Short and sweet: Abbreviated Folklife Festival turns up volume on go-go, other DC music

The Folklife Festival is a little different this year. Scaled back due to complications from this winter’s government shutdown, the Smithsonian’s grand summer festival won’t be as grand in length or substance this time around, but will still offer a weekend’s worth of culture — focused partly on DC’s own musical legacy. 

The 52nd annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival takes place this weekend, June 29 and 30, on and around the National Mall, spotlighting “The Social Power of Music” with a mix of local and national musicians, DJs, and pop-up displays. 

Saturday evening’s programming will include DC rapper Kokayi and the East Los Angeles Chicana punk rocker Alice Bag. The day will also showcase go-go, bluegrass and international sounds, while Sunday will feature children’s music, a tribute to the legacy of folk musician and activist Pete Seeger, and musical instrument-making activities. The weekend will close with old-school New York hip-hop DJ Grandmaster Flash.  

This year’s event was originally slated to celebrate the cultures of Brazil and Benin and to span the 10-day length the Smithsonian has traditionally devoted to the festival. But due in part to issues relating to the government shutdown in December and January, those themes will anchor next year’s 10-day schedule. While this year’s program won’t capture the full spectrum of music, crafts and food that the Folklife Festival has been known for, it will offer a worthy two-day sampling of local and national music, with a special emphasis Saturday on the District’s homegrown musical offerings.

The Smithsonian declared 2019 “The Year of Music” and organized a variety of concerts, exhibits and programs in conjunction with its chosen theme. Smithsonian Folkways put out a box set in February called The Social Power of Music, and now festival director Sabrina Motley and her curators have tied in this year’s abbreviated Folklife Festival schedule.

Festival activities will take place near the Smithsonian Metro station at 12th Street and Jefferson Drive SW. Venues will include Freer Plaza and the nearby lawn area; the main stage will occupy the walkway along 12th Street, with a Folkways music shop, a food truck court and a pop-up bar all nearby.

Saturday’s programming will include displays of local music memorabilia as well as an opportunity for festival-goers to make and purchase musical souvenirs. The DC Public Library (DCPL) will exhibit a portion of its local punk and go-go archives, and is also encouraging visitors to bring their DC concert cassettes and CDs to donate. Ginny Maycock, a Folklife Festival media outreach specialist, says DCPL will bring its “tech truck” to digitize that donated music on site and provide copies.

The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) will be displaying its collection of Globe concert posters — the Day-Glo, 3-foot-high placards that were tacked up on telephone poles and walls around town to advertise go-go, rap, R&B, African and Caribbean music in the days before the internet. MICA will also be live-printing postcard-sized versions for the public, and selling some full-size posters as well.

Don’t Mute DC — an organization that came together initially to ensure the Metro PCS store on U Street could once again broadcast go-go outdoors — is setting up a tent at the festival and  presenting a slideshow about go-go and gentrification, which will play on loop from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday. One of the group’s organizers, Howard University professor Natalie Hopkinson, adapted the slideshow from a series of oral histories the Smithsonian recently conducted.

At 1:15 and 3:45 p.m. Saturday, live go-go listening sessions will feature Nico “the Go-go-ologist” Hobson from the online station Go-Go Radio LIVE. At 2 p.m., a hip-hop and go-go percussion workshop will take place at Freer Plaza with the flashy, stick-flipping Malik DOPE Drummer, who first made his name playing on street corners in DC. Also at 2 p.m., the DC Bluegrass Union will be leading an impromptu jam session with anyone who feels like bringing their guitar or banjo to the lawn at 12th Street and Jefferson Drive SW. 

A highlight of Saturday’s DC-themed events is a concert at 4:30 p.m. on the lawn, when the Royal Pocket Tour — a who’s-who of veteran DC go-go drummers and conga percussionists who have played with the likes of Rare Essence, Junkyard Band, Backyard Band, Team Familiar and Northeast Groovers — will perform. Go-go Mickey, Wink, Sauce, Jungle Boogie, Smoke, and Buggy will be laying down the polyrhythmic, African-rooted “pocket” beats that have been synonymous with the nation’s capital since the 1970s. Go-go musicians Mighty Moe and Stinky Dink will be providing narration, and the whole performance is being produced by Hopkinson and Ron Moten. Attendees will get to witness a half hour of classic Chocolate City beat-making.