OK, here it is, the official headliners list for the Native Rhythms Festival this year, and the e-mail says to pass the word, so here goes....
This is gonna be a great weekend!!!


After months of conversations and negotiations, I finally have the clearance to announce our headline performer line-up for the 2011 Native Rhythms Festival. How about this?

Robert Mirabal - Robert will be returning for his second appearance at Native Rhythms. His performances last year had everyone talking. Robert is a 2-time GRAMMY winner and a performer you definitely don't want to miss.

Arvel Bird - Arvel will be here for his first appearance at Native Rhythms. We started talking with Arvel at the '09 Musical Echoes, and are pleased that we could work into his schedule this year. Arvel's fiddle work is second to none and the stories that he tells with his songs makes the especially exciting.

Mark Holland and Friends - Mark appeared our first year with N. Scott Robinson as the duo Wind & Fire, last year he brought the whole Autumn's Child quartet to perform. This year he will be here with the ensemble who made the Reflections CD, which once again includes N. Scott.

The Jeff Ball Band - Jeff and his band, including the return of his original guitar player, will be back for a second appearance at Native Rhythms. Jeff's music just seems to keep getting better.

Dock Green Silverhawk - Dock will once again lead our opening ceremonies and grace us with his beautiful flute playing. That 100+ year old flute that he has been playing lately really sounds sweet. If you haven't heard the story behind how it came into his possession, you'll have to come hear him tell it.

Jonny Lipford - Although Jonny has moved to Iowa, we still think of him as a Florida boy and welcome him back for his third year with Native Rhythms.

Ed WindDancer - Not only is Ed a great story-teller and flute player, he will likely once more appear in full regalia dancing with some of the other performances. Bring your kids, Ed does a wonderful job of entertaining and educating them.

Billy Whitefox - NAMMY award-winning Billy Whitefox visited up as a vendor last year (he makes beautiful flutes, especially bamboo, and wonderful silver jewelry) and appeared on stage, but will be returning as a headline performer this year. Billy also enhances his flute playing with great stories.

Mike is now working on the difficult task of scheduling the stage time for these world class performers. As soon as we have such details, we'll let you know and announce the featured performers who will support this great program. So far, we have only committed to Painted Raven, Annette Abbondanza and David Rose, the wonderful guitar/flute duo who really impressed the evening audience last year. Painted Raven has been invited to perform at the AIA Pow Wow in Orlando the week before Native Rhythms, and we agreed to feature them again this year if David could stay over for the week.

Just a teaser: we're also trying hard to be able to invite another headline performer who has expressed interest in joining us this year. If we can make it work, it will make a top-flight program even better.

We've begun selling our "Live from the 2010 Native Rhythms Festival" CD and all reports I've heard have been in high praise of it. When I have details on how to order it, I'll pass them along. We hope that sales from this CD will help alleviate some of the additional expenses we'll incur this year due to the loss of the Parks department. Help perpetuate Native Rhythms by getting your own copy.

That's all for now. I'll send out more news as it becomes available. You can also help us out by spreading the word to other flute enthusiasts. More news at any time and see you in November...

John Ellis, Vice Chairman
Native Rhythms Festival