Hip-Hop @ The Smithsonian Folklife Festival?!!!

This summer, the Smithsonian Institution welcomes Progressive Hip-Hop Artist, Christylez Bacon, in celebrating cultural diversity with three distinct programs at its 43rd annual Folklife Festival. The Festival will be held Wednesday, June 24, through Sunday, June 28, and Wednesday, July 1, through Sunday, July 5, outdoors on the National Mall between Seventh and 14th streets. Admission is free. Festival hours are from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day, with such special evening events as concerts and dance parties beginning at 6 p.m. The Festival is co-sponsored by the National Park Service.

Giving Voice: The Power of Words in African American Culture

Co-sponsored by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, “Giving Voice: The Power of Words in African American Culture” will explore the power of African American oral traditions in shaping American culture.

The program will include performance stages as well as more intimate interactive spaces where audiences can discuss the aesthetics and meaning of oral traditions with Festival participants. The oral traditions presented will include poetry, storytelling, religious speech, children’s games, debate, political speech and music performance.

The program is designed to inspire and also give insight into the aesthetics of language, and the cultural, social, political and religious issues that inform it, from an African American perspective.

About the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The Folklife Festival, inaugurated in 1967, honors people from across the United States and around the world. With approximately 1 million visitors each year, the Festival unites presenters and performers in the nation’s capital to celebrate the diversity of cultural traditions. It is produced by the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. The Festival’s Web site is http://www.folklife.si.edu.