Folk Arts History

Since 2002 the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center has been working with recently resettled refugee communities in Central New York to offer the innovative folk arts program Emerging Traditions.

The purpose of this multi-arts program was to introduce our local residents to the history and customs of recent refugee groups now living in our region. Fieldwork for the series was conducted by Dr. Felicia Faye McMahon, folklorist, who has worked with refugee artists from five communities which include DiDinga (Sudan), Dinka (Sudan), Karen (Burma), Albanian-Kosovars and Bosnians of the former Yugoslavia.

In the summer of 2005 the Art Center hosted two folk arts festivals in which folk artists from the new ethnic groups were presented along with traditional artists of older communities in our region.

On Sunday, July 17th, 2005 from three cultures were highlighted. Traditional songs and dances by the DiDinga, led by organizers James KiKi and Benjamin Virgilio, and Karen songs and dances of Burma, organized by Kaw Soe Win, were scheduled during the afternoon. There were also folk arts demonstrations of no-face corn-husk dolls by Brenda Bush (Oneida Turtle Clan) and elm bark ceremonial rattles by John Webster (Oneida Wolf Clan). Visitors also had the opportunity to watch Karen traditional weaving (tahtah) on backstrap looms by Karen women now living in Utica.

The second program was held on Sunday, August 21st and featured the Odesa Ukrainian Dancers of Syracuse, Albanian folk musician Mehdi Uka, and traditional Bosnian dancers with folk music by the Bosnian MAH Band of Utica. Utica’s "Kud" Bosanska Mladest (Bosnian Youth Dancers), led by Mirza Causevic who immigrated from Maglaj, Bosnia in 1997, performed traditional Bosnian dances in regional costumes. There was also several continuous folk arts demonstrations by folk artists from Bosnia, Kosovo, and Ukraine. Mersija Boric of Syracuse demonstrated Bosnian hekljanje, a type of filet crochet which is a domestic art that Muslim mothers teach to their daughters to prepare for them for marriage. A similar needlework tradition called pune dore, common among Albanian Muslim women in neighboring Kosovo was demonstrated by Elhame Krasniqi and Myrvete Imeri who now live in Syracuse. Slawka Bobesky, whose grandparents immigated from Ukraine to Syracuse after WWII, demonstrated vyshyvky, Ukrainian needlework, and exhibited traditional needlework of her mother and her grandmother. Slawka’s daughter, Christina Bobesky, exhibited examples of her family’s pysanky, the Ukrainian egg and wax dying tradition.

During the spring and summer of 2006 "Beauty" was the focus of our two folk

arts programs. The purpose of "Exploring Beauty" was to honor the talents of traditional artists who live in our region. These arts are community-based and reflect community values. Folk artists are not academically trained but their arts are as fine as "fine arts," and learned with as much devotion and discipline.

During the first event held at the Art Center on Saturday, May 20, 2006 visitors had the opportunity to explore the beauty of traditional Latino, Mandingo-Liberian and Chinese dance, performed by groups from the Spanish Action League, the Refugee Settlement Services in Syracuse and by the CNY Chinese School in Manlius.

Folk arts demonstrations by members of the three cultural groups will include Chinese paper cutting by Fang Lu and calligraphy by Jiang Jiang; Mexican papercutting and piñata making by Jose Miguel Hdez Hurtado, and African musical instruments by Kwasi Owusu.

On Sunday, August 20, 2007t he Art Center hosted folk artists from the Oneida and Onondaga Nations, and several groups from Africa, including Congo, Ghana and Sudan. During both programs, visitors had opportunities to talk with the folk artists who demonstrated throughout the afternoon.

On Sunday, July 1st, 2007 the Art Center hosted performances and demonstrations by Vietnamese, Liberian, Bosnian and Native American folk artists from CNY from our ongoing Folk Arts series.  This series explores the evolving traditions of resettled refugee communities in Central NY alongside traditional artists from more established ethnic communities and Native American artists.

On Saturday, September 29, 2007, the Art Center hosted a Fall Folk Arts Festival & Concert. Featuring musical and dance performances and ongoing demonstrations by visual arts this program explored traditions of recently resettled refugee folk artists alongside artists from older Central New York communities. 

There were alternating performances of traditional Irish music by Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann—Craobh Dugan of Utica and African drumming and dance by Kwasi Owusu Anane and Etse "David" Nyadedzor of Syracuse. There were also participatory demonstrations of folk arts by Melissa McCann (Oneida cornhusk dollmaking), Howard Hall (decoy carving), John Webster (Native American elm bark rattles) and Ron Patterson (lacrosse stick making).

On Wednesday, August 13, 2008 from 7 - 9pm. the Art Center hosted an Evening of Traditional Music & Music performed by three of CNY's cultural communities: Ukrainian-Americans,

Ghanaians and Meskhetian Turks of Russia.

The ODESA Ukrainian Dance Ensemble is an ensemble of over 60 children and young adults, ages 6 to 22, performed traditional Ukrainian songs and dances. The ODESA Ukrainian Dance Ensemble is a program of the Ukrainian-American Youth Association, a world-wide organization and they have been a part of the Ukrainian community and performing in the Central New York region for more than 50 years. Encompassing 17th century Kozaks to modern EuroVision award-winning artists from Ukraine, Ruslana, ODESA's repertoire is filled with lively and colorful dances from various regions and points of history of Ukraine.

The Meskhetian Turks, recent immigrants from Russia, performed both traditional and modern forms of their folk arts, such as haliy. During weddings and other celebrations in Syracuse the Meskhets perform this lively dance, with the dancers holding hands as they form a circle. Community members are encouraged to join the dancers who perform to the sounds of traditional instruments like the zurna (oboe), davoul (drum) and saz (guitar. The Meskhetian Turks emigrated from Russia to Syracuse in 2005 after being displaced from both their homeland along the borders of Georgia and Turkey and Central Asia. In the 1990s they were forced to move again to Krasnodar, Russia. There they were treated as illegal migrants without rights. With no hope of a normal life in Russia or to return to their homeland, 15,000 Meskhetian Turks applied for and were granted resettlement by the US State Department. Many Meskhets have found a new home in Syracuse.

African dance and drumming were presented by Kwasi Owusu Anane and Etse "David" Nyadedzor. Syracuse is the home to many musicians from Ghana. Born in Kumasi, Ghana, Kwasi Owusu Anane emigrated from Africa in 1975. The son of an Ashanti chief, Kwasi was taught all the necessary palace etiquette, including drumming and dancing. In Africa, the son of a chief does not drum or dance; he merely watches others as they dance in his honor. Kwasi learned to play many African instruments such as the shekere, lokembe, and a wide variety of drums and leads a drumming ensemble with Etse "David" Nyadedzor, also a musician from Ghana. David learned to make drums by watching his family members and began making his own drums in 1996 while working for the Center for National Culture in Ghana.

On Sunday, October 5, 2008, a variety folk artists representing the cultural diversity of Central New York participated in the first annual Schweinfest The performances and demonstrations included music and dances from southern Sudan and Ivory Coast and traditional arts demonstrations, including Ukrainian-American pysanky, Haudenosaunee cornhusk and cloth no-face dolls, drum making, lacrosse stick making and carved wild turkey yelpers.

At 2:00 Robert and Sonny Shenandoah of the Onondaga Nation opened the event with traditional Haudenosaunee social singing, followed by the DiDinga of Sudan, one of our newest immigrant communities who performed nyakorot, a traditional harvest dance. The DiDinga are known for their marching rhythms and powerful adult male bullsongs.

At 2:30-3:15, Biboti Ouikahilo of Ivory Coast performed traditional drumming and dance. He has toured with Jimmy Buffet and participated in the 2002 movie, "Tears of the Sun," starring Bruce Willis. Before coming to live in Syracuse, Biboti spent six years teaching and performing in New York City. During his performance, visitors at the Schweinfest had the opportunity to hear traditional drumming rhythms like those played for the masked tchologo, a traditional dance performed during initiation ceremonies by the Senoufo people in northern Ivory Coast, and social dances of  the Susu people in Guinea. Biboti's performance was followed at 3:15-3:30 by Robert and Sonny Shenandoah who will perform a second set of Haudenosaunee social songs, followed at 3:30 by gyrikot, a social dance of the DiDinga noted for its mocking lyrics.

From 2:00-4:00 p.m. visitors also had the opportunity to watch the continuous traditional arts demonstrations and meet local folk artists Christina Kochan (Ukrainian American pysanky), Gary Campanie (carved turkey calls), John Webster (Oneida drum making), Alf Jacques (Onondaga  lacrosse and gona la), Brenda Bush (Oneida cloth no face dolls) and Melissa McCann (Oneida cornhusk dolls).

The Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center’s folk arts programs are sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.  All programs are free and open to the public.