#2014folklife

[smithsonianfolklife]

Check out this piece of Folklife Festival fan art by Katie King! Recognize the Zhenjiang Wu Opera Troupe? 

[smithsonianfolklife]

Clay sculpture of Barack Obama created by Fu Xinyue at the 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival says: DON'T FORGET TO VOTE TODAY!

[smithsonianfolklife]

Another Festival video from Montgomery College students! This one features Chinese embroiderer Cai Meiying working on a silk study of the Mona Lisa. Filmed and edited by Kevin Trower.

[smithsonianfolklife]

Ahmed Yusuf Suleiman freehand carving through wet plaster like a boss. Read more about the artist and the plaster work he created at that 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, soon to be on display at the National Museum of Natural History.

[gocommandomusic]

I miss this #BambooInstallation #2014Folklife

[smithsonianfolklife]

Artists from the Zhejiang Wu Opera toupe of Zhejiang province represent a 400-year-old tradition of singing, music, acrobatics, pantomime, and dance. This excerpt of a song from the group's Festival programme tells the story of a beautiful white snake, who falls in love with a human scholar and saves him from being killed by her sister, the treacherous green snake.

[smithsonianfolklife]

We'll be featuring Festival audio on our SoundCloud page! You can find music, soundscapes, field interviews, and quick soundbites all gathered at the 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. 

This one comes from the Ih Tsetsn Ensemble, an Inner Mongolian group now based in Beijing. They are known for performing khoomei throat-singing, as well as more contemporary songs, like "The Handsome Horse." These guys were a Festival favorite!

[smithsonian-folklife]

Did you capture any #MomentsOfDiscovery at this year's #2014Folklife Festival? Share your moment on Instagram and tag it with #FolklifeCapture for a chance to win a personally curated collection of music from @smithsonianfolkways! The winner will be chosen THIS Friday (July 11).