Singers Ann Porcella, Karen Collins and Dana Ward and their accompanist Ira Gitlin will take you back to the roots of country music. With an emphasis on close harmonies, they bring together distinctive styles and voices to create a unique blend of honky-tonk. Ann Porcella's musical taste gravitates toward the gospel music she learned at home from her preacher father and large, musical family. Harmony singing is her first love; her deep, powerhouse voice adapts well to many traditional styles. Dana Ward, a native of North Carolina, has never strayed far from bluegrass and early country music. She has traveled the Southeast with duet partner Bob Kogut to perform in concerts and at bluegrass, folk and old-time music festivals. Karen Collins, a coal miner's daughter from southwest Virginia, grew up listening to country music. She is fiddler and vocalist with the Washington area's popular Cajun band Squeeze Bayou. Blue Moon Instrumentalist: Ira Gitlin's guitar playing gets its down-to-earth drive from his long involvement in bluegrass and its sophisticated rhythms and harmonies from his interest in western swing and jazz. A multi-instrumentalist and former National Banjo champion, Ira is in demand as a sideman and music instructor. He can be also be heard locally with the Urban Legends and the Oklahoma Twisters. Contact: (301) 270-2586 or http://members.aol.com/kcollin/bluemoon/

Join us for a demonstration of traditional Irish step-dancing with the Sean Culkin School of Traditional Irish Dance and an Irish set dance workshop featuring the North Kerry set with music by the Bog Wanderers Ceili Band. A ceili band is one that plays for Irish country dancing, and the Bog Wanderers are one of the top ceili bands on the east coast. Jibs, reels, hornpipes, polkas, and slides are their mainstay with the added attraction of superb vocals by banjo player Betsy O'Malley. Band members: Betsy O'Malley, tenor banjo, tin whistle and vocals; Joe Dezarn, fiddle, remarks; Danny Flynn, accordions; Tabby Finch, piano, harp, hammered dulcimer; and Jesse Winch, drums, percussion, mandola, guitar and harmonica. Contact: Jesse Winch at jessewinch@hotmail.com

Laura has been teaching American folk dances for six years and specializes in quickly bringing beginners to a comfort level.

With his banjo slung over his shoulder and a smile on his face, Frank Cassel brings joy to the Festival each year. He's also a fixture at the Takoma Park Farmers' Market on Sunday mornings. Contact: http://members.aol.com/BanjoManFC

Carey Colvin has been a regular nominee for the Washington Area Music Association Awards since 1998 and was the winner of the Debut Recording of the Year in 2000, her first full CD, "The Distance Wall." Carey's voice has been called "as bright and clear as a ringing bell," "earthy and friendly," and "warm" by critics. Contact: http://www.careycolvin.com

Sean is the director of the nationally regarded Culkin School of Traditional Irish Dance. At the Folk Festival, he will teach Irish step dance, concentrating on jig steps. Contact: http://www.culkinschool.com

Gina DeSimone is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter, with a clear, honest voice that speaks directly to the heart. Enriched by intricate guitar work and fluid melodies, Gina's music has a depth and meaning, is sometimes irreverent and always entertaining. Gina's debut CD, "Drifting," engages and challenges listeners with her observations about life, love, sadness, struggle, and perseverance. Her silky voice and sexy rhythms will draw you in and send you to far away places. Contact: Spangler@erols.com

"Exuberance" is a group of young fiddlers brought together by their teacher, Ellen Jacobs. Their level of enthusiasm and technique, rarely heard among pre-teen and teen fiddlers, has resulted in numerous concert and festival invitations in the past three years. They explore a range of fiddle styles and take great joy in the creative possibilities of making music as a group. In addition to Ellen, the group will be backed up by Mark Vidor, Richard Seidel, and Larry Robinson. Contact: robinj@us.net

Three-time Grammy Award nominees will mesmerize listeners with their energy, harmony, and musical ability. Contact: http://www.cathymarcy.com

Amikaeyla "Ami" Proudfoot Gaston and Deborah "Spice" Kleinmann send traditional and original folk songs down new pathways with their powerful harmonies. They will make you laugh and cry and feel all squishy inside. They have performed on the Clearwater Boat on the Hudson River, as well as many D.C. area venues. Contact: 410-828-4070

Join the Foggy Bottom Morris Men as they demonstrate dances from the English villages of Badby, Bampton, and the Welsh-English border regions. This group will weave throughout the Festival grounds, bringing its festive music, jangling bell-ringing, and high-kneed dance style. The troupe always welcomes new participants and members to its practices in Silver Spring Contact: 410.480.3289 or http://www.science.gmu.edu/~bgraham/foggy.html

Kids of all ages will enjoy evocative Salvadoran music and the fun of musical games.

Pat Humphries' participation in the "Sam Abbott Memorial Concert" is a tribute to her nearly 25 years of performing songs of protest, commitment, and unity. She has the ability to get an entire audience to join her in song — an element of her desire to change the world one song at a time. Pat keeps alive the memory and vision of fellow Ohio native Phil Ochs, and has been a civil rights activist in Nicaragua and a participant in numerous labor rallies in the U.S. Not only did she attend the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women (Beijing) in 1995, but she sang her anthem, "Keep on Moving Forward (Never Turning Back)," to open the conference. A newcomer to the Washington, D.C., area, she has played with several Takoma Park Folk Festival musicians on her two recordings. Contact: Myrnaross@juno.com

The Jesse Palidofsky Group presents diverse program that draws from musical traditions as varied as Jazz, Latin, Russian, the blues, and Celtic. Traditional songs and Jesse's original compositions (which have been featured on (WETA-FM's "Traditions" program, Montgomery Cable TV's "Takoma Coffeehouse," the Washington Folk Festival, and elsewhere) are guaranteed to get your feet tapping. Richard "Mr. Bones" Thomas provides the group with an unusual percussive sound from his short-rib bones. A native of Washington, D.C., Richard is a community treasure, a living link to the African-American tradition. Clarinetist and soprano saxophonist Jonah Blaustein brings his own eclectic musical instruments to The Palidofsky Group. He is a fabulous instrumentalist who's as comfortable with early Jazz and Klezmer as he is with Latin cumbio dance music, and Greek, Macedonian, and Armenian traditional folk music. String bassist Mick Collins has been performing in the Washington, D.C., area since junior high school. Since returning to this area in 1985, Mick has appeared with several local orchestras, including the Prince George's Philharmonic, the McLean Orchestra, and the Takoma Park Symphony Orchestra. Contact: jessepal1@aol.com

Steve Key recently returned to Washington after five years in Nashville, where he hosted weekly songwriter shows, co-wrote with staff writers on Music Row, and placed songs with a number of country, folk, and blues artists. He will be playing locally throughout the fall and hosts the Red Rover Concerts, held on third Sundays at the River Road Unitarian Church in Bethesda. "I enjoy sharing my enthusiasm for contemporary folk music with friends and total strangers," he says. Contact: Stevekey@aol.com or http://www.folkdude.com

Founding member of the Rock Creek Bluegrass Band, lead vocalist for The Seldom Scene and Chesapeake, Moondi Klein finally brings his beautiful tenor voice and irreverent musical style to our stage. Moondi's music can't really be classified. It's an intoxicating blend of reggae, rock, Celtic and country-influenced bluegrass. Moondi will be joined by talented and versatile area musicians, which may include T. Michael Coleman, Starz Vanderlocket, and Mike Mumford —- but your guess is as good as ours! Contact: 301-588-1104.

Klezcentricity, formed in 1999 by seminal Klezmer revivalist David Julian Gray, is emerging as one of the most exciting and creative Klezmer ensembles working today. The ensemble has developed a sound of unaffected authenticity and a modern sensibility. David began his career as founding member of The Klezmorim, whose recordings and concerts in the late 1970s ignited the international revival of Klezmer, the dance band music of Eastern European Jewry. Contact: http://www.klezcentricity.com

Takoma's own dance diplomat brings us inspired expressive movement from dancers of all ages. Attend the performance and find out how you can participate in one of Liz Lerman's classes or performance groups that are known around the United States for their unique approach to dance and movement. Contact: http://www.danceexchange.org/

Macedonian "izvorno" music comes from Macedonian culture and its villages - the band plays shepherds' instruments to produce celebratory tunes for listening and dancing. Join them for a unique rhythmic and melodic sound. Performers: Len Newman, Tambura; Craig Packard, kaval, gaida, vocals; Tsvety Dosseva, vocals; Larry Weiner, Tupan; Bryndyn Weiner, vocals: Valerii Georgievstei, Kaval. Contact: lnewman@merklenet.com

Born and educated in Uganda, Namu has been sharing her country's rich culture and heritage with audiences in the U.S. and Africa for two decades. She sings in the Zouk, soukous, soca, and reggae musical styles with in a distinctive low-register voice, and plays the Ndongo (bowl lyre) string instrument, Nndingidi (tube fiddle), Akogo (thumb piano), Madinda (xylophone), and drums. Namu also is a storyteller, playwright, actress and artistic educator. Namu is the director of 'Kayaga! of Africa' — a performing dance and music group named after her mother. In 1987, Namu's 'UGANDA' music composition won first place in Kenya's International Music Festival.

Wendy will be joined by Jonathan Jensen, Larry Robinson, Ellen Jacobs, and Charlie Pilzer in a high-energy hour of klezmer music. Wendy is The House of Musical Traditions' teacher of Irish tinwhistle, clawhammer banjo, piano and button accordion, as well as English and Anglo concertina. Contact: http://www.hmtrad.com/wendy

Lisa Moscatiello is a singer and songwriter with roots in Celtic traditional music, contemporary folk, pop and jazz. In January 2001, she won the Washington Area Music Association Awards for Artist of the Year and Album of the Year (Second Avenue). In addition to her solo work, she is the lead singer for the New York City-based Celtic band Whirligig, and is the former lead singer for the folk-rock band the New St. George. Lisa has been compared to Annie Lennox, Sandy Denny and k.d. lang. In a review of her latest CD, Billboard said she possesses "one of the most gorgeous vocal instruments in all of folk-tinged pop." She is joined onstage by Rico Petruccelli (electric bass), Fred Lieder (cello), Robbie Magruder (drums) and Phil Mathieu (electric guitar). Contact: http://www.lisamoscatiello.com

Luci Murphy has been performing for nearly 50 years and sings in 10 languages (English, Spanish, French, Kreyol, Portuguese, Nguni, Arabic, Hebrew, Cherokee, and ki-Swahili). She draws on the folklore of the world's cultures and employs their musical idioms, while never forgetting her roots in spirituals, blues, and jazz. In a lifetime spent singing in support of civil rights, she has performed on behalf of the Wilmington 10; refugees from Palestine, Haiti, and Central America; Nicaraguan Sandinistas, Chilean anti-fascists; Texas farm workers; striking nurses; black union locals; shipyard workers in San Diego; unemployed workers; Washington, D.C., tenants; the homeless; and victims of police brutality. Luci appeared in the very first Takoma Park Folk Festival. Contact: voters1@capaccess.org

This trio merges the stylist and repertoire input of its members, each having roots in different traditions: Karen's Irish flute and hammered dulcimer, Andrea's Scandinavian and American fiddle, and Paul's Belgian musette accordion and jazz tinged plucked strings. The three are members of Cabaret Sauvignon, a contra dance band. Karen Ashbrook and Paul Oorts play an exciting blend of hammered dulcimer, wooden flute, fretted strings, and accordion. Their repertoire is based in Irish music, but also draws from Paul's native Flemish and French music, contra dance, and classical repertoire. Karen and Paul are principal members of two groups: Ceoltoiri Celtic Ensemble and Celtic Café. Contact: http://www.karenashbrook.com
The queen of Takoma Park fiddlers, Andrea Hoag has traveled around the world studying and teaching traditional fiddle styles. From Sweden to Scotland to the Southern Appalachian, she infuses each style with her passionate and lyrical musical touch. Contact: http://www.andreahoag.com

An instructor in the area since 1980, Jamie started the Foggy Bottom Folkdancers in 1983, and they meet every Thursday evening at St. Mary's Episcopal Church on 23rd Street Northwest. Contact: Dancingplanet@erols.com

A virtual world music ensemble rolled into one guy. Tom makes his annual appearance at the Festival to charm us all. His voice weaves incantations, and the guitar is a magic wand in the hands of this extraordinary musician. Contact: http://www.tomprasada-rao.com

The Rock Creek Morris Women are preserving English ritual dances and add sparkle and grace to numerous local festivals in the spring and fall. Originating in the Cotswold region of England, Morris dances celebrate the passing of winter and to promote the growth of crops, beasts, and humans. The ringing of bells and the clashing of sticks drives off unfriendly powers and awakens the earth from its winter slumber. The lively steps and waving handerchiefs lift people's spirits and inspire the crops to grow tall.Contact: 301-270-4328 or http://www.uswet.com/RCMW.html

David Shneyer is the director of the Am Kolel Judaic Resource and Renewal Center in Rockville. He is also a member of the Fabrangen Fiddlers, one of our favorite past performers of East European music at the Festival. This year, David will be demonstrating the Shofar, or Ram's Horn, one of the oldest musical instruments known to man. The sound of the Shofar gathers people together, warns people of danger, and announces special days and seasons of liberation. David will teach participants how to play the Shofar and the significance of its sounds. Contact: Amkolel@aol.com

Squeeze Bayou may be a local band, but it plays some of the most authentic Cajun dance music that can be heard anywhere. The band specializes in playing two steps and waltzes; however, the music reflects a blend of many styles including country music, blues and Creole. Most of their material comes from traditional sources and the vocals are sung in Cajun French. The band includes Karen Collins (fiddle, vocals), Matt Levine (steel guitar), Fred Feinstein (guitar), Kevin Enoch (bass), and David Lope (drums). The musicians in Squeeze Bayou have been performing traditional music at dances, festival parties and other events in the Washington, D.C area for over 18 years. Contact: http://members.aol.com/kcollin/squeeze

The Sultans of Swing play dance music from the1920s – early 1960s, bringing life to some of America's most enjoyable and upbeat music — Dixieland, swing, and ballroom dance. You'll enjoy the swing of Jack Bryce (clarinet, tenor and soprano saxes), Norm Cone (tenor and alto Saxes and clarinet), Russ Doughty (bass), Hugh Collins (drums), and Dave Littlefield (keyboard). Contact: http://americanmusiccaravan.com

Tisza Ensemble has been bringing the rich tradition of Hungarian folk dance to audiences throughout the eastern United States and Canada since 1982. The energetic dancers present fast-paced and authentic performances, including virtuoso men's dances, women's dances with bottles balanced on heads, Roma (Gypsy) improvisations, and csardas (couple dances with dizzying turns). The Ensemble's repertoire reflects Hungarian customs and historical periods, including courtship, the wine harvest, herdsmen's skills contests, and the officers' recruiting dance from the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Contact: http://www.tiszaensemble.org

Trio Chontaduro was formed in 1994 by Ernesto Africano, Francisco Hoyos, and Clara Hoyos to bring to the Washington, D.C., area many of South America's folk music traditions. The trio plays a number of folk instruments during each performance. Some are native to South America, and others are part of a more universal family of musical instruments. These include the guitar, the tiple, the cuatro, the bandola, the charango, the harp, and the bass. Sometimes, they will feature wind and percussion instruments, such as the wooden flute, the kena IIndian flute), the diatronic accordion, the bombo, maracas, castanets, and the guiro or guacharaca. Ernesto, Francisco, and Clara are Montgomery County residents who were born in Colombia. Ernesto and Francisco are practicing physicians, and Clara studied law in Colombia. Contact: http://www.triochontaduro.modica.com