week of 4/10/02
 
 
 

Folk Heritage series begins on April 20
SMN
The Folk Heritage Committee, in partnership with Warren Wilson College, will present an evening performance and discussion “Field Recordings and Fiddletunes of the Swannanoa Valley: The Legacies of Artus Moser and Marcus Martin” Saturday, April 20, at 7 p.m. in the Bryson Gym on the Warren Wilson College campus.

The show is part of the college’s day-long Appalachian Music and Folklife Festival.

The program presents the invaluable collections of musician, teacher, and ballad collector Artus Moser (1894 -1992), who worked to record, document and thus preserve the music of the Swannanoa Valley and Western North Carolina. It will also highlight the style and influences of one of Moser’s primary sources — renowned fiddler Marcus Martin (1881-1974). In the 1940s, Moser became the first Appalachian native to record mountain performers for the Library of Congress. Moser also worked closely with Bascom Lamar Lunsford, founder of the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival. As lead scholar and facilitator for the program, Steve Weiss of the Southern Folklife Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, presents a multi-media presentation on Moser and his field recordings of ballad singers, fiddle players, and other musicians, including those collected at the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in the 1940s.

The program includes appearances by two daughters of Artus Moser, Joan and Irene Moser, who will discuss the life and work of their father in the Swannanoa Valley, as well as a screening of segments of a the 1985 video documentary “Artus Moser of Buckeye Cove.” Local musicians Bruce Greene and Don Pedi demonstrate the fiddle tunes of Marcus Martin and discuss his style and impact on other fiddlers throughout the country. Wade Martin, son of Marcus Martin, will be on hand to discuss his father’s music and life.

This event is the first of four performance and discussion programs that use this year’s 75th Anniversary of the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival (the oldest in the country) as a starting point for a dialogue about and celebration of the unique cultural heritage of this region and its vital role in community life.

Other performance and discussion programs in the Folk Heritage Celebration Series are:

° “The Past, Present, and Future of Southern Appalachian Dance Traditions,” Thursday, May 2, at the Mountain Heritage Center at Western Carolina University. Participants include Barbara Duncan, Phil Jamison, Joe Sam Queen and more performers.

° “A Celebration of the Musical Families of Madison County” Saturday, May 18, at Owen Theater on the campus of Mars Hill College; participants include Loyal Jones, Sheila Adams, Jerry Adams, Lena Jean Ray, Donna Norton, Sam Adams and Melanie Rice.

° “Ballads to Bluegrass — A Mountain Music Sampler,” Monday, May 27 in the Community Room at Keith House on the campus of John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown; participants include David Brose, Betty Smith, the Snowbird Band, and others.

All Celebration Series events are at 7 p.m and free to the public. This year’s Mountain Dance and Folk Festival takes place Aug. 1-3 at the Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place in downtown Asheville.

The Folk Heritage Celebration Series is made possible in part by funding from the North Carolina Humanities Council and the North Carolina Arts Council, and receives additional support from media sponsor WNCW 88.7 FM.

For more information, call the Folk Heritage Info Line: 828.258.610, ext. 789 or go to www.folkheritage.org.