2023 LOWELL FOLK FESTIVAL Announces Full Performance Schedule 

The 2023 Lowell Folk Festival in Lowell, Massachusetts, hosts its 36th annual event Friday, July 28th through Sunday, July 30th, with music, traditional crafts and foods that span the globe.

This free 3-day celebration presents world-class musicians playing folk music from different cultures and traditional craft artists with their apprentices, giving festival-goers an opportunity to experience the remarkable diversity of the arts. More information, including a complete schedule of performances, activities, and foods available for purchase representing cuisines from 5 different continents,  is available at lowellfolkfestival.org.

The Festival opens on Friday, July 28, at 6:15pm with the Parade of Flags at Boarding House Park, led by Haitian musicians Lakou Mizak. Local community members representing the diverse cultures who call Lowell home, will carry flags across the stage representing their country and cultures of origin.   The Opening Ceremony will include remarks by local officials and the festival producing partners.

Friday evening's performances on the Boarding House Park stage and the Dance Pavilion kick off a remarkable weekend of world-class musicianship that makes the Lowell Folk Festival one of the largest and most respected in the country. A full performance schedule is online at lowellfolkfestival.org.

“On behalf of all our producing partners, we are thrilled and honored to share great artists from around the world in one of the most welcoming communities in the country,” said Lee Viliesis, Lowell Folk Festival Coordinator.  

The 2023 Lowell Folk Festival also features moderated conversations/demonstrations that provide audiences the opportunity to hear Festival artists from diverse cultural backgrounds explore the connections, similarities, and differences in their musical journeys.  

Saturday at Market Street Stage tap dancer Jason Samuels Smith, percussionist Bernard Linette, Heart of Afghanistan's Sohail Karimi, and Mouhamadou Sarr (Sona Jobarteh) have a syncopated chat To the Beat; a Conversation in Rhythm.  Hot Club of Cowtown's Whit Smith, blues legend Melody Angel and sacred steel guitar powerhouse Fran Grace will talk about all things guitar in a session called Guitar Slingers: Swing, Blues, Steel. 

Also on Saturday at Saint Anne's Churchyard, Fiddling Around the World has violinists Liz Carroll (Trian), Elana James (Hot Club of Cowtown), Valeria Glava (Cheres) and Tim Laughlin exploring how adaptable the violin is to music of diverse cultures.  Igor Iachimciuc, who plays tsymbaly (a type of hammered dulcimer) in the Ukrainian group Cheres, joins kora virtuoso Sona Jobarteh and her bandmates Angelo Freire and Bernardo Saldanha to explore Rites of String: Lisbon to Lviv.   

Sunday's conversation at the Market Street Stage brings together fado singer Sara Correia, Ahmad Fanoos (Heart of Afghanistan), and Linda Lay (Springfield Exit) to explore Songs of Longing, Loss and Love.  At Saint Anne's Churchyard, Fred Thomas and Chuck Mead will compare notes in From the Opry to Soul Train: Rockabilly and R&B Troubadours. Billy McComiskey (Trian), Victor Cebotari (Cheres), Drew Simon (T'Monde), and Sandy Theodorou (REVMA) will discuss their beloved “squeeze box,” in a session titled All Boxed In.

Foods From Around the World,

 “One of the things we love about the Festival is that it gives us a chance to share the many tastes of Lowell's cultural cuisines with guests who come from all over the country to attend this event every year,” said Viliesis. 

At Boarding House Park, the Dance Pavilion and Market Street, Festival goers will be able to purchase a wide variety of foods prepared and sold by local non-profit community organizations with proceeds benefiting these numerous worthy projects and programs. Foods from a wide array of cultures including Portuguese, Brazilian, Greek, Polish, Asian, Latin,  African, Burmese and so many others,  promise a rich and diverse culinary and cultural experience for hungry folk arts lovers of all ages.

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.

The 2023 Lowell Folk Festival is Friday July 28-Sunday July 30 is free to the public, and presented on various stages throughout downtown Lowell, MA.  For additional information, along with performance schedules, visit Lowell Folk Festival.

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