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hi everyone
hope you are well
below is some news on the 2006 National Folk festival - this is from the Richmond Times Dispatch and highlights the work of Haoua Cheick Traore, an entrepreneur from Mali who participated in the Ten Thousand Villages marketplace at this year's event in Richmond.

Haoua will be among the vendors at this year's Floyd Fandango, which begins on Saturday.

have a great evening, take care
-Suzy


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Text from the Richmond Times-Dispatch print version on Sunday, October 15 2006. Staff writers include Daniel Nemah, Michael Paul Williams, and Cynthia McMullen.

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The Ten Thousand Villages marketplace had a distinctly Malian flavor yesterday as local residents and friends from the Republic of Mali sought to establish links between the festival and that West African nation.

Malian Ambassador Abdoulaye Diop and Mamou Daffe, director of the upcoming Festival sur le Niger, stood outside the tent enjoying the music and ambience.

Allan Levenberg is a member of Virginian Friends of Mali, created a year ago to promote educational and cultural exchanges.

He expressed hope that the organization could help build an ongoing relationship between Mali and the National Folk Festival that would result in an exchange of musicians.

Daffe said Richmond on the James reminds him of Segou, Mali, which is on the Niger River. His four-day cultural festival is slated for February.

Diop said he was impressed with the variety of music, people, and food at the event here.

"We hope it can be a window of opportunity for us to educate folks about Mali" and generate tourism, he said. "I will be dreaming of the day we will be able to organize such an important cultural event in our country."



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ideapark.org music news for October 19, 2006 - Traditional Irish music sessions will take place at the Cellar Restaurant in Blacksburg, Virginia every third Thursday starting tonight. Music will begin at 9:30 pm. Please consult the ideapark.org news loop for details.

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suggested queries for this page - Floyd Virginia Friends of Mali, Blacksburg Virginia music