Hari Maya Adhikari
Indian Classical and Folk Music

Hari Khatiwada has been performing, teaching, and sharing folk and classical music of northern India for several decades. She holds a Masters degree in music from the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India. Since moving to the US in 2011 and NH in 2014 Hari has been performing for religious and cultural celebrations in Indian, Bhutanese, and Nepali communities throughout the northeast.
Hari sings in the Hindustanic tradition and plays the harmonium; a portable hand pumped reed organ. The harmonium is found in many south Asian homes and nearly every Hindu and Sikh temple. Hari often accompanies other musicians on the double drum or tabla, a common South Asian instrument. In 2014 she was recognized as an outstanding teacher by the Bhutanese Community of New Hampshire. Hari and accompanying musicians are available for performances statewide.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances for all ages.
Fees: Fee negotiable depending on number of musicians and travel distance.

185 Loudon Rd #24
Concord, NH 03301
603/781-8810
adhikariharimaya@gmail.com

Aishwarya Balasubramanian
Bharathanatyam Dance

Aishwarya Balasubramanian  is one of Chennai’s most popular Bharathnatyam dancers and the senior most student of renowned Guru Acharya Choodamani Smt. Anitha Guha.  Balasubramanian began her career early, as a five year old student and performer at Anitha Guha’s Bharathanjali, stunning audiences with her amazing grace, clarity of footwork and beauty of expression.

Over the years, with intense training, inherent commitment and a rigorous discipline, Aishwarya has evolved into a much sought after performing artiste, presenting across cultural organizations in India and overseas at premier dance festivals and prominent sabhas. Titles like “Singar Mani”, “Kala ratna”, “Natya Chudar” that have been bestowed on Aishwarya are not just a reflection of her astonishing potential and promise but an acknowledgement of a dancer who leads her generation by setting exacting standards.

She currently runs her dance school ‘Arpanam’ in New England, teaching and nurturing this beautiful art form to many enthusiastic art lovers.

Preferred activities and age groups: Teaching children who are 5 or older and adults; Solo and group performances; Workshops and demonstrations.
Fees: Please contact me for availability and fees.

Aishwarya Balasubramanian
603/921-7455
bhavashya@yahoo.com
http://www.aishwaryabalasubramanian.com

Jessica Bartlett
New England Folk Dancing & Fiddle

Fiddlehead Field is a collaborative venture that seeks to bring the community together around music and gardening. With the goal of getting lively music and fresh food spread wide and far along the Mad River, we teach music lessons and host summer programs that bring kids into the fold of the rich farming and music traditions of this region. Founder Jessye Bartlett is passionate about spreading music throughout her community. As a fiddle-player herself who began playing at the age of three, Ms. Bartlett currently teaches violin lessons out of her home in Thornton and volunteers in three different school districts teaching folk dancing in elementary schools. Ms. Bartlett is the fiddler for the montly Wentworth Square Dance, and she started a Kids' Music Camp out of her home in 2015 with neighbor Brook White, which has grown steadily over the past several years.

Preferred activities and age groups: Teaching beginning folk dancing (line, circle, square and contra); fiddler for community events.
Fees: Please contact me for availability and fees.

Fiddlehead Field
14 Clover Dr
Thornton, NH 03285
603/236-2654
fiddleheadfield@gmail.com
http://fiddleheadfield.weebly.com/

Sarah Bauhan
New England & Irish Music: Flute & Whistle

Sarah Bauhan plays Celtic and New England traditional music on flute and whistle. Bauhan was born and raised in the Monadnock Region and has strong ties to her mother’s native Scotland. She picked up the tin whistle at the age of 12 and within two years was performing at contra dances with Dudley Laufman’s Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra. Bauhan’s music was also influenced by her godfather Newt Tolman, a flute player and writer, and by Bob McQuillen, famed contra dance piano and accordion player. Sarah has released four solo albums, including three on her own label, Whistler’s Music: “Chasing the New Moon,” “Broad Waters,” and “Lathrop’s Waltz.” “The Untamed Grasses” was re-released on the Alula label in 2008. Sarah can arrange for musicians to create a simple duo with a guitarist or pianist or to form a multi-piece band with fiddle, guitar, bass, and piano and vocals for concerts or community dances.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances at festivals, concerts, and dances for all ages. Workshops at dance camps and in schools for children to adults.
Fees: Negotiable

13 Reaveley Rd
Hancock, NH 03449
603/525-8181
whistlerb@comcast.net
www.sarahbauhan.com

Bob Boynton, Jr.
Ox Yokes & New England Square Dance Calling

Bob Boynton has been making oxen yokes and bows since 1980. He started by making a yoke for his own team of oxen and with his Yankee ingenuity went on to make equipment for others who needed it. Bob has demonstrated ox yoke making at Muster Field Farm Days in North Sutton, New Hampshire for 23 years. He represented New Hampshire at the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the Celebrate New Hampshire festival held in Hopkinton in 2000. An active community member, he built a delivery wagon for the Goffstown Historical Society and worked on the Dunbarton Hearse Restoration Committee. Bob is also a square dance caller. He began calling dances in 1983 and has taught square dancing to 4-H clubs and at camp grounds throughout New Hampshire. He specializes in a style of calling known as “Singing Squares.” His dances also include waltzes, fox trots and polkas. He is the regular caller for a small group of dedicated dancers who meet in Contoocook, NH.

Preferred activities and age groups: Demonstrations at schools, festivals, and community events for all age groups. Square dance calling for community gatherings and private functions for all ages. Can teach to square dance in one evening!
Fees: Ox yoke demonstrations – negotiable. Square dancing - minimum of $175 for caller and 3 musicians, more depending upon distance and length of event.

220 Mansion Rd
Dunbarton, NH 03046
603/774-4412
boyntonyokesnbows@gsinet.net
www.boyntonsyokesnbows.com

Sindy Chown
Colombian Traditional Dance

Sindy Chown is a talented dancer, storyteller, and tradition bearer of Colombian culture in New Hampshire. Born and raised in Colombia, Sindy grew up attending and participating in the folkloric dances and festivities of Carnaval. As a self- taught dancer, she learned the Cumbia, Mapale and Garabato dances through observation, imitation, and practice. Sindy came to the United States in March 2004 and she started volunteering with the Concord Multicultural Festival in 2015 to share her Colombian heritage. At the 2016 Concord Multicultural Festival, she performed the Cumbia, Mapale and Garabato with family and friends under the group name Barranquilla Flavor.  Sindy started to travel to other festivals and community events in New Hampshire and Massachusetts sharing her Colombian art forms and culture including music, dance and food. In 2021, she became co-chair of the Concord Multicultural Festival and started her Multicultural Dance program, which is a program that teaches and shares diverse cultural dances from the participants’ backgrounds. Sindy regularly travels back to Colombia to continue to learn and participate in the festivities of Carnaval. Sindy is devoted to continuing to share her Colombian heritage and knowledge with youth and adults in New Hampshire so those cultural traditions continue to be sustained and preserved for future generations.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances and workshops at schools, festivals, and community events for all age groups. Please contact her for availability.
Fees: $600-900

 8 Jennifer Dr
Concord, NH 03301
603-731-8176
sindyr3232@gmail.com

Carol Coronis
Greek Music

Carol Coronis performs Greek and Turkish music on the cittern, a 10-stringed Irish derivative of the Greek bouzouki best described as a "mandolin on steroids" crafted by local luthier and musician Bob Abrams.

Her high-energy vocals and her compelling command of the instrument combine to deliver traditional and original music with a crowd-pleasing, energetic pulse. Whether solo or accompanied by her brother on drums and quite possibly some of the best musicians in the area, the heart-pounding dance rhythms and modes of the Near and Middle East will find you reaching for your zils.

"Somehow all these years later I feel a powerful draw to my roots and the music I heard as a child at home and at the festivals where my dad played bouzouki and guitar in his Greek-American band. The ten years my brother Chuck and I played music in his band during high school and college were resurrected when we played a set at the Portsmouth Music Hall back in 2003 as part of a community show featuring Portsmouth's musical history. Now I'm hearing and feeling the music with the new perspective of time and experience."

Preferred activities and age groups: Available for musical performances at festivals, weddings, private parties, corporate events, clubs, restaurants. Also available for presentations, workshops, and demonstrations at schools and community locations such as libraries, historical societies, museums, and places of healing. Both large and small group presentations available. All ages.
Fees: $200-$1200

Portsmouth, NH
603/812-1319
rockthecittern@comcast.net
www.carolcoronis.com

Regina Delaney
Traditional Irish Dance & Music: Vocals & Harp

Regina sings in Irish and English in the sean nos style (ornamented and unaccompanied) and also accompanies herself on harp. She has studied Irish harping with Aine Minogue and classical harp with Stephanie Curcio in the U.S. and in Ireland with Janet Harbison and the Belfast Harp Orchestra. Comhaltas Ceoltori awarded Regina a scholarship to study harp in Ireland as part of their Living Traditions Award. Regina founded and directs the New England Irish Harp Orchestra, a group of fifteen harps performing Traditional Irish music (neibo.org). She also performs hard and soft shoe step dancing, ceili (group) and set dancing, teaches ceili dancing in local schools, and calls ceili dances. In 1999, Regina was selected to represent New Hampshire at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. where she performed Irish tunes, ballads, stepdancing, taught ceili dancing and Irish children's crafts, and demonstrated Irish cooking. In a residency program the children are taught Irish music, song, dance, poetry and stories. The students then perform all they have learned in a culminating performance and invite the audience to join in towards the end.
Regina was a Registered Nurse for thirty three years, working primarily in geriatrics and home care. Her professional experience includes staff education and training. Regina brings her harp, voice, and dance shoes into health care settings (hospice, hospital, nursing homes and retirement centers) sharing her music with residents and staff. She has prepared programs on music and healthcare, teaching staff how to bring music, dance, and song into healing and therapeutic environments.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances; lecture-demonstrations; workshops; residencies focusing on Irish music, ceili and set dancing with programs integrated with themes in social studies, literature and poetry curricula. In healthcare settings, Regina works directly with residents one to one, in group settings, and with staff or families. She designs workshops tailored to the facility and also performs for residents and staff. Grades 1-12, senior citizens, families, adults, people in institutions.
Fees: School Residency $300-500; Performances $300-400; Lecture-Demonstrations $300-400

PO Box 343
Exeter, NH 03833
603/502-7698
regina@reginadelaney.com
www.reginadelaney.com

Mary DesRosiers
Folk Songs & New England Contra Dance Calling

Mary DesRosiers is an accomplished caller of old and new dances, an engaging teacher, and a veteran folk singer. She has taught the dance styles and singing games of New England to audiences of preschoolers through seniors in town halls, schools, and camps across the country. A versatile artist, Mary enjoys singing for audiences of all ages, specializing in traditional American music. Her debut recording Yonder Come Day was named one of the "notable" recordings for children by the American Library Association. Mary's recent work in researching and recording the songs from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books has brought her national recognition.

Preferred activities and age groups: Dances; family dances; school residencies; concerts; staff development in the areas of historic song and dance. Grades K-7, colleges, senior citizens, developmentally disabled, hospitalized.
Fees: Performances/Workshops: starting at $200

7 Lampman Road
Harrisville, NH 03450
603/827-3455
rosetree@sover.net

The Fiddling Thomsons
New England, Celtic & Folk Musics: Fiddle, Banjo & more

Ryan Thomson and his son Brennish are known as the Fiddling Thomsons. They are multi-instrumentalist performers who play twin fiddles, accordion, banjo, Celtic flute, piano, guitar, pennywhistle, wooden spoons, bones, and more. Their family’s musical heritage stretches back to the pioneer days. In performances and co-taught workshops and classes, the Thomsons emphasize having fun with music. Ryan has been honored with the Northeast Regional championship of the National Fiddle Contest, a Boston Music Award nomination as an accordionist, and has received many banjo playing awards. Brennish has received first place awards from New Hampshire fiddle contests, the Appalachian String Band Festival in West Virginia, and a soloist award from the Young Tradition Festival in Vermont. Together they received a Twin Fiddle award at Lowell National Park in Massachusetts and the 2023 New Hampshire Governor’s Award for Folk Heritage. Ryan produces music education videos and has 45 years of music teaching experience both privately and at educational institutions including the University of New Hampshire extension, North Shore Community College, Phillips Exeter Academy, The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Washington, and at music camps in New York, Pennsylvania, Canada, and California. The Thomsons have performed throughout New England and in faraway places such as the Bath Folk Festival in England, and on several tours to China.  Their performance venues include music festivals, town fairs, schools, museums, and at traditional New England country dances. Ryan’s numerous books on music have received glowing reviews from the American Library Association, Ex Libris, New Hampshire Writer’s and Publisher’s Project, Fiddler Magazine, Sing Out!, and other national publications. Publicity information is available on request and sound samples of the Thomsons playing can be heard with online video samples and on recorded CDs. They can supply a PA system for performances. They will travel anywhere to perform and do educational workshops.

Preferred activities and age groups: K-12 school residencies; solo and band performances, adult and family concerts, dances in several traditional styles including New England Contra dancing, barn dances, Cajun dances, and clogging. Educational workshops include: history, lore, and playing of traditional instruments; music making for the disabled; improvisation; and master classes. Private lessons and consultations. Sample video and audio recordings are available.
Fees: Fees start at $250 and are determined by specific circumstances including date, location, and need for additional accompanying musicians. Please call to discuss specifics.

Skip Gorman
Folk Musician

Skip Gorman is a versatile musician equally at home with: Traditional Ballads and Fiddle Tunes of the American West, Celtic Fiddle Tunes, and Bluegrass Music. Skip has over 40 years of experience performing throughout the United States and internationally as well as 15 years of experience as a full time history and Spanish teach in private high schools in New England. He was the first person to earn a degree in Latin American Studies from Brown University, and later attended the Middlebury College in Language School.
Skip’s performances include fiddle, mandolin, guitar, clawhammer banjo and limberjack. He has long been featured teaching at music camps throughout the country and in classrooms where his appearances include a good dose of history, storytelling and poetry. Ken Burns has used Skip’s music in four of his popular documentaries including “Lewis and Clark, Voyage of Discovery.”
Aside from having presented exciting and academically relevant school shows in hundreds of elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the country, Skip has performed on Garrison Keillor’s, “ A Prairie Home Companion” and Good Morning America. He has entertained in Ireland, Scotland and Shetland as well as (in Spanish) for the US Embassies in Chile, Paraguay and Argentina. Skip’s background in the music of the American West is rooted in his work on Wyoming ranches and time spent there with musicians and poets. He teaches mandolin at the International Bluegrass Museum in Owensboro Kentucky and his recent Celtic fiddle CDs, “Halloween Hornpipe” and Yankee Porridge’ have won high acclaim. He has twice been a New Hampshire Fellow Finalist and his “Lonesome Prarie Love" recording on Rounder record won the NAIRD award in 1996. He received a '2015 Best of New Hampshire Award' from New Hampshire Magazine.
Skip can offer workshops and performances as a solo artist and make arrangements to have other musicians join him.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances, lecture demonstrations, and workshops at fairs and festivals, museums, and other community locations such as libraries and historical societies. Short and multi-day residencies in schools with a focus on grades 4 – high school. Interested working with all age students, families and audiences of all ages.
Fees: $500/day for school residencies. Contact artist for performance fees.

PO Box 307
Grafton, NH 03240
603/523-7661
skip@skipgorman.com
www.SkipGorman.com

The Granite Statesmen
Barbershop Harmony

The Granite Statesmen is the Nashua Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society and was founded in 1955. Barbershop harmony is a uniquely American tradition of acappella singing that is best known for its four part harmony (tenor, lead, baritone, and bass) and ringing chords. This style of singing is an American development in much the same way as jazz, blues, and gospel music. Originally sung by male quartets, there are now female quartets and male and female and mixed barbershop harmony choruses. The Granite Statesmen is such a chorus and has approximately 50 members. Within this group there are several quartets who can perform or teach independently. The Nashua chapter draws its members largely from southern New Hampshire and northeastern Massachusetts and several people have been in the chapter for over 30 years. The Granite Statesmen put on several shows a year held in greater Nashua. The group can perform in different configurations (quartets to full chorus) depending upon purpose of the event. On occasion, they donate a performance for a worthy cause.

Preferred activities and age groups: Demonstrations, performances, lectures, and hands on workshops at schools, community locations such as libraries, historic societies, lecture halls, fairs, festivals, and museums. Their primary focus is on performing but they are available for vocal lessons and to coach existing quartets and choruses. Interested in working with school-aged children Kindergarten through high school, college students, adults and the elderly.
Fees: Flexible, depending on the number of chorus members performing.

PO Box 35
Nashua, NH 03061-3880
603/886-7464
gigs@granitestatesmen.org
www.granitestatesmen.org

Tom Hall
English, Scottish & New England Folk Songs

Tom Hall has been learning, listening to, collecting, and singing traditional folk songs for nearly 60 years. He is an incredible archive of knowledge on traditional music of England, Scotland and Ireland and sea music and occupational songs. He learned some of his repertoire from his grandfather who sang folk songs and went on to research and sing with many other collectors of traditional songs. Hall has a large repertoire of traditional songs that covers various stages of American history: labor songs, sea chanties, Irish ballads and more. He has given hundreds of performances in clubs, coffeehouses, museums, and concert halls and has helped to organize countless folk music festivals. Hall is Program Director and General Coordinator of the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival and is a member of the board of directors for the Indian Neck Folk Festival. He hosts a weekly singing session at the Press Room pub in Portsmouth and a monthly session for sea shanties and fo’c’s’le ballads.

Preferred activities and age groups: lectures at schools and community locations such as libraries, historic societies, fairs, festivals, and museums. Prefers to work in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire. Interested in working with high school and college students, and adults. Available day or evening.
Fees: Negotiable

62 Priest Rd
Nottingham, NH 03290
603/942-7604
tradmuse@gmail.com

Donna Hebert
French Canadian Music: Fiddle

Donna Hébert is a Franco-American fiddler whose mother performed as a singer and banjo player in the 1930s and '40s. In 1972, Donna began playing fiddle for Dudley Laufman's Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra and went on to found both the contradance band Yankee Ingenuity in 1975 and Indie Award-winning all-girl band Rude Girls in 1985. In 1973 she met Louis Beaudoin and Gerry Robichaud, who taught her about her Québécois and Acadian fiddle heritages. Donna plays regionally with three performing groups. The first is Mist Covered Mountains, a Franco-American and Celtic trio with her daughter, singer Molly Hebert-Wilson and guitarist Max Cohen, performing and teaching at festivals and music camps in the U.S. and Canada. Donna also performs and teaches with American roots group Groovemama, coaching The Great Groove Band at Old Songs and Philadelphia Folk Festival every year. Her newest ensemble is "Fiddelles," an all fiddle trio with Cape Breton fiddler Andrea Beaton and Québécoise fiddler Véronique Plasse. This group is available for bookings beginning in spring 2013. Donna also directs Fiddling Demystified for Strings workshops at music schools and colleges. An eight-time Master Fiddler with the Master-Apprentice Program in the Folk Arts in four New England states, Donna was named a 2008 Artists' Fellow in the Folk Arts by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. She is the publisher and author of the Fiddling Demystified for Strings series of instructional materials.

Preferred activities and age groups: Demonstrations, performances, hands on workshops, and lectures for all ages at schools, colleges, fairs, festivals, museums and other community locations such as libraries and historical societies.
Fees: $500 per day, depending on the engagement and other musicians needed.

PO Box 2632
Amherst, MA 01004
413/658-4276
donna.a.hebert@gmail.com
www.dhebert.com; www.beaudoinlegacy.com; www.fiddlingdemystified.com

Anne Jennison
Traditional Northeast Woodlands Native American Storyteller

Anne Jennison is a New Hampshire-based Native American storyteller, historian, educator, and craftsperson with European and Abenaki heritage. With Master’s degrees in both Storytelling and in History, Anne brings a wealth of knowledge - polished by more than 30 years of experience as a performing storyteller and as an educator - to her retelling of timeless Native American lesson stories and her presentations on Abenaki/Wabanaki history & culture. Anne believes that her growth and development as a human being has been deeply influenced by internalizing the content of the Northeastern lesson stories that she tells.

Prior to retiring from teaching, Anne taught American History, World History, Cultural Anthropology, Storytelling, and Native American Studies courses for 20 years - at both the high school and college level. Since retiring from classroom teaching, Anne continues to be an active public educator through her appearances at schools, colleges, powwows, museums, historical societies, and libraries.

Anne is an affiliate faculty member for the University of New Hampshire Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) Minor, a member of the Indigenous NH Collaborative Collective, and a co-creator of the "People of the Dawnland" interpretive exhibit about the Abenaki/Wabanaki peoples at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH. Currently Anne also acts as a consultant for Strawbery Banke Museum’s Abenaki Heritage Initiative as the museum continues to grow its “People of the Dawnland” Abenaki exhibit and expand its interpretation of Abenaki history and culture - past and present. At Strawbery Banke Museum, Anne is also a co-producer of their now permanently sponsored annual Dawnland StoryFest - New England’s only Native American Storytelling Festival.

In addition to Northeast Woodlands Native American storytelling and Abenaki/Wabanaki history & culture presentations, Anne has also given many demonstrations of Abenaki/Wabanaki crafts such as cornhusk doll making, coiled cornhusk basketry, and birch bark basket making. Her performances, presentations, and workshops have been given for such sponsors as: the NH Humanities Council, UNH, the United South and Eastern Tribes (USET.org), Boston University, Historic New England, the Highland Center for the Arts, the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, the Mount Kearsarge Indian Museum, New England College, the White Mountain Storytelling Festival, and many other venues throughout New England.

Preferred Activities and Age Groups: Multi-age family and community groups, adults of all ages, middle school, high school, and college students. (Storytelling best for ages 6 through adult. Presentations and workshops best for middle school through adult). All in-person performances, presentations, and workshops need to be held in wheelchair accessible, ADA compliant venues.
Performance Fees: Traditional Northeast Woodlands Native American storytelling performances or Abenaki/Wabanaki History & Culture presentations begin at $350.00. Performances and Presentations are available in person OR via Zoom (live in real time). Storytelling performances or Abenaki/Wabanaki history & culture presentations can be pre-recorded (with some performance copyright limits) to include in museum exhibits, etc. There is an additional charge for round-trip mileage for travel from Lee, New Hampshire.
Consulting Fees begin at $500.00 - $1500.00, depending on the size and scope of the project. Contact Anne directly to discuss the possible variations for curriculum development and/or review projects, museum work, book projects, scholarly or magazine articles, storytelling skills workshops, individual storytelling performance coaching, audiobook narration, etc.

34 High Road Lee, NH 03861
603/817-8306
http://annejennison.com

Prem Sagar Khatiwada
Eastern Folk and Classical Tabla Music

Prem Sagar Khatiwada has been teaching and performing eastern folk and classical tabla music for over twenty years. He received his Master’s degree in tabla music from Banaras Hindu University and taught tabla music for five years at Tribhuvan University and the Nepal Music Center in Nepal. The tabla, a common South Asian double-drum instrument, is played using the fingertips and heals of the hands to produce varying sounds in frequency and rhythm. Prem can perform solo or accompany other singers or musicians on the flute or harmonium, a portable hand pumped reed organ. Since moving to the U.S. in 2011, Prem has performed in Texas, Massachusetts, Vermont, North Carolina, Connecticut and New Hampshire. In 2014 he received an Outstanding Teaching Award by the Bhutanese Community of New Hampshire.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances for all ages.
Fees: Fee negotiable depending on number of musicians and travel distance.

185 Loudon Rd #24
Concord, NH 03301
857/417-1951
sagar4tabla@yahoo.com

La Famille Cote
French Canandian Music

La Famille Cote preserves the traditional French Canadian songs of their heritage. Sung mostly in French, their repertoire includes songs that have been passed along through the generations as well as some written by members of the family. Many songs feature a call and response, called “chansons a répondre” where a song leader sings a phrase and everyone else repeats it. Fabienne Cote often heads up the family group playing the button accordion. Her son Alan leads songs and the chorus often includes his sisters Monica and Anne, as well other family members and friends. In 1999, La Famille Cote was invited to represent New Hampshire at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and they performed again at the expanded recreation Celebrate New Hampshire festival held in 2000 in Hopkinton, N.H.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances and workshops at schools and community locations such as libraries, historic societies, fairs, festivals, and museums for all ages.
Fees: Negotiable

488 Pingree Hill Rd
Auburn, NH 03032
603/624-0972
arcote@comcast.net

Lamprey River Band
New England Contra Dance Music

The Lamprey River Band plays old-time New England country dance music. Since 1983, the group has been playing for contra and square dances and for wedding, parties, and other events at which traditional social dancing can help build community. The Lamprey River Band hosts a dance on the first Thursday of every month in the Dover City Hall. Sit-in musicians and guest callers are invited. No experience is necessary as they teach dances appropriate to the participants. For weddings and parties they generally call dances that require little teaching, like the Virginia Reel or Duck for the Oyster.

Band members are: Peter Yarensky (contra/square dance caller, hammered dulcimer, occasionally piano), Sarah Mason (contradance caller, pennywhistle), Burt Feintuch (fiddle), Steve Panish (fiddle), Sarah Hydorn (flute, pennywhistle) and a piano player (usually Bill Zecker or Sophie Orzechowski.)

Preferred activities and age groups: Dances and performances at schools, community locations such as libraries, recreation centers, historic societies, fairs, festivals, and museums for all ages.
Fees: Negotiable

213 Hall Rd
Barrington, NH 03825-3176
603/664-2513
peter.yarensky@unh.edu
http://fiddle.nhcountrydance.com/lrb-dance.html

Dudley Laufman
New England Barn Dance Music & Calling; Poet

Dudley started calling dances and playing the fiddle over sixty years ago. According to filmmaker David Millstone who produced a video called The Other Way Back: Dancing with Dudley, he was “at the center of a dance revival in the late 1960s and 1970s and [his] effects can still be seen in today’s vibrant contra dance scene… it was Dudley who extended that audience dramatically in the late 1960s and 1970s as leader of the Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra.” With Jacqueline Laufman (Two Fiddles) they brought their music and dance into schools and communities throughout New England and beyond.
Dudley has a large repertoire of tunes and old time New England dances, whole set longways, squares, polkas, and waltzes. He is a very active poet and has published numerous books and broadsides, many illustrated by Jacqueline. His poems and yankee stories bring focus to the beauty and rhythm of rural New England life. In 2001, Dudley received the New Hampshire Governor’s Arts Award in Folk Heritage for lifetime achievement and excellence in the preservation of New England barn and country dancing. In 2007 he received a Lifetime Contribution Award from the Country Dance & Song Society of America. In 2009 he was honored with a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2012 he was accepted on the roster of the New Hampshire Humanities Council.

Preferred activities and age groups: Participatory dances for all ages, performances, lecture-demonstrations, workshops, fiddle lessons, storytelling, and poetry programs of poems, stories and fiddle tunes. Master classes for apprentices. In-depth school residencies as well as shorter school presentations for all grade levels. School programs can be tailored to address curriculum needs in the area of music, dance, social studies, New Hampshire history, and physical education. Schools, all ages, Churches, Community Groups, Folk Festivals, Music Camps, Summer Youth Camps, Weddings, Seniors, Nursing Homes.
Fees: Negotiable

PO Box 61
Canterbury, NH 03224
603/783-4719
dudleylaufman@gmail.com
www.laufman.org ; www.windinthetimothypress.com

Jacqueline Laufman
Community Social Dance & Fiddle

For over thirty years Jacqueline has been playing fiddle for community dances, school residencies and fiddle lessons. With a Master’s Degree in Education and background as a school counselor, she has developed educational publications to help preserve the roots of traditional New England social dancing. Her most recent efforts have culminated in a unique educational kit, Traditional Barn Dances with Calls & Fiddling, published by Human Kinetics, featuring an extensive instructional book with 2 CDs and a DVD. Easy to use with calls on one track and the next track is only music which enables teachers and leaders to call the dances. Jacqueline is also a gifted water color artist, illustrator and project manager. She co-produced the 2016 recording of the Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra which resulted in a professional documentary of that recording session, Welcome Here Again, shown on public television stations. She served six years on the state level as Vice-President of Dance for the NH Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

Traditional social dances include longways dances such as in the Virginia Reel (a favorite everywhere), circles, squares and contra dances. Most do not require any previous experience – dances are taught at the start of each dance which makes them fun for all! Other musicians invariably perform with her on piano, button accordion, fiddles, flute, fife, guitar, banjo or bass depending on the engagement. Their common repertoire of music are the lively, lilting  jigs and reels that came over from Ireland, England and Scotland, along with a polkas, waltzes and schottisches for couple dancing.

Preferred activities and age groups: Jacqueline plays for and calls traditional dances for all ages, gives lecture-demonstrations, workshops and fiddle lessons. She leads in-depth school residencies and shorter school presentations for all grade levels. School programs can be tailored to address curriculum needs in the area of music, dance, social studies, New England history, and physical education. She plays for youth and family camps, weddings, Elderhostel programs, festivals and conference sessions.
Fees: Affordable and negotiable; funding available for residencies and public events.

PO Box 59
Canterbury, NH 03224
603/731-1720
jacqueline.laufman@gmail.com
www.jlaufman.org

Theophilus Nii Martey
West African Drumming & Dance

Theophilus Nii Martey is a master percussionist, dancer, and teacher who was born and raised in Accra, Ghana, West Africa and now resides in Manchester, NH. Theo is a master of West African drumming and dance, a heritage that has many subtle variations in rhythmic patterns, dance styles, and costumes all specific to a wide diversity of tribal groups from the region. He started his drumming and dancing studies in Bukom Accra, Ghana at the age of 6, working under the wing of master drummers and dancers. As a young man, he journeyed to London, England where he toured and studied with other master artists. Theo is the founder and leader of the Akwaaba Ensemble, which has performed concerts throughout NH, Northeastern US, Mexico and Canada since 2002. At each performance, the Ensemble brings West African drumming, music and dance to vivid life, holding sway with the rich and subtle rhythmic patterns and styles specific to different tribal groups of West Africa. The Akwaaba Ensemble's energetic and engaging performances are a reflection of their name, which means 'welcome' in the Twi language of the Ashanti tribe of Ghana. He is part of a network of musicians who specialize in West African music and dance and sometimes join together for performances.

Theo has been on the Arts Council’s juried Arts Education Roster since 2005. He is an accomplished teacher of African drumming and dance and has led over 5,000 workshops in schools and communities. He has received numerous grants from the New England Foundation for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council and New Hampshire State Council on the Arts to teach school residencies, workshops and performances in dozens of schools all over New England. He enjoys working in a variety of settings, with children and adults, making music, teaching rhythms and songs, and telling the stories behind the songs and the Ga’s tribe. Theo has received numerous awards and accolades over the years, including being named the New Hampshire Artist Laureate for 2022-2024 and receiving the 2019 Governor’s Arts Award for Arts Education.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances and demonstrations at community locations such as libraries, historic societies, fairs, festivals, and museums for all ages; Master classes for drummers and dancers; workshops for groups or individuals; artist in residencies in school for all ages with the opportunity of creating a group performance at the end of the residency that showcase the student’s accomplishments.
Fees: Solo performance, workshops, artist in residencies - $700-$1,000. School assemblies and group performances starting at $1,500 to $3,500 (depending on the size of the ensemble)

Akwaaba Drum & Dance Ensemble
94 Ray St
Manchester, NH 03104
603/264-5582
akwaabaensemble@gmail.com
www.akwaabaensemble.com

David Millstone
New England Contra and Square Dance Calling

David Millstone calls dances with a variety of musical groups in New Hampshire, depending on the nature of the engagement. A caller for 45 years, Millstone has a vast repertoire of dances, including family dances, contras, traditional squares and English country dance. He can arrange an evening of dancing for families with no experience as well as a challenging and fun evening for advanced contra dance fans. A dance caller is essential to a community dance and Millstone can make arrangements with musicians to suit the occasion. Millstone has produced three important documentary films on contra dance - one features Bob McQuillen entitled, “Paid to Eat Ice Cream,”  a second features Dudley Laufman entitled, “The Other Way Back,” and one on contra and square dance caller Ralph Sweet, “Sweet Talk.” He has appeared as a featured performer at dances and festivals throughout the United States and in Europe. Millstone is also a dance historian and gives multimedia presentations on different aspects of country dance history.

Preferred activities and age groups: Demonstrations, performances, talks, and workshops at schools, festivals, dance camps, grange and town halls.
Fees: Negotiable

Sylvia Miskoe
Scottish & New England Contra Dance Music: Accordion

Sylvia Miskoe plays the accordion for contra dance and Scottish music. She began playing for contra dances in college and in the 1970s, she and Cal Howard formed the White Cockade Scottish Dance Band. The group, with four of its original members, still plays for area events, both Scottish and contra dance. Miskoe has traveled to Scotland to further her knowledge of traditional music and studied at Sterling University and the Scottish Country Dance Society Summer School at St Andrews. In 1988, Miskoe became one of the founding members of the Strathspey and Reel Society of New Hampshire, a non profit organization dedicated to the preservation and teaching of Scottish music, serving as the president until 1998. Miskoe was one of the musicians invited to represent New Hampshire at the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and at the Celebrate New Hampshire festival held in 2000 in Hopkinton. In 2008, Miskoe received a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grant to teach apprentice Douglas Brunson Scottish accordion. In addition to playing for dancing, Sylvia, Tony Saletan, Dan and Molly Lynn Watt have recorded a CD featuring music and stories form the Spanish Civil War.

Preferred activities and age groups: Small performances for groups of all ages. Miskoe is often accompanied by other Scottish and New England contra dance musicians and can make arrangements with an ensemble of musicians to suit the occasion.
Fees: Negotiable

102 Little Pond Rd
Concord, NH 03301
603/225-6546
sylviasmiskoe@gmail.com

Samita Mohanasundaram
Indian Classical Dance - Bharathanatyam

Samita Mohanasundaram is a professional Indian dancer, teacher and choreographer. She has been studying Indian dance called for many years. Samita has a powerful mastery of bharathanatyam, a complex dance form originating in South India. She travels regularly to India to study dance, purchase costumes, and perform. She has performed for many charities in New Hampshire including the Hunt Community Retirement Home; libraries, Community Programs; and schools such as the Presentation of Mary Academy. She enjoys the perfection and devotion that is required of a classical Indian dancer and sharing this art form with others.

Preferred activities and age groups: Demonstrations and workshops at community locations such as libraries, historic societies, fairs, festivals, and museums. Interested in presenting demonstrations for all ages and workshops with adults.
Fees: $125 - $150 per presentation, negotiable when presenting with a larger group of dancers.

148 Manchester St
Nashua, NH 03064
603/594-4087
samitamohan@gmail.com

Jane Orzechowski
New England Contra Dance & Swedish Music: Fiddle

Jane Orzechowski plays traditional New England and Swedish music. She has been playing the fiddle since she was a child and was inspired by her regular attendance at the New England Folk Festival. Jane is a member of two groups: Old New England (with Bob McQuillen and Deanna Stiles) and her family band, The Sugar River Band (with her children). Old New England has performed at contra dances, festivals and Fist Nights around New England, at several prestigious venues in the nation’s capitol: the Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center; the East Lawn Concert series at the United States Capitol, and the Library of Congress Neptune Plaza Concert series. Old New England was also invited to represent New Hampshire at the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and at the Celebrate New Hampshire festival held in 2000 in Hopkinton.The group has recorded several albums, which are available through Great Meadow Music. Orzechowski’s family band, The Sugar River Band, has performed at New Hampshire and Vermont schools, public dances, at the Eastern States Exposition, nursing homes, town celebrations, farmers’ markets, and senior centers. Sugar River Band recorded with Two Fiddles (Jacqueline and Dudley Laufman) on the White Mountain Reel and The Sweets of May, instructional books and CDs of traditional New England dances. Orzechowski has also recorded on albums with various other artists and bands in New Hampshire.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances at festivals, community events, schools, and private functions for people of all ages.
Fees: Negotiable

334 Chandlers Mill Rd
Newport, NH 03773
603/393-3870
Jane.Orzechowski@gmail.com

Neha Parikh
Classical Indian Dance

Neha Parikh is originally from Bombay, India and currently lives in Nashua, New Hampshire. Neha is an accomplished Indian classical dancer, specializing in two styles-- Bharatanatyam and Mohini Attam. The movements of classical Indian dance are highly stylized. Hand, feet, and facial gestures are timed precisely to the complexities of classical Indian music. Many dances are based on ancient mythology. The costumes and personal adornments, often lavish in color and texture, are an important part of the tradition. Neha began learning to dance in Bombay when she was six years old and studied with many noted master dancers. She has a Masters Degree of Fine Arts in Classical Indian Dance and Philosophy from Nalanda University. Since moving to Nashua, she has become active in the Indian Association of New Hampshire. She started teaching over four years ago and has complete two Arangetrams (formal debut performances of her students.) She is available to perform as a solo dancer or with a group of her students.

Preferred activities and age groups: Demonstrations, performances at schools, museums and other community locations such as libraries and historical societies for all ages. Lectures and workshops for 6th grade students to adults.
Fees: Negotiable, depending up on number of performers.

23 Gingras Drive
Nashua, NH 03060
603/598-3903
ChidambaramDance@gmail.com

Carolyn Parrott
New England Contra Dance Music, Folk Music & Chorus Singing

Carolyn, born and raised in Peterborough, has performed throughout New England as a dance caller and storyteller since the mid-eighties. Her lively performances feature stories with songs or chants that employ her vast array of familiar and exotic instruments, while residencies can be "mixed and matched" to meet the school's or community's needs. Carolyn has degrees in music and comparative literature and is faculty emerita at the Concord Community Music School where, for 20 years, she directed Songweavers, a 200+ women's a cappella chorus, which she founded in 1991. She now teaches five-string banjo, folk fiddle and piano for backing up fiddle tunes. Through the last 30+ years as a performer, Carolyn has worked with varying populations including people with developmental disabilities and the elderly. She worked in the early nineties at the Spaulding Youth Center and the Hope School in Nashua doing folk dancing and singing with children with autism as well as storytelling with the boys with emotional disabilities. Carolyn founded and ran the “Sunflower’s Chorus,” a drop-in chorus for adults with developmental disabilities maintained through the Music-in-the-Community Initiative at the Concord Community Music School. Most recently, she has done programs for the elderly through the North Country Arts Council; a choral residency funded by the NHSCA at Havenwood Heritage Heights in Concord, NH; and has mentored three fiddlers and a banjo player through Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grants.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances; lecture-demonstrations; workshops; master classes; country dances; residencies; song leading; day programs; multi-day programs; bedside programs; and programs for staff. Grades 1-12, and all other populations including people with disabilities and people in institutions.
Fees: Performances: $200-300; Workshops, Master Classes & Lecture-Demonstrations: $300; Carolyn calling plus one fiddler: $500 (additional for travel and sound system); all fees negotiable, especially in conjunction with residencies.

680 Farrington Corner Rd
Hopkinton, NH 03229-2018
603/224-7669
songweavers@comcast.net

Stuart Paton
Japanese Taiko Drumming

Stuart Paton has been involved with Japanese drumming since 1984, both as a practicing drummer and as a teacher. His first introduction to taiko was as a youngster growing up in Japan. After graduating from college in Ohio, Stuart studied with master drummer and National Heritage Fellowship recipient Seiichi Tanaka in San Francisco, as well as other master taiko artists. Taiko is a very athletic and visually exciting style of Japanese drumming played on double-headed drums using sticks and accented by vocal exclamations. The tradition emerged in Japan from folk and classical drumming styles played for festivals, Kabuki and Noh theater, court entertainment, and religious ceremonies. Today, taiko has become its own tradition and groups exist all through Japan, the United States, and Europe. Stuart can perform as a solo artist or with members of his ensemble. Stuart is also an accomplished drummer in other traditions, specializing in conga drumming of Haiti and Cuba and djembe and djun-djun drumming of West Africa (Mali, Guinea Conakry and Senegal).
Stuart is co-founder and music director for the Burlington Taiko Ensemble and is well respected nationally for his artistry as a drummer and drum maker. Since 1987, Burlington Taiko has been mesmerizing audiences with the powerful, spellbinding and propulsive sounds of the taiko. Inspired by traditional Japanese drumming, Burlington Taiko performers use the power and beauty of taiko to transcend cultural barriers and to foster greater understanding of the Japanese American culture. The group has twice been recognized by the International Taiko community, having been selected to perform at both the 30th and 40th International Taiko Festival in San Francisco, the 1999 North American Taiko Conference in Los Angeles and the Gaina Festival in Yona. To learn more information about the ensemble visit their website, listed below.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances, demonstrations, and hands-on workshops at fairs and festivals, museums, and other community locations such as libraries and historical societies. One- to multi-day residencies at schools. Lecture demonstrations at conferences and other events. Interested in presenting to kindergarten through high school students and to adults of all ages.
Fees: $350 for 90-minute teaching session to $575 for 4 ½ hours of teaching. Performance costs vary depending upon number of performers.

PO Box 65115
Burlington, VT 05406-5115
802/999-4255
stuart@burlingtontaiko.org
www.burlingtontaiko.org

Gary Pomerleau
Bluegrass & French Canadian Music: Fiddle

Gary Pomerleau is rooted in the French Canadian music of his family heritage. He began playing the fiddle at the age of eight and has been playing now for over 34 years. Gary’s fiddle has taken him to Washington, DC two times. In 1983, he and his father Joe Pomerleau played French Canadian music with National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Award recipient Simone St Piere at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. In 1999, Gary and his father Joe were invited to play with other French Canadian musicians from New Hampshire at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and they played again at the expanded recreation Celebrate New Hampshire festival held in 2000 in Hopkinton, N.H.
For the last ten years, Gary has shifted his musical interests to bluegrass music. He plays with two New Hampshire based groups: White Mountain Bluegrass is based out of southern New Hampshire. This band has been established for over thirty five years and is know for its traditional style of playing and repertoire. 2nd Wind is based out of Nashua/Hudson area. This group has been together since the early 1990s and stretches the traditional stylings of bluegrass into a contemporary sound.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances, and workshops with one of his bands at schools and community locations such as libraries, historic societies, fairs, festivals, and museums. Suitable for all ages.
Fees: Negotiable

6 Old Tebbetts Rd
Rochester, NH 03867
603/335-3481
stradgrass@yahoo.com
www.whitemountainbluegrass.com

Linda Pouliot
French Jazz Standards Singing

Linda Pouliot is a singer or chanteuse of traditional French jazz standards who performs in large and intimate venues, for community festivals and concerts, and for schools across the Northeast. She grew up in Berlin, NH, a French speaking community, listening to French music on the radio every Sunday. Her family played La Boldoc, Edith Piaf, Lucienne Delisle, Lucienne Boyer, Charles Trenet, Leo Marjane, Nan Mouscouri and others.

In 2006 she moved to Rochester, NH where she decided to recommit herself to her musical pursuits. She studied with piano players Tim Grant and Greg Vrettos. Her heartfelt renditions routinely receive high praise from French and English speakers alike. She has performed at the Franco Center for the Arts, La Kermesse Franco-Americaine, St. Kieran Arts Center, Castle in the Clouds, as well as many private venues across the Northeast.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances for all ages.
Fees: $500-$1500 for full band/negotiable

616 Portland St.
Rochester, NH 03867
603/781-8810
madame_chose1@yahoo.com
www.lindapouliot.com

Donald Primrose
New England Contra & Square Dance Calling

Don Primrose is a contra dance caller and dancer. He was born in Keene, New Hampshire and his first introduction to traditional New England dancing was in 1965 at a dance in Acworth where Ralph Page was calling with the Duke Miller Orchestra. His interest in the tradition led to becoming a dance caller. He is well versed in a wide range of traditional “chestnuts” as well as more contemporary contra dances and has called dances across the country, Canada, and Europe. Don stresses the community building aspect of social dancing and enjoys calling for groups of all ages. He can make arrangements for the musicians needed for a community dance or school presentation.

Preferred activities and age groups: Demonstrations, performances, and hands-on workshops for all ages at schools, community locations such as libraries, historic societies, fairs, festivals, and museums throughout New Hampshire.
Fees: Negotiable

439 Bowlder Rd
Sullivan, NH 03445-4244
603/313-3229

Raymond Street Klezmer Band
Jewish Klezmer Music

The Raymond Street Klezmer Band plays the music of the Jewish culture often enjoyed at celebrations, social gatherings, and weddings. Since the Middle Ages, Jewish musicians, known as klezmorim, have traveled all over Europe. The music they played was a blend of many musical influences of Eastern Europe and circus music. The klezmorim acted as court musicians for sultans and caliphs, kings, and emperors. They also performed at both Jewish and Christian celebrations, in synagogues, as street musicians, for weddings, at pubs, fairs and community festivals. Jewish immigrants introduced Klezmer music to the United States. Once in the US, the music incorporated influences from jazz and vaudeville.

The Raymond Street Klezmer Band is based in southern New Hampshire and has played at a variety of festivals and community gatherings. They represented New Hampshire in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., appeared at the Lowell Folk Festival and the state fairs of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The band members are: Sandy Dickens (vocalist), Alan Green (clarinet, saxophone, vocalist), Ruth Weiner Harris (accordion), Gordon Hegfield (keyboard), Jared Iverson (trumpet), Nick Noseworthy (percussion), Bruce Smith (bass, vocalist).

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances, demonstrations, and workshops at schools and community locations such as libraries, historic societies, fairs, festivals, and museums for all ages.
Fees: Negotiable

PO Box 118
Hollis, NH 03049
603/465-2181

Henry & Larry Riendeau
French Canadian Music: Guitar & Fiddle

Henry and Larry Riendeau are brothers and play the traditional music of their French Canadian heritage. They have been playing music with family and friends in the North Country of New Hampshire since they were very young. The Riendeau’s represented New Hampshire at the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and at the Celebrate New Hampshire festival held in 2000 in Hopkinton. At both festivals, they performed with the Cote Family (also on this Listing) and other French-Canadian musicians. In 1999, the Riendeau’s received the Living Folk Heritage Governors' Arts Award for their lifetime commitment to the tradition.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances at schools, community locations such as libraries, historic societies, fairs, festivals, and museums for all ages.
Fees: Negotiable

260 Burgess St
Berlin, NH 03570
603/752-1424

Smoked Kielbasa Band
Polish American & Multi Cultural Music

The Smoked Kielbasa Band is rooted in traditional Polish music. Founding members, Dan & Joe Blajda continue a musical lineage that is over 150 years old. Their cousins, the renowned and award winning Pudelko Family Band, have been performing and sharing traditional village music of their native Rzeszow region, in southeastern Poland, for over a century and a half. The group’s repertoire includes Polish folk music, American polka music and unique blend of tunes that are a multi-cultural synthesis of polkas; Celtic jigs, reels, & waltzes; tango; swing; jazz; and even Boogaloo. Their goal is to get people up and dancing!
The current line-up of the band is: Dan Blajda (fiddle, mandolin & vocals), Joe Blajda (violin & vocals), Mike Oliszczak (violin & vocals), Mike Becker (guitar, piano & vocals), Jackie Bellows (bass, piano & vocals), Gary Hunter (clarinet, saxophone & vocals), John Faggiano (drums), and Wendy Becker (percussion & vocals).

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances, demonstrations, and workshops at schools and community locations such as libraries, historic societies, fairs, festivals, and museums for all ages.
Fees: Negotiable

243 Ash St
Manchester, NH 03104
603/641-9781
pobohemian@aol.com
www.smokedkielbasaband.com

Gary Sredzienski
Accordionist

Gary Sredzienski is an exceptionally versatile accordion player whose repertoire encompasses music from a wide range of world traditions and American music of the 1920s to 1950s. He also plays 1960’s surf rock, traditional ethnic, and his accordion compositions with his Portsmouth based group, the “Serfs.” Gary has performed extensively in the United States and abroad in concert settings, festivals, and schools. In May of 2000 Gary was nominated by Congressman John Sununu to represent NH in a performance at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage in Washington DC. In July of 2000 he performed throughout Romania on a tour sponsored by the Smithsonian Folklife Center, the State Department, and the Governor Jeanne Shaheen of NH. He represented NH at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC in 1999, performed at the American and National folk festivals, was sent to Quebec City for its 400th anniversary as a musical ambassador for NH by Governor Lynch and played for the Inauguration for NH Governor Maggie Hassan. Gary has released a number of solo recordings on his own Bellows Music label. His compositions and music have been featured in a number of feature films and television sound tracks including, Paramount's “Bad News Bears” and "A Team", Eddie Murphy’s “Meet Dave,” and multiple major network television sitcoms.

Gary hosts a weekly 1950’s style ethnic radio show, “Polka Party,” on WUNH-FM and has a devoted following. In 1990, he was sponsored by the Edgewood Center of Portsmouth and his radio show listeners to undertake a national tour, performing for 93 nursing homes in 15 states over a five-week period. He was named a 'Point of Light' for his efforts. An avid swimmer, in 2008 Gary was the first to swim to the Isle of Shoals in winter and since has raised over $65,000 for 7 different charities in 7 winter swims. The NH Charitable Foundation gave a grant to write, produce, and perform a play on Gary's musical life and swimming adventures through the Harborlight Stage Theater Company entitled 'Creekman…The Adventures of the Accordion Playing Merman.'

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances; lecture-demonstrations; workshops; school residencies; recording projects; background music for events; master classes; day programs; multi-day programs; bedside programs; and programs for staff.
Fees: Performances: $300-$1,000; Workshops: $300; Master Classes: $100-$200; Lecture-Demonstrations: $350-$700; School Residencies/Daily Fee for Arts in Health Care: $350/day; Negotiable.

Bellows Music
PO Box 361
Greenland, NH 03840
207/451-9114
accordioNH@aol.com
www.garysred.com

Sandhya Sridhar
Carnatic Music

Sandhya Sridhar grew up in suburban Mumbai, well known for its cultural and musical traditions, where she began to formally study music at the age of 6. Throughout her life, music has always remained inseparable and integral. Sandhya is actively involved in the Indian music community throughout New Hampshire and Massachusetts. She teaches Carnatic music, Bhajans (devotional melodies) and folk music in school and community settings, and operates her own music school, Aradhana, where she teaches private lessons. Carnatic music is the classical music tradition indigenous to South India and is based in melody. All compositions are based on a Raga (melody) with a set rhythm cycle.

Sandhya sits on the board of the MIT organization, MIT’s Heritage of the Arts of South Asia, which brings quality music and musicians from across the globe to present concerts in Boston and surrounding areas. She also works to bring international musicians to her local Nashua community, and organizes community performances and in-depth workshops for her students. In 2011 Aradhana was honored by India New England’s Reader Choice Award as one of the best musical training institutes and also given an award for excellence from the Indian Association of NH. In 2012 she was awarded a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts.

Preferred activities and age groups: Demonstrations, Workshops, Learning Boot Camps, Master Classes at schools, community locations such as libraries, historic societies, etc., Homes for the elderly, Institutions for children with cerebral palsy, Cancer patients and survivors (as a donation). 6th grade to elderly.
Fees: Starting at $150 per day, plus incidentals.

60 Timberline Dr
Nashua, NH 03062
603/888-7925
nashuasandhya@gmail.com
www.aradhana-nh.com

Andrew Stewart
New England Contra Dance Music & Cajun Music: Fiddle

Andy Stewart is a versatile fiddler whose repertoire includes traditional New England contra dance tunes as well as the music of French Canada, the Acadian diaspora and other roots music. His fiddle playing encompasses the multi-cultural influences of over 300 years of immigration to New Hampshire. Much of his fiddle repertoire and style comes from studying with older fiddle players in New England, Canada, Louisiana, and Mexico. For some 30 years he played monthly dances with the Upper Valley based contra dance band Northern Spy. He also plays fiddle with his Cajun band, The Offshore Aces, and with his wife Mary Jo (vocals, guitar, ti’fer) in their duo Slattery & Stewart (shown in this photo at a concert in Mexico). Their repertoire includes Cajun waltzes and lively two-steps; the fiddle tunes of French Canada and New England; as well as early songs and traditional ballads. He currently is exploring the jug band tradition of the early 1900s with the recently formed trio, the Occasional Jug Band. 

Stewart’s long history with traditional fiddle and dance started as a youngster when he was part of regular square dance program in a 3-room schoolhouse in Vermont, travelling through the region as part of a square dance demonstration team. In 1998 Stewart was one of two dozen folklorists and community scholars who conducted fieldwork and research for the development of the New Hampshire program featured at the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. He focused his research on traditional music, as well as on hunting, recreational crafts, and the Spanish-speaking communities of the state. Stewart served as a presenter for both the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the expanded re-creation of that event, Celebrate New Hampshire Culture, held in 2000 in Hopkinton, NH. At both events he provided cultural context and background information for audiences on the musical traditions and crafts.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances for all ages at schools, community locations such as libraries, historic societies, fairs, festivals, museums, and assisted living facilities.  Able to assist in the research, planning and implementation of culturally based arts programming and presentations.
Fees: Negotiable

Deanna Stiles
New England Contra Dance Music: Fiddle & Flute

Deanna is a versatile New England musician, who plays fiddle, flute, and penny whistle. She plays in the group Old New England for contra dances and concerts in New Hampshire and beyond. Old New England was one of the musical groups invited to represent New Hampshire at the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and again at the expanded recreation Celebrate New Hampshire held in Hopkinton. Deanna is interested in solo work in nursing homes and health care facilities.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances and demonstrations at schools, community locations such as libraries, historic societies, fairs, festivals, and museums for all ages. Hands-on workshops with the penny whistle.
Fees: Negotiable

173 North Rd
Deerfield, NH 03037
603/463-9081

Bruce Stockwell
Bluegrass Banjo

Bruce Stockwell has been playing bluegrass music since the late 1960s. Though he is a native Vermonter, his parents were bluegrass fans and his father was an avid player. Over the years, Bruce has traveled to the south to learn more about bluegrass and even met some of the founding fathers—Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, and Lester Flat. Bluegrass is a style of music that grew out of a variety of musical traditions enjoyed by people in southern Appalachian Mountains. Bluegrass is a combination of old-time music influenced by English and Irish settlers, ragtime, blues, and jazz. The term bluegrass can be traced to Bill Monroe’s band, the Blue Grass Boys, formed in 1939. Traditional bluegrass is typically played by a small set of acoustic stringed instruments including the mandolin, acoustic guitar, banjo, fiddle, resonator guitar (dobro) and upright bass. Bruce can play as a solo artist or arrange for other musicians to join him for performances and workshops.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances and hands-on workshops at fairs and festivals, museums and other community locations such as libraries and historical societies. Interested in giving workshops to college level students and adults. Performances for all ages.
Fees: $125 - $200 for workshop. Performance costs vary depending upon number of performers.

PO Box 417
Putney, VT 05346
802/387-2259
5stringstockwell@gmail.com
www.brucestockwell.com

Sugar River Band
New England Contra Dance & Swedish Music Band

The Sugar River Band plays traditional fiddle music from New England and Sweden on fiddles, piano, and accordion. New England dance music is influenced by French-Canadian, Irish, Scottish, English, and Cape Breton styles. The group is led by Jane Orzechowski. Her musical children include: Francis who plays piano, bouzouki, and accordion; and Russell, Neil, Sophie who all play fiddle, piano and accordion. Traditional arts apprenticeship grants have helped to support each of them to learn contra dance piano playing from Bob McQuillen of Peterborough, NH. Neil also received an apprenticeship grant to learn New England barn dance calling and fiddling from Dudley Laufman.
The Sugar River Band has performed in New Hampshire and Vermont for retirement homes, farmers’ markets, schools, town celebrations, parties, dances, and weddings. In New Hampshire, they have been featured at the annual Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend in Durham, the Christmas Revels in Hanover, and regularly perform at the Revels North Summer Solstice festivals. Regionally, they have performed at the New England Folk Festival and the Eastern States Exposition in Massachusetts; and the Indian Neck Folk Festival in Connecticut.
The band has recorded with Two Fiddles: Jacqueline and Dudley Laufman on their instructional publications, White Mountain Reel and The Sweets of May as well as the most recent CD, “Where’d You Get them Great Chunes?”

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances at contra dances, family dances, barn dances, schools, community locations such as libraries, historic societies, fairs, festivals, and museums for all ages.
Fees: Negotiable

334 Chandlers Mill Rd
Newport, NH 03773
603/542-8978
Jane.Orzechowski@gmail.com

Lucie Therrien
Franco-American Music: Guitar, Piano & Vocals

Lucie Therrien is a nationally and internationally acclaimed performer that has built her career around the music of her French Canadian heritage. She is also a composer, recording artist, author, poet, linguist, certified teacher, watercolor artist, and historian. Her concert repertoire includes songs in French, English, Spanish, and five other languages. She has presented programs of cultural diversity on five continents. Lucie performs as a solo artist, accompanying her versatile voice with piano, guitar, and a variety of ethnic instruments. Her repertoire includes a range of musical genres including traditional, contemporary, and original compositions. Into her well crafted performances she weaves entertaining and educational information-in story form for children and anecdotes for adults. Lucie has received four Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grant awards from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts to preserve the traditional songs of her heritage by teaching apprentices, as well as film and composer awards. In 1999, Lucie was one of the cultural specialists invited to represent New Hampshire at the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. For more than 18 years Lucie has also taken her talents to health care venues including nursing homes, assisted living sites, and other health care institutions. Lucie has published 15 recordings, 2 DVD's, 4 videos, a songbook, 2 research papers, and a book & CD Set titled, “Dual Citizen- Deux Citoyemetés”.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances; lecture-demonstrations; workshops; residencies; day programs; multi-day programs. Grades K-college, adults, elderly, general public.
Fees: Performances: $690/solo; Workshops: $450; Master Class: $550; Lecture-demonstrations: $500; fees negotiable depending on program content, length of program and travel distance, with reduced fees for block booking and combinations.

5 Junkins Ave #106
Portsmouth, NH 03801
603/430-9524
lucilletherrien75@gmail.com

Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki
New England & Celtic Music: Fiddle

Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki has been fiddlin' around for 17 years, performing solo and collaborating with numerous bands around the Northeastern USA and Ireland. Though he often takes the fiddle into genres where it's rarely seen, Jordan’s roots are strongly set in traditional music. He began in the old New England contra dance culture, inspired and taught by the legendary dance-calling and fiddling duo Dudley and Jacqueline Laufman. He soon added Celtic music to his repertoire and has performed regularly in this genre for the last 15 years, working with numerous bands and opening for such acts as Willie Nelson, Tommy Makem, and Derek Warfield of The Wolfetones.
Jordan has won numerous fiddle contests around New England, played on over two dozen albums (including projects with Garth Hudson of The Band), and released several solo records. The most recent of these, Into the Cold, is comprised of original music and is played regularly on several radio stations around New England. In addition to traditional music, he also plays fiddle with various contemporary bands in genres ranging from rock and funk to blues and country. He was one of the founding members of JamAntics ("Best Jam Band" NH Magazine, 2010, "Best Original Band" The Hippo, 2011) and currently plays most frequently with the Dusty Gray Band in addition to several other local projects. He has toured nationally with the Adam Ezra Group (winner of four New England Music Awards) and has appeared as a guest musician with other nationally touring bands including Yarn, The Spring Standards, The Lost Trailers and regional favorites Roots of Creation and Hot Day At The Zoo. Highlight gigs have included several NH governor's inaugural receptions, Irish pubs from Clare to Donegal, The Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., as well as hundreds of appearances at barn dances, rock concerts, farmer’s markets, folk festivals, weddings, private parties, and anywhere else people want to kick back and have a good time.

Preferred activities and age groups: performances, dances and workshops for any age group at venues ranging from living rooms to concert halls. Particularly enjoys outdoor shows.
Fees: Negotiable

28 Dame Rd
Newmarket, NH 03857
603/344-0400
Jordan@jordantwmusic.com
www.JordanTWmusic.com

Jeff Warner
American Folk Music

Jeff Warner performs the music of America's rural past: songs of Revolutionary War heroes and life and work aboard wooden ships, African-American banjo tunes, songs from 19th century lumber camps and ballads of old New Hampshire. His songs and stories bring us the latest news from the distant past. Programs for young people include hands-on fun with accessible rhythm instruments like bones and spoons. Jeff has toured in thirty-six states for the Smithsonian Institution and has been an artist for the Ohio Arts Council's Arts-in-Education Program and Young Audiences, Inc. of Massachusetts. Jeff’s parents, Anne and Frank Warner, were early collectors of American folk songs. An avid music scholar himself, Jeff has released recordings of the music collected by his parents, as well as CDs of his own work. In 2007, Jeff received a prestigious Artist Fellowship award from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. Jeff is the 2016 recipient of the Country Song and Dance Society Lifetime Achievement Award.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances; lecture-demonstrations; workshops; master classes; and school residencies. All audiences.
Fees: $350 - $500/day

5 Junkins Ave. Apt. 306
Portsmouth, NH  03801
Cell:  603/570-8366
www.jeffwarner.com

Lezlie Webster
Scottish Highland Pipingr & Dance

Lezlie is an accomplished and award winning Scottish Highland piper. A native of Ontario, Canada, she began her training as a piper and dancer while a youngster in Ontario and Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. She also studied piping and Scottish highland dancing in Scotland. Lezlie has won most of the major Piping Competitions in the U.S., a few in Canada and the UK, and is a graduate and examiner of the Institute of Piping. She is also an adjudicator for the Easter US Pipe Band Association and travels from Georgia to Maine to judge piping competitions. She took her first teaching exam as a Highland dancer a teenager and taught classes. In her twenties she took her judges exam in Scotland and the Scottish Dancer Teachers’ Alliance’s top teaching exam. Lezlie and her husband, renowned piper Gordon Webster, are co-founders of the New Hampshire School of Scottish Arts in Manchester, N.H. The school offers instruction in a wide range of Scottish musical instruments and Highland dance. Lezlie and Gordon were invited to represent Scottish Highland piping and dance traditions for New Hampshire’s presentation at the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and again for the expanded recreation Celebrate New Hampshire festival held in 2000 in Hopkinton, N.H. Lezlie has been honored by the St. Andrew’s Society for her contributions to the Scottish Community.

Preferred activities and age groups: School and community performances as soloist, as a duet with Gordon Webster or with Highland dancers, fiddlers, and/or harpists suitable for all ages. Performances and lectures for adults and workshops with pipers/pipe bands.
Fees: Negotiable

27 Cricket Lane
Concord, NH 03301
603/227-0207
nhssa@comcast.net
www.nhssa.org

TJ Wheeler
Blues / Jazz & Roots Music, Solo – Ensemble

Tj Wheeler has been described as everything from a national treasure to a one man Juke Joint. One things for certain, he’s a living library of Blues, Jazz and overall roots music who walks the walk that he talks and sings. His trick bag of material include song styling’s from the Underground Rail Road, Old time String & Jug Bands, Mississippi Delta Blues, the sacred songs of the Civil Rights movement, to New Orleans Traditional Jazz, Uptown R & B, as well as his own bedrock of Blues & Jazz original compositions. All of the above gumbo of musical genres he brings to life in his inspirational & interactive performances and education programs. Across five continents, roughly 500,000 students from schools K -12, Universities, and all age’s audiences at Blues, Jazz & Folk music festivals around the world, have been enthralled as well as enlightened by Tj’s overall, personalized knowledge of the history & stories behind the music as they are about his talented and passionate performances. Tj performs on a plethora of instruments including the 1 string Mississippi Diddley Bow, Cigar box guitar, Tenor & 5 string Banjo, Mandolin, Ukulele, National Resonator Steel & 7 string Arch top guitar as well as Piano, Talking Drum, Harmonica, vocals, tap shoes and kazoo! Awards include the Keeping the Blues Alive Award from the International Blues Foundation, the Granite State Award from the University of New Hampshire, the Paul Robeson Diversity Award from the U.S. Post Office, two Individual Artist Fellowship awards from the NH State Council on the Arts, and the Education Curriculum Award from the National Music Foundation. Each year Tj updates his programming with new music and education themes that highlight integrated arts, such as Hope, Heroes’ & the Blues. His current theme stresses seeking relevancy in history and is entitled How WE Arrived (How roots music has influenced history). Most recently he was he was nominated for a NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award. Tj is also a noted writer concentrating most often on the interrelationship between roots music and the Civil & Human Rights struggle. His articles have frequently been featured by various Blues & Jazz publications as well as on his website.

Preferred activities and age groups: Tj can be booked for a wide variety of settings including Concerts, Master classes, Workshops, Special needs classes, Music & Arts Festivals, Park & Rec performances, Libraries, Retirement Communities, Coffee House & House concerts, Music Camps, School workshops & residencies K - 12, Prisons, Youth Correctional Facilities, University lectures & interactive residencies, African American Studies classes, Diversity training for Corporations, Children & Adult Hospitals and Teacher conferences.
Fees: Solo - $400-$1000 (depending on travel, length, size, etc.) Band - $1000-$2500 (depending on band size, and the variables listed under the above solo description)

11 Brown Rd
Hampton Falls, NH 03844
603/926-8102
tjwheeler7@yahoo.com
www.tjwheeler.net

Frank Woodward
New England Contra & Square Dance Calling

New Hampshire native, Frank Woodward grew up in Bristol, dancing to his father’s dance band. Willie Woodward was a legendary dance caller of contras and singing squares who performed throughout New England. After immersion in career and family, he returned to the dance and music scene and established the traditional music band New Boston Fancy. Since the early 90s, Frank has been calling dances around New England. He has traveled to Russia to teach contra dancing at the Yaroslavl Cultural College and at children’s camps. He organizes the monthly dances in Milford, N.H. and for other public and private functions. He is comfortable in a variety of settings and has worked with disabled youngsters and their families. Frank can make arrangements for occasions from a simple barn dance to a formal event, providing a full contra dance band or a smaller number of musicians.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances, dances, and hands-on workshops at music camps, in schools, community locations such as libraries, recreation centers, historic societies, fairs, festivals, museums, and at old home days. Interested in working with all ages.
Fees: $150 per event. Additional cost for musicians.

107 Greenfield Rd
New Boston, NH 03070
603/487-2480
Nhdancecaller@aol.com

Shin-Yi Yang
Guqin and Guzheng (Chinese zithers)

Shin-Yi Yang, a native of Taiwan, majored in performance in gu-zheng and gu-qin at the National Taiwan University of the Arts and later studied at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. The music of gu-quin, an ancient Chinese instrument that has origins that date to 2,500 years ago, is a significant part of Chinese culture and history. In 2003 the gu-quin was proclaimed as one of the masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Shin-Yi has been playing both instruments professionally for over 25 years. Since moving to the United States, Shin-Yi founded the Boston Guzheng ensemble. She regularly gives performances and lectures in Southern New Hampshire and the greater Boston Area and has performed at Yale University, Boston University, New England Conservatory, Wellesley College, Harvard University, and M.I.T. She hosts gu-qin gatherings in Boston to promote traditional Chinese gu-qin music and culture.

Preferred activities and age groups: Demonstrations, Performances, Lectures at Schools, Community locations such as libraries, historic societies, etc., Fairs and festivals, Museum settings, Lecture halls, University/Colleges. All ages.
Fees: $200-$300 per day or presentation

326 Ridge Ave
Cambridge, MA 02140
617/782-3000
shinyi2007@gmail.com
www.shinyiyang.com

Peter Yarensky
New England Contra Dance Calling & Music: Fiddle

Peter Yarensky plays traditional music of New England, French and English Canada, and Sweden, along with some more recently composed tunes in those traditions. He plays hammered dulcimer, fiddle and piano. He also calls and teaches contra and square dances and some French Canadian dances (mostly in square formation), as well as traditional dances suitable for people who have never danced before. He calls contra and square dances for the group Lamprey River Band and leads a weekly Canadian jam session in Durham. Peter also publishes the Seacoast Country Dance Newsletter, a web-based newsletter covering the local dance scene. He runs the New Hampshire Old-Time Country Dance web site, which hosts the web sites for the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend and Star Hampshire Traditional Dance Weekends.

Preferred activities and age groups: Peter plays music and calls contra and square dances with many types of musicians and instruments in a variety of settings including: public dances, weddings, community centers, libraries, recreation centers, historic societies, fairs, festivals, and museums.
Fees: Negotiable

240 Ash Swamp Road
Newmarket, NH 03857
603/285-3827
peter.yarensky@gmail.com
www.nhcountrydance.com

Hagop Jack Zarzatian, Jr.
Anatolian, Near & Middle Eastern Music

Jack Zarzatian sings and plays the guitar as well as the Middle Eastern instrument, the oud. Jack was born into an Armenian family. His parents were both classically trained violinists and his father performed in a Greek and Armenian band in Philadelphia where he grew up. Over the years, Jack has studied with Turkish and Armenian master musicians and has been playing Near and Mid-Eastern music for over 40 years. He can offer a solo performance or make arrangements for Greek and Armenian musicians (mostly from the Boston area) to join him. He performs locally for community events and weddings but has also performed at large events around the country, including the Lowell Folk Festival (1996 & 2002), the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (1994), and at the New York Metropolitan Museum opening for the King Tutankhamun exhibit.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances, demonstrations, and workshops at schools and community locations such as libraries, historic societies, fairs, festivals, and museums. Interested in working with school aged children 6th grade through high school, college students, adults and the elderly.
Fees: Negotiable

4 Bruce St
Hudson, NH 03051-5202
603/886-6454
zarzatian@gmail.com

Bill Zecker
New England Celtic Music, guitar, fiddle & more

William "Bill" Zecker is a versatile traditional musician who plays the guitar, piano, fiddle, mandolin, bouzouki, and bass. Bill plays for largely New England Contra Dance music, Irish music and Americana music. He accompanies many of the musicians on the Traditional Arts & Folklife Listing. In 1999, Bill was invited to play with musicians representing New Hampshire at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and he played again at the expanded recreation Celebrate New Hampshire festival held in 2000 in Hopkinton, N.H.

Preferred activities and age groups: Performances and workshops at schools, festivals, and community centers for groups of all ages.
Fees: Negotiable

PO Box 355
Durham, NH 03824
603/493-8585
bzecker@gmail.com

Na Zhou
Traditional Chinese Folk Dance and Classical Dance

Na Zhou started to train as a traditional Chinese Classical dancer when she was 5 years old, and has continued to train and dance in this tradition for the past 25 years. She received her bachelor degree in Chinese Folk dance performance, and then received her Masters degree in dance education from NYU. She continually explores the fascinating differences and similarities between western dance forms and Traditional Chinese dance forms, and believes in teaching the cultural and historical background to her students as part of understanding the role of dance in Chinese culture. Chinese Folk Dance is part of daily life; people dance to express their happiness, their sadness, their hopes and dreams. In 2009 Na founded Bright Pearl Dance where she teaches traditional Chinese Dance to American and Chinese Americans of all ages. Na Zhou has won many dance competitions and performs throughout the country. She currently lives in Newton, MA.

Preferred activities and age groups: Demonstrations, Performances, Hands-on workshops, Lectures at Schools, Community locations such as libraries, historic societies, etc., Fairs and festivals, Museum settings, Lecture halls
Fees: please inquire

50 Winchester Rd
Newton, MA 02453
347/749-5715
nazhou@brightpearldance.org
www.brightpearldance.org