Show they like mountain music in in north carolina 7 7 1 E 11 f M 1 1 N P q W M Y 1 3 N f N A a Y vim i 1 N I 1 I 1 all 1 I 4 gri V we e 44 A R X x 4 an 4 wl M 4 L JIVE may be first in the hearts and feet of young america but the great reservoir of folk music and dance in the southern appalachians is stronger than ever and spreading out of its home all over the country eighteen years ago bascom lamar lunsford a farmer lawyer of leicester N C brooded blooded unhappily over the fact that the old songs stories and dances he had heard and seen in his mountain childhood were dying out the radio juke box and resort dance hall penetrated the mountains and captured the imagination and loyalty of youngsters such folklore as one saw was being watered down or caricatured by hilr hillbilly and cowboy outfits and ridiculed in vaudeville that brooding resulted in the birth of the asheville N C annual mountain dance and folk festival everyone said that the people mostly old timers who still knew and loved the appalachian folklore would never participate in public performances only a few of his old friends came to Luns fords first festival but ever since have been joined by a growing group of their neighbors descendants and other converts to the old tunes and steps they came from places with homely names as loafers glory soco gap spook creek and Sick mill creek and they also came from the faraway bearing the sonorous names of the indian country from stecoah Ste coah nantahala Nanta hala hiawassee and Culla cullasaja saja Ashe villes biggest event now the annual folk festival out draws any event held in asheville some amateurs perform buck and wing dancers clog dancers and over a dozen formally organized square dance teams not to mention fiddlers fidd lers string bands banjoists vocalists and choirs this year the city auditorium was packed to SRO for the event and many of the audi ence were returned servicemen and women seeing and hearing appalachian lore for the first time regular attendants have learned to know and love the old ballads the festival has resulted in expansion of interest in the old entertainment tain ment A new generation of square dancers is growing up and WHOOPS improvised figures such as this put color and zip into the dance contests but the judges are inclined to frown on such departure from traditional square dance routine and the team that sticks closest to the way granddad did it most frequently wins the spectators however enjoy joy these tricky variations youngsters are learning the difficult profession of caller I 1 young vocalists are learning and carrying on the songs of the anglo saxon trou brou madours which ll 11 have vc remained fugitive in the appalachians for generations lunsford has not let the citified performance destroy the informality which is the very heart of folklore he refuses to issue a program and as master of ceremonies calls up and introduces performers as the notion strikes him no time for the show is set it starts about sundown and runs until the performers are tired annual championships are awarded one championship team the soco gap group led by the notable caller sam queen played and danced a command per M w ca I 1 1 4 W I 1 L nei 4 4 W this melancholy fiddler at the festival brought his big chair up to the stage so he could tap his foot on it in tempo A chal chair ir is a necessary prop for many of the musicians around asheville firmance for mance for the king and queen of england all of them are amateurs farmers schoolchildren school children lumber ers mill workers teachers in their ordinary occupations both the songs and dances of the appalachians tend to grow and change because of the casual transmission from minstrel to minstrel but bu t attempts to superimpose radical changes are frowned upon at this years competition one dance team neatly costumed smoothly performing with several jive innovations vat ions was easily the most popular with the crowd of visitors the judges however brought in a first prize verdict for a team of ordinary mountain dancers clothed in about the sort of clothes they ordinarily would wear to a neighborhood dance square dance contests most spectacular and most popular competition at the festival is among these square dance teams the traditional square dance is performed by only four couples whence its name but in the southern appalachian pala chian settlements its character was altered everybody who came was permitted to dance and the number has no practical limitations traditionally the dance master or caller was a musician or spectator in the appalachians he is the most active participant and the pace setter calling is a vibrant and obscure art there are innumerable figures and many callers are reluctant to tell all the figures they know many have personal improve lations sat ions there are however traditional figures known to all square dancers and a lively caller with a large and colorful repertoire sometimes may be imported a hundred miles to call a gala dance some of them are singers that is they call the figures in time with the music often with humorous lations A real mountain square dance is is no place for soulful while a light springing slightly gliding step is the ideal actually it is often more vigorous ranging from energetic to stomping there is little chance for conversation because it is essential to listen to and watch the caller closely and there is a great deal of changing of partners with the figure being changed suddenly and frequently usually after about every four figures the caller announces a big ring movement such as promenade or grand right and left music usually violin guitar and five string banjo follows a lively headlong style about quarter notes to the minute with the time 24 2 4 sharply accented on the first note of each measure this is quite a pace for be beginners inners and since a set often lasts 15 or more minutes it often leaves the 16 or more participants laughing flushed exhilarated but breathless lunsford himself has become a nationally known authority on folklore once he sat down and dictated from memory 0 old I 1 d ballads for columbia university he hunts lost fragments of ballads like a bird dog stalks quail and has chanced upon many rare songs which had been thought lost forever but which survived in the dying memory of some occupant of a remote mountain cabin |