NARRATOR: Artworks is made possible in part by...

The Citizens of Baltimore County.

And by the Ruth R. Marder Arts Endowment Fund.

The Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker Endowment for the Arts.

The E.T.

and Robert B. Rocklin Fund.

And The Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Foundation Arts Endowment in memory of Ruth Marder.

NARRATOR: Welcome to "Artworks: The Art of Folk Life."

In this episode, we'll be exploring the art of bluegrass and country vocal folklife, the art of gospel and spiritual choir, the art of batá drumming, the art of American hammered dulcimer folklife, and the art of Irish step dancing.

Enjoy this presentation of "Artworks."

♪ ♪ BOTH: Oh bury me beneath the willow ♪ ♪ Under the weeping willow tree ♪♪ DEDE: There are moments when you get completely lost in the process and those moments are really the purest.

It's just as though you're a conduit for the music.

You know I feel like I didn't pick it, I feel like it picked me.

When I was 13, I picked up the guitar, and then when I was 19, I heard bluegrass music for the first time and I was like, "What's that?"

I had not heard anything like it before.

I immediately had to find out more about it.

♪ Bill Monroe who coined the style, he was influenced by the Appalachian styles of his area, he was based in gospel music and even a little bit of blues.

♪ JONATHAN: I've been lonely much too long, ♪ ♪ Think 'bout time you come back home ♪♪ Bluegrass's sound is pretty timeless and I love the storytelling aspect of country music and the delivery of bluegrass music.

DEDE: These songs originally were a form of communication, it's how people passed on their stories and their history and what's going on in their life.

It's very cathartic to sing.

♪ JONATHAN: I said, that's the reason we'll be all right ♪ (audience applause).

I identify most with being a musician for dancers.

(tapping).

My job, just I need to make them dance.

And it's just simple.

♪ It makes me feel really, really useful because people are dancing and that feels like that is a net good thing.

♪ Country music has this ability to talk about almost any situation you can imagine from really silly situations to tragic situations and everything in between.

How it gives you the potential to impact audiences with your words.

DEDE: Just starting out here.

Let's get our singer's posture, which is feet shoulder-width apart.

The voice is an instrument, there are many things to learn about how to use the voice.

There are involuntary muscles that are involved in singing and what we learn how to do is to separate out the muscles that have to do with singing from the muscles that aren't involved with singing.

So can you sing "Bury Me Beneath the Willow" and focus on soft lips but really articulating the words.

♪ JONATHAN: Oh bur... ♪ ♪ Oh bury me beneath the willow ♪ ♪ Under the weeping willow tree ♪♪ DEDE: Good, let's just take it that far.

Vocal technique is a bridge between what you feel and what you're able to express.

♪ Oh ♪ ♪ JONATHAN: Oh ♪ DEDE: Good.

♪ Oh, bury me beneath ♪ Make sure you... ♪ JONATHAN: Beneath ♪ DEDE: Give the consonants enough attention.

♪ JONATHAN: Oh bury me beneath the willow ♪ DEDE: That's good, feel, hear the difference?

JONATHAN: Mm-hm.

DEDE: Do it again.

♪ JONATHAN: Oh bury me... ♪ This apprenticeship has allowed me to work with someone that I really admire, someone who's plugged into this music that I love.

I've learned a lot from Dede and start to collaborate a little bit and sing together and become friends and that's really exciting to have that sort of relationship where it's a mentor, a friend, just like, someone to sing with.

DEDE: I've had the opportunity to work with somebody intensely, hopefully, to help in a way that will see him through his journey in music.

It's important to keep the genre alive, like so many other music forms, it evolves, keeping it alive allows it to evolve and to reach more people.

It's just a wonderful form of expression.

SHELLEY: Let's have some type of attitude... Ready?

Go.

♪ CHOIR: Anybody, that knows somebody ♪ ♪ If you got deliverance get up and tell everybody ♪ ♪ And get your praise on ♪ ♪ SHELLEY: Do that praise, do that praise, do it ♪ ♪ CHOIR: Do that praise, do that praise, do it ♪ ♪ SHELLEY: On my left side, what you say?

♪ ♪ CHOIR: Do that praise ♪ ♪ SHELLEY: On my right side, what you say?

♪ ♪ CHOIR: Do that praise ♪ ♪ SHELLEY: Everybody now what you say?

♪ ♪ CHOIR: Do that praise ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ SHELLEY: I am Shelley Ensor and I'm the gospel choir director at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland.

I started directing choirs when I was about 18 years old.

♪ CHOIR: Get on up ♪ ♪ Can we just get on up?

♪ ♪ Get on up ♪ (laughter).

SHELLEY: Oh yes, I gotta tell you, ya'll were singing that song.

Gospel music is an oral history in song.

We're talking about a collaboration of Black spirituals and blues.

You're drawing on the past.

Generations of, of spiritual music and freedom songs and you're adding your take on it to create something new.

Even though it is based biblically, everyone can get something out of it.

When you are singing it, it just resonates in your soul.

It can bring you joy when you are down and it can bring you peace when there is chaos in your life.

♪ Several years ago I got very ill, I ended up losing my legs and parts of my fingers.

Two weeks after my surgery I was here on campus teaching a music class.

Even that fall I was back in the church, working with my choirs.

You know, music sustained me, it was part of my recovery.

That's gospel music.

There are certain songs that you can recall the lyrics and they just bring you so much comfort.

When I had gotten sick, I thought of this song, "Faithful" and the line that I thought of said, "I'm reaping the harvest God promised me, take back what the devil stole from me.

And I rejoice today for I shall recover it all."

I really felt encouraged when I hear that song, you know, because yea, I'm gonna rejoice today because I know it's gonna be all right.

Ready?

♪ CHOIR: I could never repay you, Lord, ♪ ♪ for what you've done for me ♪ ♪ How you loosed my shackles and you set me free ♪ ♪ How you made a way out of no way ♪ ♪ Turned my darkness into day ♪ ♪ You've been my joy in the time of sorrow ♪ ♪ Hope ♪♪ SHELLEY: I do not know if I can put into words how much I love teaching.

You know whether they're teenagers or adults, you have this group of students in front of you.

It's a blank canvas and your paint is music.

You're painting a little with the altos, and you're painting a little with the sopranos, and you're painting a little with the tenors.

But then, when it all comes together, it's pure joy.

It's almost like family coming together.

♪ CHOIR: You've been ♪ ♪ Lord, you've been so faithful ♪♪ SHELLEY: This church has been a rock for us, it's been a rock for the community.

You're not afraid because you're surrounded by the love and you're surrounded by people that are there to support you no matter what.

ALICE: We've come through some hard times, I don't think Shelley has skipped a beat.

Shelley is a miracle to me.

Words fail me that I, I, I just, I'm amazed at what she does.

♪ SHELLEY: Alas, and did, my Savior bleed?

♪ ♪ And did my sovereign die?

♪ ♪ Would He... ♪♪ I love the special relationship that I have with my mother.

I feel incredibly blessed that I can share with her.

♪ Happy all day ♪♪ Always, the underlying message of gospel music is the message of love.

That's the bottom line and I think that that's why people will leave better than they were when they came, because you just feel good, it makes you feel good.

♪ As we walk life's journey ♪ ♪ To the end of the road, ♪ ♪ Side by side you and I ♪ ♪ Help to carry the load ♪ ♪ I will stand right here with you, ♪ ♪ I will not walk away ♪ ♪ Together we're strong, ♪ ♪ Whatever come what may ♪ ♪ ♪ (drumming).

RANDY: The sound of the drum, it's believed to transmit a message up to God.

My name is Randy Roso.

I was initiated as a child of Ayan, by my Godfather in the drums, his name is Orlando Puntilla Rios, may he rest in peace.

And that was back in 1991.

But Batá drums really uh, they're originated in Nigeria or in Africa.

They're part of the Santería tradition or Lukumí, uh, again that's tradition that we here in the United States we basically got it from Cuba, the batá drums that we know today, they've been filtered through hundreds of years of colonialism, slavery, capitalism, and dare I say, you know, even socialism in the past 60 years.

The belief system is, before we're born, we, we chose a path.

Now when we deviate from that path then we want to come back to the path to, to mitigate you know, whatever negativity is happening.

If we're doing really, really well, we also want to give thanks for all the good things that we have in order to assist you in, in getting you back in balance with your path in life.

A certain deity, let's say Eleguá, Elegba would like a drumming ceremony, you know, for people to come in and celebrate, ok?

At that point, the consultation will say, "Hey," you know, "We want some drums and we want those drums to be sacred."

When, when you go to a drumming uh, it begins with what is called an "Oru Seco," uh, a tribute to the, to the deities, you know, all the deities and there are like 22 rhythms.

Now those rhythms might be a little more diverse, right?

And then they can take different paths depending on the songs and that's what Steve and I are gonna study.

There's always gonna be a third drummer, but this is an example of how, maybe two people you know, get together and uh, you know, over some coffee or tea and learn how to play drums how we would discuss things and exchange ideas ok?

Each drum has a larger head and a smaller head as you can see.

The smaller head on each drum is basically gonna be struck the same way.

However in Mantanzas they strike it a little differently, they get a, they get like a little bell sound with a finger but the way we learn it, most of us, 95% of us here in the States, we learn the, the one sound that's always gonna be on the, on the small head is... (slaps drum).

A slap, a whip.

(slaps drum).

That's for the small drum, that's for this drum, the middle drum, and the big drum.

See how.

(drumming).

STEVE: When I heard batá drums, I completely fell in love with the sound.

And in 1980 there was a, an influx of Cuban immigrants, some of whom were masters of the instrument and of, and uh, and the ritual context of the instruments and I got lucky and got the opportunity to study with one of them to begin with and many of them in the, in the long term.

This is a very complicated art form to master.

You have to have a mentality that can absorb this and have the patience to try and fail and try again and fail and try and fail, there's lots and lots of effort and failure.

(drumming).

RANDY: One more.

And this is what we go through when we practice, you know, we feel each other out, we make mistakes, we get back on track, and uh actually making, making mistakes and getting back on track, that's an important component about uh when you play in a ceremony.

STEVE: Even outside the ritual context, when everything's clicking, there's like a force, there's sensuality, there's passion, there's serenity, there's also a connection as I understand it now, that goes through generations and generations and generations and generations, way, way back.

RANDY: One of the things about this culture is, is the reverence that we give to our ancestors.

We do give reverence to the Almighty and we do give reverence to the forces of nature which are manifested you know, through the deities, but just as important is, we thank our ancestors for everything they have done, as much as I like the religious aspect, I love dance classes.

When you're drumming, either secular or religious and, and, you, everybody's clicking and everybody understands what they're supposed to do, whether they're singers, dancers or drummers when people let their guard down and say, "Ok," you know, "Let's, let's enjoy this, let's contribute to each other's uh, happiness," it just feels good.

The religion as we know it was a source of survival and a source of strength and a source of hope for it to survive the way it is and for it to be here today, and for us to be talking about it this way, wanting to expose it to other people so they can enjoy the beauty of it, uh, it's uh, I want to say it's a miracle.

It's a, it's a testament of God's grace.

KAREN: So let's try it once more, "Four Potatoes" you can lead off.

When you see a hammered dulcimer for the first time, it is mesmerizing.

There are these hammers flying, there are all these strings, and this incredible, resonate sound, very full sound is coming at you and you have no idea how the person's doing it.

I really was attracted to the instrument so that I would be able to play with other people, and that's what drove me.

I wanted to be in those jam sessions.

The hammered dulcimer in Irish music led me on this unexpected life journey, ended up going around the world and living overseas, making my living as a busker, street musician, and mostly I wanted the thrill of being in the jam and being in community with people, which is at the heart of what folk music is about.

♪ Hup.

♪ Good!

One needs to give back to the tradition, that's part of what happens, you play with people to learn and then you play with people to help them learn, and the next generation's really important.

CHAO: After I came to this country, I was lucky to get into the Artist in Residence program of Strathmore Music Center and my mentor introduced me with Karen, that was my first time seeing American hammered dulcimer, for real.

It's very special to me and I'm lucky to get this grant support me to being apprentice of Karen.

KAREN: The instrument of the hammered dulcimer is a bit murky, there was this tablet of King David playing one and then a couple hundred years, nothing, and then suddenly it was throughout Europe and Eastern Europe.

In this country, it came over with the Northern European settlers into the lumber camps and it was in place of a piano, it was called "lumberjack's piano."

Hearing Chao bring in all her musical technique but adjust it to different hammers, different tuning and see what she does in our tradition, with our music, is very exciting.

♪ CHAO: Music is the universal language, there must be some accents and dialect.

I'm an immigrant here so I brought my own language, music language and I want to communicate with people.

Chinese dulcimer is my Chinese dialect and when I play on American hammered dulcimer, I speak to people with this instrument but with some kind of accent, you know, just like my English with a very strong Chinese accent.

♪ KAREN: I deeply love traditional music, I deeply love Appalachian music and Irish music and it's at the heart of community.

And to me that's what traditional music's about, it's about community.

And when you learn a tradition of music, a body of repertoire, you can travel anywhere and play with people you've never met before.

Making music with people allows us to connect through all our differences.

I think it's a major tool in humanity's toolkit of how we can connect as people.

KATE: I'm glad to see there's so many people here tonight, this is beautiful.

I hope you're all here to dance.

A Céilí is an Irish social dance and uh, really excited to bring this Céilí to College Park.

MAN: One, two, three.

♪ KATE: Five, six, ready go.

Hop forward, and forward, and back two, three.

Hop back two, three, and forward, two, three, and forward two three.

Back to the right.

My name is Kate Spanos and I am an Irish dancer.

My first experience with Irish dancing was with my mom she took me to an Irish Céilí which is an Irish social gathering with dancing and music and food and I loved it.

I loved hopping around, I loved swinging around with people and I was hooked ever since then.

I really love to call Céilís for people that are brand new to Irish dancing and just feel that rush of adrenaline.

I find that the joy in Céilí dancing is often just that feeling of chaos and not really knowing where you're going, and swinging around and maybe bumping into somebody and laughing it off and just enjoying it.

Irish dancing is many centuries old.

It is an expression of Irishness, of Irish identity, but it kind of became more standardized in the 20th century under the Gaelic League.

I grew up doing competitive style of Irish dance, so I was solely focused on this one style.

When I went to do my masters in traditional Irish dance performance at the University of Limerick, I was introduced to a whole slew of other local Irish dance forms, and that really opened my mind to the other ways that I could be an Irish dancer.

Da-da, da, da, da, da-da, da, da, da.

One, two, three, and one, two, three.

Da-da-da-da.

When Irish dancing was standardized a lot of the regional forms were lost at least from popular view and one of the dances is called "The Blackbird."

"The Blackbird" is a traditional set dance, a set dance is a dance that's set to a particular piece of music and ideally you can hear the melody in the rhythm of the steps.

BECKY: Woo!

(laughing).

Well percussive dance, I think of it as like the body is an instrument and what is interesting about "The Blackbird" to me the dance is built around a melody with a counter-melody so there's like these two parallel melodies, one is the dance, one's actually the music.

I think humans are made to dance, learning a dance like "The Blackbird" there's such power in being in unison and there's also such power in figuring out how to express yourself.

(tapping).

KATE: It's been wonderful working with Becky, we've been friends for a number of years, we speak a similar language with our feet but they're certainly some differences that we've had to translate or overcome.

BECKY: The beauty of this apprenticeship is that Kate and I, we're peers.

She is a scholar in Irish step dance and I'm a scholar in Appalachian flatfooting and clogging.

They look so similar but they're also different styles.

KATE: You would start with your feet turned out, very vertical, so always lifting up to the sky, and then everything would stay kind of in this very small square, right underneath the body.

(tapping).

(giggling).

And then, Appalachian flat-footing is very different from Irish dancing.

BECKY: Yea, definitely um, you're constantly having this down-up relationship to the floor.

So it would start kind of in this more parallel range and then this would be adding like, 16th notes.

(tapping).

Yup!

(tapping).

KATE: We feel, as people in the Irish diaspora a important call to preserve this culture, to pass these steps on to other people.

BECKY: These dances aren't meant to be in a vacuum.

And that's I think what is a similarity is between both Kate's dance forms and mine.

There are steps, but there are also people behind those steps and stories and history.

They're like being connected to a lineage.

KATE: Dance builds community.

For me, that's the central point of dancing.

You really have to get up and sweat with people, you have to struggle through these difficult movement forms and we're having to work together and cooperate in order to make the dance work.

And even if I'm dancing alone, I feel like I'm connecting to a community because it's something larger than myself.

NARRATOR: Thank you for watching this episode of "Art Works" and a special thanks to the Maryland State Art Council.

♪ NARRATOR: Artworks is made possible in part by...

The Citizens of Baltimore County.

And by the Ruth R. Marder Arts Endowment Fund.

The Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker Endowment for the Arts.

The E.T.

and Robert B. Rocklin Fund.

And The Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Foundation Arts Endowment in memory of Ruth Marder.