American Folk Music in the Ivory Coast, 1983

20009_pf0234_0007 — Participants from the U.S. and the Ivory Coast at the Festival of Traditional American Dance, Abidjan, Ivory Coast, 1983. Photo includes: Eileen Golden, Mike Seeger, Fris Holloway, Sandman Sims, Donny Golden, John Dee Holeman, and Alan Belt.

In 1983, the U.S. State Department sponsored a tour by American folk musicians through Zaire, Cameroon, Senegal, and the Ivory Coast. Along with Mike Seeger, the tour group also included Liz Carroll, Mick Moloney, Eileen Golden, Fris Holloway, Sandman Sims, Donny Golden, John Dee Holeman and Alan Belt.
Part of this tour included a Festival of Traditional American Dance held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast between September 26-October 1, 1983, in which the U.S. and Ivorian musicians demonstrated folk music, instruments, and dancing from their respective locales.

20009_pf0234_0003 — Mike Seeger demonstrates the jaw harp. In audience are Donny and Eileen Golden, and Liz Carroll.

20009_pf0234_0005 — An unidentified Ivorian musician demonstrates an African instrument similar to the jaw harp.

20009_pf0234_0019 — An unidentified Ivorian musician demonstrates an African instrument similar to the jaw harp.

20009_pf0234_0001 — Mike Seeger (guitar), Liz Carroll (fiddle), and Mick Moloney (banjo)

20009_pf0234_0017(1) — Ivorian dancers and musicians perform as part of the Festival of Traditional American Dance, 1983.

The trip was considered a success, except (as noted in the letter below) that one of the American tour members lost track of their Converse sneakers.

These images were preserved as part of the Southern Folklife Collection‘s digitization project, “From the Piedmont to the Swamplands: Preserving Southern Traditional Music,” funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. They are available in the Mike Seeger Collection as Image Folder 20009/0025.