Seven additional musical acts who will be on stage at the 2023 Lowell Folk Festival Friday, July 28th through Sunday, July 30th, were announced today by Festival organizers. Music that spans the globe, from the Carpathian Mountains to the Louisiana Bayou, Afghanistan to the Iberian Peninsula and places in-between, will fill the air in the Mill City for this free 3-day celebration of Folk Arts and Culture from around the world.
“We’re excited to welcome the internationally renowned fado singer Sara Correia, with the generous support of the Saab Family Foundation and the Saab Center for Portuguese Studies,” said the Lowell Folk Festival Coordinator Lee Viliesis.
“As part of the remarkable Portuguese diaspora that is in New England, and particularly here in the Merrimack Valley, it is our honor to help share the leading voice of the new generation of fado singers with our friends at the Lowell Folk Festival,” said Analise Saab Brown, Program Director for the Saab Family Foundation. “Sara Correia is a true fadista, able to captivate any audience, from the neighborhood club to the international concert stage, with the music fittingly called the soul of Portuguese people.”
Festival Coordinator Viliesis said “Our goal at the Lowell Folk Festival is to represent a diverse range of folk music traditions played by world-class musicians.” Cheres, a virtuoso musical ensemble brings the folk melodies and dances of the Carpathian region of Western Ukraine to Lowell this summer. “They embody just one aspect of the Festival’s continuing commitment to present music from around the world to audiences who gather in historic Lowell Massachusetts on the last weekend of July,” she said.
Heart of Afghanistan featuring Ahmad Fanoos & Sohail Karimi, features the transcendent singer, composer, and harmonium player Ahmad Fanoos performing songs that span Afghanistan’s rich and complex musical heritage. At Lowell, he performs with Sohail Karimi on tabla in a duo that highlights the traditional ghazals and ancient devotionals for which he is best known. This appearance is an American Voices Production.
Masterful lap-steel guitarist Fran E. Grace leads her powerhouse family band specializing in the ecstatic, steel-guitar-driven gospel music of African American Holiness-Pentecostal worship services.
A founding father of funk, bandleader Fred Thomas of the JB’s is among the most influential bass players alive today. Principal bassist with James Brown’s band for over three decades, Thomas’ signature basslines are the backbone of dozens of funk’s most iconic hits. Now leading his own seven-piece funk band, he’s holding down the groove he helped build.
REVMA performs music from a wide spectrum of Greek traditions, ranging from lively island dances to mesmerizing polyphonic ballads. This quartet of virtuosos are in constant demand for Greek American community events in the Boston area, where they play for both listeners and dancers.
Louisiana’s T’Monde is a critically acclaimed Cajun trio known for their pared-down, fiddle-driven sound; angelic vocal harmonies; and penchant for lesser-known, early twentieth-century repertoire. They bring what Off-Beat Magazine calls “a creative fusion of classic country and out-of-the-way Cajun,” to the Lowell Folk Festival.
These performers join previously announced appearances by Melody Angel, Hot Club of Cowtown, Sona Jobarteh, Lakou Mizik, Chuck Mead, Jason Samuels Smith, Springfield Exit, Trian, and the Zuni Olla Maidens.
More details about the festival, including information about the Folk Craft Area and Foods Around the World, along with performance schedules, will be announced in the coming weeks. Visit Lowell Folk Festival to stay posted on all future updates for the 36th Lowell Folk Festival 2023.
Major support for the Lowell Folk Festival comes from Mass Cultural Council, the City of Lowell, Saab Family Foundation / Saab Center for Portuguese Studies, Pridestar/Trinity EMS, Richard K. and Nancy Donahue, Demoulas Foundation, John Hunnewell Trust, Middlesex Community College, Merrimack Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau/Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, UMass Lowell, Mahoney Oil/Eastern Salt, the Greater Lowell Community Foundation, UMass Lowell Inn and Conference Center, Enterprise Bank, Aubert Fay Foundation, and Jean D’Arc Credit Union.
The Lowell Folk Festival is produced by the Lowell Festival Foundation, the City of Lowell, Lowell National Historical Park, the National Council for the Traditional Arts, the Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Lowell Community Foundation, and the Greater Merrimack Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau.
