The Center for Southern Folklore will present the 18th Annual Memphis Music and Heritage Festival in the downtown area this weekend.
The event has garnered sponsorship from companies and businesses all over the city to ensure that the festival remains free and open to everyone.
Judy Peiser, the executive producer for the Center for Southern Folklore, said that the Center has been open for more than 30 years, and its inception dates back to 1972. The Center started out making films about music and culture before branching out to community events.
“The festival celebrates the diversity of Memphis music,” Peiser said. “There was no place that did an event that really celebrates culture.”
Folklore is the study of arts in the community, according to Peiser. She said that this year’s festival is aimed at showing a composition of Memphis music in the year 2005.
“We look at communities,” Peiser said. “In each one, the people have their own cultures, rules and vernacular.
“We want to build bridges between communities that may not be there already.”
The lineup this year will include more than 70 performers ranging in styles from music to storytelling to dancing. Five different stages will be set up and the acts will include blues singers, jazz musicians, rap artists and gospel groups.
Also featured will be poets, puppeteers and international food stands.
Although the festival is free of charge, the Center is hoping to raise some money through various contributions.
They will be selling T-shirts and other collectibles, as well as accepting donation envelopes. Peiser said the Center has a collection of art, films and other collectibles that they have produced and would like to make more current.
“We are raising money to digitize our collection,” she said.
The donation money will also ensure the continuation of free admission to the festival.
Peiser said she never knows how many people to expect at the festival, but with the current hurricane destruction along the Gulf coast, the numbers may rise. She did estimate that about 20,000 people would attend the festival.
She hopes people take away more than just souvenirs.
“I hope the people come to be excited about the music and about the people who also call Memphis their home,” Peiser said. “We want to broaden their spectrum so that people know who their other neighbors are.”
The Memphis Area Transit Authority has even joined in to help the festival. They have extended the trolley hours until 11 p.m. to allow festival attendees easier access to the festivities.
Most students said they had not even heard about the festival and some said they wanted to know more.
Morgan Montalvo, sophomore sociology major, said that she might attend the festival, especially since it’s free.
“I know about a lot of music festivals, but I have not heard of it,” Montalvo, 20, said.
“Even if it was $4 or $5 it still wouldn’t be a bad price for all of the people they have scheduled to perform.”
Montalvo said that she had heard of quite a few of the talents scheduled to perform, including Bella Sun and Iron Mic Coalition.
She noted that the Iron Mic Coalition is one of the best rap groups of Memphis, comparing them to the rap group The Wu Tang Clan.
The Festival will run Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m until 11 p.m.
