By Nathan Duke
The diversity of Queens could be seen and heard along the quad of Queens College’s campus last weekend as the school’s Kupferberg Center for the Arts hosted its first folk festival, which included music and dance performances that represented nine nations.
Michael Kelleher, operations manager for the Kupferberg Center, said it is the school’s intention to make the Queens County Folk Festival, held Sunday afternoon at the Flushing college, an annual event.
“The idea is to bring together all the different groups from the communities of Queens,” Kelleher said. “You often need a larger setup for a world music festival, but we decided to keep it small.”
The festival, which was free, included two small stages and seating on the quad’s lawn for spectators, as well as a variety of food and crafts vendors. The event featured music and dance performances from ensembles that hailed from a variety of Queens neighborhoods, but represented nations from five continents.
“We wanted to bring a diverse group together,” said Sami Abu Shumays, who curated the event but also performed with his band, Zikayat. “The idea was to have a festival in Queens for its ethnic diversity and have groups from Queens perform.”
Shumays said he hopes to bring in acts representing South Korea, Greece and various African nations for next year’s festival.
This year’s lineup included Jiva Dance with Akshara, a Flushing-based ensemble that performs South Indian dances, as well as Long Island City’s F# Minors, which performs Irish music, and Afrodita/Pachamama Cajon Group, a Jackson Heights-based group that plays Peruvian songs.
Shumays’ group, Zikayat, is a Long Island City ensemble that performs Arabic music and represents Egypt. His wife, Dameshe, is a belly dancer in the group. Astoria’s American Bolero Dance Co. represented Spain, performing flamenco dance, while Zlatne Uste played brass band numbers from Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria. Flushing’s Blue Pipa Traditional Chinese Women’s Ensemble played traditional Chinese folk songs.
Other groups at the festival included Eli Gerstner featuring Benny Amar, who performed Jewish pop music, and Adam Ramsey-C.J. Glass Quintet, which was the only group that included Queens College students. The quintet, which has members of the school’s Aaron Copland School of Music, played New Orleans jazz.
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at nduke@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
