The Inner Mongolian ensemble Ih Tsetsn won over crowds at the 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival with their complex harmonies and high-energy music. Here, they perform a traditional song of worship, or song ge, praising the land and nature.

In a 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival workshop, Kenyan musicians Makadem, Justo and Joseck Asikoye, and Singing Wells project advisor Bill Odidi discussed music as a controversial form of socio-political expression and communication.

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is an interactive festival where audience members engage directly with visiting artists to learn about their music, crafts, cooking, and more.

Banjo player and music scholar Tony Seeger, nephew of the late American icon and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings artist Pete Seeger (1919–2014)

Wu Man, a virtuoso pipa player, concluded her performance at the 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival with a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" on the Chinese traditional lute.

Hailing from the mountainous region of southern China and Guizhou province,the Leishan Miao Music and Dance Group came to the Festival to perform a variety of simple and elaborate dances, as well as songs for voice and on the lusheng.

Quetzal, a musical group from East Los Angeles, combines elements of Mexican música ranchera, salsa, Chicano rock, R&B, and international popular music.

Zewang Renqing and Geluo Zhaxi are brothers who learned Qiang polyphonic singing while herding cattle with their parents in Western Sichuan Province, China.

Wu Man, a master of the Chinese lute (pipa) was joined by fellow musicians Yang Yi (zheng) and Haruka Fujii (percussion) for an evening concert at the Moonrise Pavilion during the 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.