The 20th annual Richmond Folk Festival is coming up Friday through Sunday, September 27th through the 29th. And this week (Sunday September 15, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site) it's time for Global A Go-Go's annual preview of the Folk Festival.
I'll be focusing on six artists: Javanese singer (and frequent Richmond visitor) Peni Candra Rini from Indonesia; psychedelic 79 year old benju player Ustad Noor Bakhsh from Balochistan; Tuareg Nigerien guitar shredder Bombino; theatrical Pugliese ensemble Canzioniere Grecanico Salentino (CGS for short), the biggest stars of Italian traditional music; chirimía brass band Rancho Aparte from Colombia's Pacific Coast; and self-taught Afro-futurist American musician and visual artist Lonnie Holley (pictured above).
Tune in and find out which international artists you don't want to miss at the Folk Festival, even if (or maybe, especially because) you've never heard of them before.