Alaska Folk Festival
About
Nine 4-hour performances averaging fifteen acts each, fourteen hours of dances plus dance workshops, a Family Concert and 40+ hours of teaching workshops devoted to every imaginable folk music skill, plus jamming all week long should be enough to wear out even the most dedicated enthusiast at the annual Alaska Folk Festival. Yet long after the final chorus of Good Night Irene, the traditional closing song on the Festival's final evening, many of the 450+ folk musicians from all around the vast reaches of America's largest state and beyond can still summon enough energy to jam the night away in bars, restaurants, private parties and any space they can find out of the weather!
They come from near and far. . . from Whitehorse in Canada's Yukon Territory, from Bethel, Alaska (more than 1,000 miles as the ptarmigan flies from the festival's home in Juneau), from Talkeetna, Sitka, Kenai, Elfin Cove, Fairbanks, Ketchikan, Anchorage and the "Lower 48" for this annual week of fun, partying, good music and greeting old & new friends that make it such a Rite of Spring.
The Alaska Folk Festival was born on a cold winter evening in 1975 when a half dozen Juneau folk musicians decided to put on a performance in the Alaska State Museum and grandly announced it as the First Annual Southeast Alaska Folk Festival. Eight musicians and an audience of several hundred friends had so much fun that evening that it was obvious there would be more such festivals.
Workshops were formed the following year so that specific skills could be passed on to other musicians, and almost 30 performers were on the program which was extended to 3 days. By 1977 the annual festival had become a regional event with over 50 performers from throughout Southeast Alaska adding their talents to those of Juneau's musicians.
The concept of having a paid Guest Artist participate in the workshops and performances as an added benefit to the Alaskan musicians had its inauguration at the 3rd annual festival in 1977. The artist chosen was Merle Travis, a country and folk performer whose innovative guitar style (Travis picking) had been an inspiration to musicians for over 30 years.
The idea proved to be an unqualified success, and the Guest Artist has since become an honored tradition of the Alaska Folk Festival. The principal role of the Guest Artist is to impart something of his/her/their musical style, heritage and culture through teaching workshops and jamming with Alaskan musicians.
