( I borrow some wonderful notes from Evy Mayer (folk music society of NY president).

I recently caught the NYC premier of a new documentary Extraordinary Ordinary People. It's about recipients of the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship award. I was amazed at how important other musical cultures have managed to survive outside of their own countries, and they sure managed to cram a lot into this one short film. While it is mostly musicians and dancers, they also feature artists and craftspeople. Sheila Kay Adams, who is one of the narrators and was one of the award recipients, played a short concert after the film. Also, Sidiki Conde played incredibly heartfelt songs about the people that inspire him.

For those of you who can't see the movie, you can go to their website: mastersoftraditionalarts.org. Each of the artists featured here is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellowship,which is presently under threat from Mr. Trump.