The fifth annual Heart of the Alleghenies Folk Music Festival
(HOTA) will kick-off Friday evening and run through Sunday
afternoon at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, featuring
workshops, improvisational music, concerts, dances and instrument
and accessory sales.
The weekend will be immersed in the sounds of old-time,
bluegrass, gospel, dulcimer, French-Canadian, New England, Irish,
Scottish and World Folk music. The festival will pack in more than
a dozen concerts and will allow event participants a chance to
learn, listen and jam at any level of musicianship, with a weekend
registration beginning at noon Friday.
“Each year it has been such a wonderful time,” said Lucinda
Durkee, co-founder and co-organizer of the festival. “It is a neat
thing, you never know what or who is going to show up here.”
Durkee added “We hold an open atmosphere, some people come for
the concerts, some for the jamming and others for the workshops. I
would really like to see the festival to be focused on the
education of it.”
With workshops all day Saturday and Sunday morning, the festival
will offer 25 instrument workshops, six singing workshops and a
dance workshop. These informal educational sessions are separated
into seven different experience levels ranging from beginner and
beyond beginner to advanced.
“When Sunday comes around it is so great to experience the
smiles and the confidence that people gain throughout the weekend,”
said Durkee. “This festival gives people a chance to try something.
We have seen many people come in to some of the workshops with no
prior experience with music and we hand them a old mountain
dulcimer and by the end of the weekend they are playing right along
with professionals at the jams.”
Other marquee events at the festival include a large staff
concert, a contra dance and open jams Friday evening; open jams,
concerts, contra dances and an instrument exchange all day
Saturday; and a gospel jam, open stage presentations and a final
contra dance Sunday morning and afternoon.
“By Sunday morning … I can’t even really describe it, it’s very
emotional,” said Durkee. “With the gospel jam and open stage people
can try out what they have learned from the workshops in front of a
crowd. It is great to see all of the emotions flowing. We have seen
people break down and cry – it is a magical thing.”
The festival originally started at Houghton College in Houghton,
N.Y., before moving to Pitt-Bradford. For registered participants
and musicians, there will be housing and meals from Pitt-Bradford
with close camping sites, which also have access to residence halls
with high-speed Internet and showers. HOTA is free for children
under 12 and meals will be provided in the dining hall of the
Frame-Westerberg Commons Building.
Durkee and her husband, Clark Tarry, both started the event to
display the mission to bring together young and old, beginning and
experienced, and musicians, audiences and dancers to play old-time
fiddle tunes, bluegrass, gospel, country, folk and contra dance
music in the spirit of friendship, hospitality and learning.
