Folk music thrives in Central Pennsylvania
Susquehanna Folk Music Weekend
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Scott LaMar
Airdate: Thursday, August 10, 2023
Central Pennsylvania is a hotbed for folk music. In fact, folk music can be heard at venues throughout the region every weekend, and not just in the usual places for concerts and live music. Much of the folk music scene is centered on the Susquehanna Folk Music Society that stages the Susquehanna Folk Festival. There won’t be a festival this year but there will be folk music and workshops this weekend.
Peter Winter Lee, Executive Director of Susquehanna Folk Music Society, joined us on The Spark on Thursday, talking about the festival and folk music.
Lee told us that at its core, folk music is all about storytelling. He said, “folk music connects us to our roots, it’s a living tradition. We continue to innovate and learn new things, but these songs and these styles connect us to where we’ve come from.”
The central Pennsylvania folk music scene is particularly vibrant, as Lee explained, “Just last weekend we did an apprenticeship celebration as we’re a folk arts partner with the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts. We run the local grant for our area for apprentice folk artists of not just music but art as well, to study under world class masters. It’s an amazing grant program and we had two local Irish musicians who got to study under a harpist, Mary Kate Spring. We studied under Gráinne Hambly from Ireland, and she’s a world class harpist. I’m just sitting in the Fort Hunter barn last week and watching these world class musicians who are just part of our local community. So, yeah, I really think turn over a rock in Harrisburg and you’re going to find some great musicians.”
Folk music is slowly creeping into the limelight, with showcases of local folk musicians and artists at venues like Harrisburg University.
“Presenters are bringing in huge, wonderful country and folk adjacent acts to our area. But as for just like the local artists we have in our area, yeah, you kind of have to have your ear to the ground. We have Susquehanna Folk, which I think is a great resource. We try to amplify our events, but also just great artists in the area and then just so many great venues. I would like to single out, you know, Zoetropolis Cinema Stillhouse in Lancaster, who we were going to do a show with on Friday as part of our folk weekend. So just like follow these venues, they’re always putting on great, great programing.”
Lee explained that although there won’t be a festival this year, there are still plenty of events for folk lovers and newcomers alike in the central Pennsylvania community to be excited about this weekend at Susquehanna Folk’s event.
“I think one of the great things about folk music is it’s communal and it’s hands on, the idea of seeing a performer on a stage playing and this is a seasoned master in the instrument, that’s awesome. But that’s only part of it. Part of this music is to do it together, to be in community. That’s where this music came from. And so on Saturday, with the vocal group Windborne, we’re going to be having a community sing with them during the afternoon where they’ll come and they’ll teach us all a little bit about vocal help, whether you are a seasoned singer or you just like to sing in the shower and we’ll learn the history of a couple old folk songs, and then they’ll have everyone in the venue singing in harmony. And then on Sunday with Alistair Frazier and Natalie Hoss, two of the kind of go to people in traditional Scottish music. They are also incredibly esteemed teachers of fiddle music. They hold these fiddle camps around the world, and this is the first time we’ve actually had them for a fiddle camp. They’ll be having a four-hour fiddle camp from 1:30 to 4:30, called Finding Your Voice. All instruments are welcome, and they’ll be teaching how to kind of find your distinctive sound on your instrument through the framework of traditional Scottish music.”
