Event Concerts and Performances Windborne: Old Songs, Bold Harmony

Date and Location

  • When: Thursday, August 29, 2024

    7:00 pm - 8:00 pm EDT

  • Where: Thomas Jefferson Building - Coolidge Auditorium (LJG45A)

    10 1st Street SE, Washington, DC 20540

Part of Homegrown Concerts and Interviews ; Live at the Library

For more information, please call 202-707-1743. Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ADA@loc.gov.

Windborne is Lynn Mahoney Rowan, Will Thomas Rowan, Lauren Breunig, and Jeremy Carter-Gordon. The four singers grew up immersed in the traditional song and dance communities of New England and discovered a love of world folk music in their teens. All four have traveled extensively in the US and throughout the world with Village Harmony, Northern Harmony and the Renewal Chorus, leading workshops and giving concerts. Over the past decade, Windborne has sought out masters of traditional singing styles in the US and around the world to study a variety of vocal music. Through these collaborations, they have developed the vocal agility and authentic sound for which they are known. In 2014, Windborne was one of 10 groups selected by American Music Abroad and the US Department of State to tour as cultural ambassadors through music. They traveled to Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Angola, touring with internationally known artists, performing at sold-out national theaters, and collaborating with traditional musicians in each country. They also taught music and dance workshops to schoolchildren, English-language learners, dance schools, choirs, and music conservatories.

Windborne’s dynamic concert programs have included songs from Corsica, the Republic of Georgia, Bulgaria, Quebec, and Basque country, as well as traditional and original American folk music.  The group is committed to bringing vocal traditions to a younger audience and over the past few years has found surprisingly viral success on TikTok for such unlikely genres as Corsican polyphony and early 20th century labor anthems.

In addition to their musical artistry, the members of Windborne are adherents to folk music’s longtime alliance with social activism, labor, civil rights, and other movements that champion the oppressed, the poor, and the disenfranchised. On their latest project, "Of Hard Times & Harmony," they explore themes of social consciousness, singing in four languages and showcasing the depth of emotion their voices can evoke, as well as moments of true hilarity and wit.  For their concert at the American Folklife Center, they will be performing nature related songs from a variety of traditions in celebration of Labor Day

The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are recommended but not required.

Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ADA@loc.gov.

 

Presented in cooperation with Folklore Society of Greater Washington External .

Featuring

  • Jeremy Carter-Gordon

    In 2013 Jeremy Carter-Gordon joined Windborne, rounding out the group with bass notes and more banjo! Jeremy holds a MA in dance anthropology, and is a bit of a dance nomad, from studying Swedish folk dance at the Erik Sahlström Institute in Sweden to traveling across Europe on a Watson Fellowship, collecting sword dance traditions. He is a well-known in the folk music and dance community for his singing, dancing, and has taught traditional music and dance on five continents!

  • Lynn Rowan

    Lynn Mahoney Rowan has been singing her whole life. Having grown up steeped in the folk music and dance culture of New England, she discovered a variety of polyphonic singing traditions through Village Harmony, and toured and taught extensively with the organization. She has taught choral groups and voice for over a decade and composed and arranged music for choirs and theater productions. Lynn and her husband, Will, also perform duet music as Lynn and Will Rowan.

  • Lauren Breunig

    Lauren Breunig grew up surrounded by folk music and dance: singing Shape Note music in friends’ living rooms, contra dancing often and energetically, and touring internationally with Village Harmony and Northern Harmony. It was at Village Harmony that her love of folk music grew to include traditions from other parts of the world, and she has continued to study and perform vocal music from the US, England, Corsica, the Republic of Georgia, Bulgaria, South Africa, Basque country, and beyond.

  • Will Rowan

    Will Thomas Rowan is a singer, composer, conductor, and multi-instrumentalist with a broad interest in music from oral traditions as well as composed choral repertoires. He has a B.A. in Music Composition from Marlboro College, and a masters in Conducting from the Bard College Conservatory. He specializes in choral compositions inspired by and incorporating styles and themes from the Shape-Note and ballad singing traditions. Will has taught for Village Harmony and Revels North.