Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Redefining Folk

“Asking only workman’s wages, I come looking for a job … ” Marcus Mumford’s rollicking voice climbs out of our Honda stereo and into the muggy D.C. morning air. Traffic down Georgia Avenue is worse now than I’ve ever seen it: This once-direct route to Metro Center has become a jigsaw puzzle of condominium construction, heavy road work, bikers in their classic Washingtonian business attire and people of literally every walk of life all pressed into this major thoroughfare. Mumford’s rendition of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” escorts me and my parents down the alphabet streets and into the heart of the city.

Out of the window, I watch the mom-and-pop shops and off-brand discount centers transform into chain stores before finally settling into formal office buildings. Even as we drive further into the city, I can’t help but think of the timelessness of Simon and Garfunkel, Mumford and Sons and their musical counterparts. It is the rawness of this music, and the greater folk movement it epitomizes, that fuels my early mornings and guides me through the summer days. Welcome to 2013, the summer of folk.

After traversing nearly all of Northeast D.C., I’m dropped off at the epicenter of bureaucratic Washington: Metro Center. Mumford blasting in my ears, I navigate the marble maze of the station and nudge my way through the 8 a.m. rush to the front of the platform. I ride the train for two more stops before jumping off, weaving my way through the mix of tourists matching in their t-shirts and sneakers and businesspeople matching in shades of pinstripe and gray. The intense morning sun at the top of the escalator highlights my 9-to-5 home for the next month and a half: the SmithsonianFolklife Festival.

Our office, right off of the Mall, is spacious and adorned with cultural artifacts and photographs from around the world. Tibetan prayer flags, ornate tribal masks and ancient pottery line the walls as eclectic statues add a bit of flair to every room. As an intern for the Festival’s Marketplace, it is my job to capture this sense of tradition and community in choosing the pieces we sell. I work with the three festival programs — endangered language programs Hungarian Heritage and One World, Many Voices and African American dress and identity project Will to Adorn — and foreign artists to select products to be sold at the festival. In the Marketplace, we work to promote the sustained development of artisan crafts by consigning pieces created by artists, co-ops and other groups as well as those made on the National Mall.

This summer, I’ll largely be focused on the Hungarian Heritage section of the Marketplace, a section that literally bleeds folk. Sifting through hundreds of classic handmade Hungarian items, everything from brass shepherds’ axes to horse-hair earrings, I get a virtual taste of Hungarian culture, something which, judging by the double-digit number of artisans exhibiting and performing at the festival, is clearly strong today.

Every day is different at Folklife; as an intern I do everything from converting Hungarian item prices to U.S. dollars and researching what these items typically sell for to shifting through boxes of Ugandan woven baskets and Bhutan books and inspecting our future Marketplace site on the National Mall. Even in my third week of this internship, my conception of folk has already expanded tremendously. No more is it sepia-toned nostalgia accompanied by banjos and raspy voices, a la the Mumford and Sons soundtrack of my morning commute, but rather it is one of ever-evolving Technicolor, full of vibrancy and movement. So much of my perception has changed already, and it’s only the beginning of June.

Margie Fuchs is a sophomore in the College. SUMMER OF FOLK appears online every other week in the guide.

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