slightly different perspective, perhaps

you've been talking MUSIC, let me also mention DANCE ...

prior performer at FolkLife: exhibition Finnish, Scottish Country and International folk dance groups

hadn't been back to FolkLife for several years ... and I found it more diverse and (arguably) better than ever

I do completely agree with the criticism of the very loud continuous drum noise .... it became extremely difficult to listen to the Magical Strings performance on the Exhibition Hall Lawn stage ... and the Bouldings are NOT all that quiet .... the drums may have been a virtual block or two away, but only those sitting in the first few rows could concentrate on the music we'd all come to hear ... this is just one example ... the drum noise did pervade the air nearly everywhere, all day all night

could movable acoustic partitions be placed around the drums if they cannot be moved indoors ? this might also apply to bagpipes ?

we were there nearly all day every day, so got a good look at FolkLife 2004 ...

actually, we ran across a great many jammers who were not buskers ... at the NE corner of Fisher Green, outside the N door of the Food Circus (and even in the stairwell, well out of the traffic patterns), on the steps leading to the top of Fisher Pavilion, beside the First Aid tent, on the pathway leading to McCaw Hall ... also on the north end of the Fountain lawn

we had a wonderful time -- my new husband had never been to FolkLife before, so we saw everything from Zimbabwean marimbas to Andean panpipes to Inupiaq dancers to Venezuelan style flamenco to Hawaiian hula and we danced contras and international and Scandinavian and Balkan and Tyrolean and big-band ... and yes, nearly everyone we met or saw is living in the Northwest

we went to a Ukrainian bandura workshop and and Argentianian tango workshop, and we'd have gone to many more except they overlapped with something ELSE we wanted to see and/or were located at the exact opposite end of the grounds with insufficient time to get there ...

it was all great fun -- yes, there were outrageous crowds on Saturday, and the area around the Fountain is always crowded, but there were performers with only a handful of listeners too

I hope the workshops will be integrated into the published schedule this next year ... they were on the website but not on the printed-on-paper one ... and some of those entries were difficult to read without magnifying glasses

re the performers -- I guess it depends on how you define FOLK: is it something that might be played by groups of the 50s or before ? or is it closer to the definition of ETHNIC ? does hip-hop count ? (according to what was on the schedule, this year it did) does "cowboy" count ? (apparently not, other than two international groups had members costumed as such) ... I tend to be inclusive rather than exclusive, though styles which already have a large festival of their own, might be less preferred than groups which make this their ONLY public performance all year ...

yes, it's big ... if you want small and cozy, go to the festival at Northgate ... just for example ...

hey, I'm an idealistic pre-Baby-Boomer, can't help believing that if we learn to understand and tolerate and respect other modes, other beliefs, that this world will be better for all ...