The Hiawatha Music Coop announces their 2019 monthly traditional music series. The concert series is called Hiawatha on TAAP (Traditional Acoustic Arts Performance) and is held each month on the third Wednesday at the Ore Dock Brewing Company. Local and regional traditional music will be performed each month, January through May, at the Ore Dock Brewing Company.   January will feature music of the Hammons Family, performed by All Strings Considered; February will feature a children’s concert with Marquette favorites Jeff Krebs and Corinne Rockow; March will feature UP favorites White Water;  April will feature a week long event called Yooper Uke Week with Michigan’s Ukulele ambassador, Ben Hassenger and May will feature the tunes of a lower Michigan string band called the Inland String Band.

The first of the series will highlight the history of traditional music in America.

“Preserving the Roots – Early Influences in Traditional Music” is the focus of the first concert.  In its early history, traditional music had roots in localized areas whether in the Appalachian Mountains, the southern Piedmont regions along the east coast to the Mississippi Delta, and even up in the wilds of the Upper Peninsula. Families, neighbors and regional communities played localized versions of older tunes and songs that had travelled to America from distant lands.

In time, new tunes and songs emerged as people expressed their own experiences through music. This music of the people came to be known as folk or traditional music. Today the term “roots music” is in popular usage.   Although the music has evolved over the decades through the “folk process”, there is rich history in the roots … history worth preserving. The Hiawatha Music Co-op has been actively preserving traditional music in its root and evolved forms for over 40 years.

The January 16^thHiawatha TAAP will explore the music of the fascinating Hammons Family of West Virginia and how their music has continued to influence old time music today. The evening will include slides, listening to a few historically significant sound recordings and lots of live music by Jamie Kitchel and Phil Watts and the full All Strings Considered