Lake Erie Folk Fest

Eighth Annual Lake Erie Folk Fest returns February 3 Cleveland, Ohio – The eighth annual Lake Erie Folk Fest (LEFF) brings together the Northeast Ohio traditional music community in a winter celebration of the arts. The folk music festival celebrates a diverse array of traditional music styles from a wide variety of cultures. The music fest is presented by the Thwing Student Center at Case Western Reserve University, in partnership with the college radio station WRUW-FM 91.1 and the Northeast Ohio Musical Heritage Association (NEOMHA). Thwing Center is located at 11111 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH 44106. All Saturday afternoon workshops and concerts are free and open to the public. Tickets for the evening concert are $20 (advance) and $25 (day of show) with 12 and under free. Headlining the 7:30 p.m. evening concert is Pretend Friend, an American jam band from Wichita, Kansas that defies convention and redefines the bluegrass genre. Also on stage is AppalAsia, a Pittsburgh trio that melds Appalachian and Asian influences to create music that is evocative, soulful, and sophisticated. A student quartet from the Cleveland Institute of Music will entertain with Danish and other folk music in the lobby before the concert and during intermission. Afternoon folk workshops and jams Musicians and music fans alike will enjoy bluegrass, Irish, Old Time, ballads, fiddle, banjo and everything in between. Amateur and pro musicians get together and jam informally throughout the day. Check www.lakeeriefolkfest.com for the schedule of 28 free workshops and mini-concerts from 1 to 5pm, including: - “Beyond the Egg Shaker” where Anthony Taddeo teaches easy techniques for percussive sounds from tambourines, shakers, triangles and chimes; - Creative Concepts artistic director Sheela Das teaching the penny whistle; - AppalAsia (also performing in the evening concert), on how the group approaches the process of cross-cultural collaboration to create an ambitious performance language for dulcimer, erhu, banjo and voices; - Pamela Hunt on rural Ohio folk song history collected by music historian Marji Hazen, with songs provided to support audience participation.. The folk festival moves this year from its seven-year home at Shore Cultural Center in Euclid. “After years of searching, we have found the best space to allow the fest to grow, to make it accessible to our large and growing community, and to help us meet our goal of sharing the music we love with younger audiences,” says Nancy Tozer, chair of the Northeast Ohio Musical Heritage Association (NEOMHA). “The Case Western Reserve University campus is in the heart of Northeast Ohio's largest arts and culture hub, and WRUW-FM 91.1 is the preeminent college radio station in our region. We could not be more excited to be partnering with these wonderful people and bringing Lake Erie Folk Fest into this new space and new chapter." The festival has drawn visitors from five counties and three states to Greater Cleveland in the otherwise dark days of February, a bright spot in the cultural calendar and an important anchor in growing and sharing the riches of the region's traditional music scene. The Lake Erie Folk Fest is coordinated by the Northeast Ohio Musical Heritage Association, www.neohma.org . NEOMHA's mission is to provide venues and opportunities for the performance, sustenance and presentation of folk music in our region. Its goal is to create experiences that inspire a personal love and appreciation of folk music. The festival is made possible in part by grants from Cuyahoga Arts and Culture and The Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation.

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Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2204129-0

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