Reclaiming Folk is an event series celebrating people of color in folk music, created by singer-songwriter Naomi Westwater. Folk music is traditional music, folk music is storytelling, folk music is the music of the people, and folk music is a voice for what’s happening in the world today. In our society, there is often no space for marginalized people to tell their stories. Reclaiming Folk seeks to make space for musicians of color to tell their stories and share the stories of our past, so that our future can be a more inclusive place for all.

We are “reclaiming” folk because history has forgotten that people of color have always been at the root of American folk music. From field calls to Blues and Gospel to Indigenous traditions, the origin of American folk music is connected to people of color.

Founded in 2024, Reclaiming Folk achieved immediate success and support from the community, featuring performances by 15+ artists and traveling to over 10 locations in Massachusetts. The event includes original music from folk musicians singing in the round, cover songs that honor the musicians who came before us, short interviews with the musicians about folk music, and a Q&A from the audience.

About the artists

Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe is a multifaceted artist, curator, and composer renowned for his innovative work with voice and modular synthesizer in the realm of experimental music. With a focus on performance and installation/exhibition, Lowe’s combination of synthesis creates a heightened physicality, often inducing trancelike states in his compositions. He has also recorded and performed under the moniker Lichens, as well as being a member of the bands Om and Singer. 

In recent years, Robert has focused on composing music for film, and has worked with filmmakers such as Ben Owen, Yance Ford, Nia DaCosta, Daniel McCabe, Mariama Diallo, and more. He has composed soundtracks for the films Candyman (2021), Master (2022), and Telemarketers (2023).

Natalie Epstein-Hogue is an interdisciplinary musician, artist, and technologist. Her work engages with urbanism, domesticity, and humanism within tech. Through electronic media, Natalie seeks to reflect the human experience. She works with expressive control and programming bespoke digital instruments, building up a deeply personal sound-space from first principles.

Her 2024 Album Comfort Objects is a synthesis-driven work, seeking to cultivate a soundscape of comfort and healing, in spite of a tumultuous and traumatizing reality. Dealing with themes of grief, PTSD and marginalization, and squaring them with a desire to create beautiful things, to love deeply, and to cultivate peace as a radical act.

Age Strong advocates will help with eligibility and applications. Sign up for your clinic appointment at 617-635-4366.

Update: New Date! Due to inclement weather, this event has been postponed to February 13.

The African American Master Artist-in-Residence Program (AAMARP) was founded at Northeastern University in 1977 by influential artist and educator Dana C. Chandler, Jr. For nearly fifty years, AAMARP has been a vital outgrowth of the Black Arts Movement in Boston with a mission to afford a “living focus” on “the diverse dynamics of African American aesthetics” by providing studio spaces for artists, presenting numerous exhibitions, and serving as a meaningful meeting place. Several generations of artists working at AAMARP and its orbit have made artworks in a diversity of media, from large-scale paintings and assemblage-based sculptures to textile-based works and photography, often oriented to themes of social justice. Today, the program, still supported by Northeastern University, functions as an artist collective of 14 intergenerational artists—several of them long-term residents—whose works reflect an array of approaches to the art of Africa and the African diaspora. 

To learn more about this exhibition please email Hakim Raquib: hakimfoto@gmail.com.

Directions:

Enter on the first floor (Congress Street) and take the elevators to the fifth floor.