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Ralph loved to vacation at Naushon Island, off of Cape Cod. He befriended all of his wife Kate's cousins, and became a figure to be reckoned with, vigorously driving horse and carriage along the miles of dirt roads. His last and favorite horse was Timmy, a retired racing trotter from New Zealand. phones and the initials "RR." Photo by Sam Sweezy Ralph had great vision, crossing bound- aries of race, class, gender, technology. He was also a bundle of opposites, caring and compassionate to people, systematic and dis- passionate with institutions. He was generous. When the Smithsonian didn't support his work, Ralph, out of his own pocket, paid employees. Once I saw him write a $10,000 check to help pay a salary. Soon after, he went out in the middle of the night before a Festival searching for donuts to bring back for those still working, and then tracked down adminis- trator Barbara Strickland to reimburse him the $16 and whatever cents he'd spent. Ralph donned the dress of the elite, but struggled to make conditions better for hundreds of Smithsonian working men and women who wear a uniform. He loved to drive a horse and buggy on his beloved Naushon Island in Massachusetts, and also to play with the latest digital-electronic calendars and computers. We all have our Ralph stories. And last year, Ralph's passing at the Festival generated a few more. It was in the big music tent on the Mall that Saturday that the Bahamians were presenting their evening programme. A great storm came up, and a thousand, maybe more, in the audience gathered into the tent. We had a respite for a few moments. Then the heav- ens broke loose with a sweeping deluge. It was a frightening display of thunder, lightning, and a torrential downpour of rain. Some of the folks from The Bahamas noted how it was God that was talking through the thunder and lightning and that it was not appropriate to perform until He'd finished. Kayla Edwards, the presenter and the Deputy Director of Culture for The Bahamas, explained how some people thought that such strong storms signified that a great person had died — that the storm was nature's way of making room for a new, ascending spirit. She did not know that Ralph had passed away just at that time. As the electricity went down, those in the tent sang "Amazing Grace." The next day, learning of Ralph's passing, the Bahamian group did a settin' up — a wake for the benefit of Kate Rinzler, Ralph's nurse Donna Lang, and other friends. Though the Bahamians did not know Ralph, they saw the evidence of his good work in what was now their Festival, too. The folks from Thailand also saw Ralph's footprints on the Mall, and left a shrine made of candles and incense stuck on plastic cups on the desk in our office trailer to allay our grief A few days later in that same tent we held a memorial service. Clydia and Reeves Nahwooksy provided a Comanche Baptist invocation. Mike Seeger, Guy Carawan, and Bill Monroe played and sang. Bernice Reagon sang, as did the Bahamian ladies. Bess Hawes talked about Ralph's legacy, as did Jeffrey LaRiche and James Early; messages from Pete and Toshi Seeger, Roger Abrahams, Henry Classic, Doc Watson, and others were read. Lucille Dawson talked about the truly profound effects the Festival's Native American programs had had on Indian education and civil rights. Mike Thomas, who helped care for Ralph during the last year, spoke for the Smithsonian custodians who always found in him a friend and supporter. You don't get too many bow-tied
Washington officials meriting Baptist Indian prayers, Buddhist shrines, or Bahamian wakes, or having the "Bourgeois Blues" played as the recessional for their memorial service. It is indeed a tribute to Ralph's life that he was so appreciated, in so many different ways, by so many different people. And it's my guess that Ralph had a satisfied chuckle when the New York Times erroneously reported in its obituary that he was Black. / think most of us will remember his ability to find the brilliance in the talents of his friends and then to search out the best ways to let the world in on this bnlliance...- He was made of the best stuff. — Roger Abrahams Ralph Rinzler left a legacy in the people he brought into his work: an articulate Black guy with an attitude and politics from Jacksonville, an Indian farm gal from North Carolina with a knack for getting things done, a preacher's daughter from Kentucky, an Ivy Leaguer with a Peace Corps heart and con- noisseur's eye, a Jewish truck driver's kid born in the south Bronx. Ralph, in every way, demonstrated that while differences among people often divided them, those same differences could be used, powerfully and creative- ly, to bring people together. Those following in his footsteps know the importance of this work. We see it in the faces of the people who sing and speak at the Festival to their fellow citizens and humans on this Mall, and maybe appreciate it a little more in our own hearts, because we know we've also been honored, even blessed, in helping to make it happen. Ralph was a man of multiple talents, of immensely broad experience, and of absolutely startlmg energies. ...I hope. . . many of us here will determine that we ourselves can try to help fill the terrible gap his death leaves; it will take a lot of us working all together, but we know a lot more now, from watching hun, about how to do it. — Bess Lomax Hawes Suggested Readings Rinzler, Ralph, and Robert Sayers. 1987. The Korean Onggi Potter. Smithsonian Folklife Studies, No. 5. Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian Institution. Rinzler, Ralph, and Robert Sayers. 1980. The Headers Family North Georgia Potters. Smithsonian Folklife Studies, No. 1. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Rinzler, Ralph, and Peter Seitel. 1977. The Festival of American Folklife. Smithsonian Magazine. Suggested Listening DeVito, Don, Joe McEwen, Harold Levanthal, and Ralph Rinzler. 1988. Folkways: A Vision Shared, A Tnbiite to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly. Columbia Records OC 44034. DeVito, Don, Worth Long, Barry Lee Pearson, and Ralph Rinzler. 1992. Roots of Rhythm and Blues: A Tribute to the Robert Johnson Era. Columbia Records/Sony Music Entertainment and Smithsonian/Folkways Recordings CK 48584. Rinzler, Ralph. 1990. The Doc Watson Family. Smithsonian/ Folkways Recordings SF 40012. Rinzler, Ralph. 1993. Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys: Live Recordings 1956-1969, Volume 1. Smithsonian/ Folkways Recordings SF 40063. Rinzler, Ralph. 1993. Bill Monroe and Doc Watson: Live Duet Recordings 1963-1980, Volume 2. Smithsonian/Folkways Recordings SF 40064. Rinzler, Ralph. 1994. Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley, The Onginal Folkivays Recordings, 1960-1962. Smithsonian/ Folkways Recordings SF 40029/30. Suggested Viewing Rinzler, Ralph, and Happy Traum. 1992. Pete Seeger, Guitar Instruction. Homespun Tapes and Smithsonian/Folkways Recordings. Rinzler, Ralph, and Happy Traum. 1992. Doc Watson, Guitar Instruction. Homespun Tapes and Smithsonian/ Folkways Recordings. Ralph Rinzler: A Celebration of Life. Video of the July 7, 1994, memorial service on the National Mall at the Festival of American Folklife. Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife Programs & Cultural Studies. RICHARD KURIN is Director of the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife Programs S Cultural Studies and a Professorial Lecturer at the Johns Hopkins University Nitze School for Advanced International Studies. He is a cultural anthropologist with a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago who has done most of his research and writ- ing on issues of cultural policy and the folk cultures of Pakistan and India. He first worked on the Festival of American Folklife In 1376.
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GENERAL INFORM ATIOIM Festival Hour
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FESTIVAL PARTICIPANTS Candido Gomes
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FESTIVAL PARTICIPANTS Red Eagle Sin
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SCHEDULE Friday, June 23 11:00 CAPE
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SCHEDULE Sunday, June 25 11:00 12:0
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SCHEDULE MONDAY, June 26 11:00 12:0
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SCHEDULE Tuesday, June 27 11:00 12:
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Schedules are subject to change. Ch
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Marion Andrade - Middleboro, MA Hen
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LaCanada, CA Richard A. Weaver-Bey
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Worke Getachew Hemiela Kebede Rahel
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