotus Education & Arts Foundation | Box 1667, Bloomington IN 47402 | ph 812-336-6599, fx 336-3959 | lotus@bluemarble.net