The American Folklife Center's free Homegrown concert series presents the very best of traditional music and dance from a variety of folk cultures thriving in the United States and around the world. Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the 2020-21 concerts will be presented online on Library of Congress Facebook. The concerts are pre-recorded, but the artists will be present to interact with audiences via facebook chat from the beginning of the concert until about 5 minute after it ends. Video will also be posted online at loc.gov and on the Library of Congress YouTube channel. One of goals of the series is to bring to the public the multicultural richness of American folk arts from the United States and around the world. To make sure that we are getting the very best artists from all regions of the country, we work closely with state folklorists in each state, who advise us on artists and styles of performance that are important in their regions. For more information about Homegrown Concerts and other AFC events, contact the Folklife Research Center at [email protected].
Homegrown 2021
This series is being presented each Wednesday at Noon (ET), starting on November 18, 2021.
All concerts are free. No tickets required.
Day | Date | Time | Artist/Event/Venue (select the links to learn more about each program) |
---|---|---|---|
Wednesday | November 18 | 12pm | PIQSIQ: Inuit Style Throat Singing |
Homegrown 2020
This series is being presented each Wednesday at Noon (ET), from June 24 until September 30, 2020.
All concerts are free. No tickets required.
Homegrown 2019
This series is held in the Coolidge Auditorium in the Thomas Jefferson Building unless otherwise indicated
All concerts are free. No tickets required.
Homegrown 2018
Past Concerts
Homegrown 2017
Day | Date | Time | Artist/Event/Venue (select the links to learn more about each program) |
---|---|---|---|
Wednesday | February 22 | 12pm | Dance Battle with Urban Artistry |
Wednesday | April 19 | 12pm | Sheila Kay Adams: Musician and storyteller from North Carolina |
Thursday | May 4 | 12pm | Jayme Stone’s Folklife |
Thursday | May 25 | 12pm | Cambodian-American Heritage Dancers with Chum Ngek Ensemble |
Wednesday | June 28 | 12pm | BeauSoleil Quartet: Cajun Music from Louisiana |
Wednesday | July 5 | 12pm | Ledward Kaapana: Master Slack Key Guitar Player from Hawaii |
Wednesday | September 13 | 12pm | Eva Ybarra, the "Queen of the Accordion," and Her Band |
Wednesday | September 20 | 12 pm | Archive Challenge Sampler Concert |
Thursday | September 28 | 12pm | Fairfield Four: African-American Gospel Quartet |
Homegrown 2016
Homegrown 2015
Homegrown Summer Series, 2014
Summer Concert Scheldule
Day | Date | Time | Artist/Event (select the links to learn more about each program) |
---|---|---|---|
Tuesday | July 1 | 12pm | Winyo: Benga and Traditional Music from Kenya |
Wednesday | July 23 | 12pm | Sounds of Korea: Traditional Music and Dance from New York |
Wednesday | August 6 | 12pm | Phil Wiggins and Friends: Acoustic Blues and Dance from Maryland |
Tuesday | August 19 | 12pm | Carlos Núñez: Galician Bagpipes and Flutes |
Wednesday | August 20 | 12pm | The Quebe Sisters Band: Texas Fiddling and Swing |
Thursday | September 11 | 12pm | Son Jarocho Master Musicians: César Castro, Artemio Posadas, and Luis Sarimiento |
Thursday | September 18 | 12pm | Kevin Doyle: Irish Step Dance (2014 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow) |
Homegrown in the Pavilion Spring Series, 2014
This series was held in the Whittall Pavilion in the Thomas Jefferson Building. All concerts are free. No tickets required.
Day | Date | Time | Artist/Event (select the links to learn more about each program) |
---|---|---|---|
Wednesday | March 5 | 12pm | Tzvetelina Dosseva Weiner, Valeri Georgiev, and Varol Saatcioglu: Traditional Turkish and Bulgarian instrumental and vocal music |
Wednesday | March 26 | 12pm | Amadou Kouyate: Traditional Music of Senegal and Mali |
Wednesday | April 16 | 12pm | Dr. Nader Majd and Farshid Mahjour: Persian Classical music |
Wednesday | April 23 | 12pm | Torcuato Zamora, Flamenco guitar with dancers from Furia Flamenco |
Wednesday | May 7 | 12pm | Spyros Koliavasilis and Karpouzi Trio will perform music from Greece and Asia Minor |
Thursday | May 22 | 12pm | Gerdan: Kaleidoscope of World Music |
For an archive of past Folklife concerts, visit the What's Happening at the American Folklife Center page.
In addition to being a series of concerts for the public to enjoy, the Homegrown series is also an important acquisitions project for the Center. The Library of Congress has been documenting traditional music by staging and recording performances since the 1930s, when Alan Lomax recorded Jelly Roll Morton in the Coolidge Auditorium, and many other musicians in the Library's recording lab. This has resulted in a great number of high-quality recordings in the American Folklife Center archive. The Homegrown concerts are also documented and become part of the permanent collections of the Library of Congress for future generations to enjoy and study.