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  • Festival in Frame: Photos from Day Five

    A group of people in bright and colorful traditional Bolivian clothing and hats process down the National Mall with their arms around each other, kicking their feet up, big smiles on their faces.

    In Quechua, tinkuy means “to come together.” Local youth came together on the National Mall to perform the tinku, a Bolivian folk dance which tells the story of ritual in North Potosí, Bolivia. The dance emulates warrior movements and features traditional clothing.

    Photo by James Dacey, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

    “Today, I will just listen. Without rehearsing, without discounting, without correcting. Today, I will just listen. With intention, with humility, with respect, with gratitude.”
    —Visitor at a Wordsmiths’ Cafe open mic

    Do you know what it sounds like when Bolivian tinku music and punk rock simultaneously play over speakers? We do. Within the first hour of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival today, a Bolivian folk dance procession took over the National Mall, sandwiched between MoCAT’s Battle of the Bands and a rowdy, intertribal game of Myaamia peekitahaminki (lacrosse). The collision of music styles mirrored that of bodies bumping into each other, creating a soup of sound and energy that perfectly encapsulated this year’s Festival: one that is proud to be loud.

    When sitting at any given stage on Festival grounds, you hear the other ones at the same time. But if you close your eyes and listen closely, you’ll hear Di’Orr Greenwood as she dreams of a future where kids don’t have to choose between affording to eat or affording to skate; Rebel Song Academy make kids’ faces turn red with joy as they hear their song about ice cream come to life; Cassandra Quayson recite poetry about Ghanaian mythology and the beauty of petrichor; and people share their vulnerability on an open mic. This week, people from all corners of the world met each other for the first time. But if listening intently and making spaces loud are things we all do, then haven’t we known each other all along?

    As the sun set and wind started to blow, a contradance led by Sugar in the Pan and Adina Gordon weaved dancing feet into organized chaos and laughter, confirming that we were never really strangers.

    Experience the day through photos and share some of your own on social media, using the hashtag #2025Folklife.

    A man holds up a piece of wrought iron that has been shaped into a heart in front of his face to show the camera. Behind him, with smiles on their faces, an attentive crowd watches him.
    The West African sankofa is a symbol of the wisdom of learning from the past to build for the future—a fitting emblem for this year’s Festival. Master blacksmith Darryl Reeves and apprentice blacksmith Karina Roca joined us from New Orleans, where they preserve the distinctive centuries-old architectural landscape of the city and its West African roots.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A woman wearing a dark red tank top and sunglasses speaks into a wired microphone that she holds in her left hand while gesturing with her right hand to a plant in the garden that surrounds her. Three visitors are seen in the frame watching and listening to her.
    Our Gifts from the Land garden highlights traditional foods and Indigenous relationships to the environments. Visitors learned from Kara Strass about Myaamia miincipi, a unique variety of corn that the Myaamia people have preserved for centuries.
    Photo by Craig Fergus, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A man and a woman, both wearing black t-shirts, stand onstage behind a counter with a gas stove on top. The man, who wears a black bucket hat, stirs something in a metal pan, while the woman looks on. All of this is reflected to an audience in an overhead mirror, which also shows the bowls of prepared ingredients sitting on the counter nearby.
    The Indonesian artisans of SWEDA have spent most of their time at the Festival over in the Streetwise area, demonstrating silver pendant and jewelry making, but today they took to the Foodways kitchen to prepare gule, a rich and aromatic stew made with tender meat simmered and infused with spices like turmeric, coriander, and cinnamon in a fragrant coconut milk broth.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A person with long, wavy blonde hair focuses intently on a metal structure that they are working on, which features a design not unlike the flag of the United States, with lots of little stars and stripes.
    It’s all about the details. Ilan Cuomo-Wilkerson, who just graduated high school in Olathe, Kansas, worked intently on an American flag-themed bike he’s creating with the Olathe Leadership Lowrider Bike Club.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Behind a turntable, two people stand next to each other dancing. The person on the left wears a pink sequined cap, dozens of beaded friendship-style bracelets on both arms, and a turquoise crop top. The person on the right wears all black, with silver metal accessories and a black leather choker necklace.
    DJ Girlypop Princess was on the 1s and 2s at the Streetwise tent —the perfect soundtrack to get people amped up for our skateboarding trick competition that took place simultaneously.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A young boy wearing a light blue t-shirt kneels on the grass and stacks rectangular blocks made of cardboard that look like bricks. They have various phrases written on them that relate to building trades and architecture, like ‘too many irons in the fire’ and ‘venetian finish.’ A volunteer kneels on the other side of the stacked bricks, helping to balance them.
    The Festival hosted Morning on the Mall—designed for individuals with autism, sensory sensitivities, or others who may benefit from a more relaxed and supported environment. We were thrilled to welcome this future brick mason, who took the opportunity to stack some blocks with vernacular phrases from blacksmithing and other building trades.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A man wearing a bright blue t-shirt sits behind a microphone onstage. His eyes are squeezed tight and he smiles while laughing. Behind him, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival logo is visible.
    “Does your guitar have a story?” That’s the slogan of Delgado Guitars, owned and operated by the Delgado family who have been making guitars by hand since 1928, spanning four generations. Judging by Manuel Delgado’s laughter here, during a conversation on “Teaching the Next Generation,” his guitar must have a pretty funny story.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A group photo of young musicians from the DC Youth Orchestra. They stand on the grass of the National Mall with the Smithsonian Castle visible in the background. They all wear white polos, brown pants and skirts, and hold their respective instruments.
    The DC Youth Orchestra were perfectly in tune with this year’s theme. Founded in 1960, they have toured twenty-four countries, played for U.S. presidents and diplomats, and worked with esteemed musicians such as Aaron Copland, Yo-Yo Ma, and more.
    Photo by Phillip R. Lee, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A large group of people, divided into pairs, swing their partners around on a grass dance floor. On the left of the photo, two older people dance together, while on the right, two young people, one in a flowing lavender dress, spin each other around.
    A good old promenade never goes out of style. The Community Contradance, soundtracked by six-piece Vermont-based band Sugar in the Pan and called by Adina Gordon, drew a big crowd as folks danced the night away during sunset.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

    For the last day of the Festival, see Evelyn Morán Cojoc finish a mural reflecting her Poqomchi’ Maya heritage, move to the beat of the Alliance of Black Orchestral Percussionists’ drums, play peekitahaminki (lacrosse) with Myaamia students, and close out your night with an intimate farewell concert, featuring talent from across the Festival grounds.

    Cassie Roshu is a media intern at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Social media specialist Grace Bowie and editor Elisa Hough contributed.


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