In a sea of colorful t-shirts, artists of all ages stood side by side as a musical hum filled the theater. The light strumming of a banjo and the chords of a guitar carried through the auditorium as the tenors began their low grovel and the sopranos rang out their melody to the crowd. A collection of singers came to the theater for a common purpose: to share their music with the audience.
The Englert Theatre hosted the Dreaming Iowa concert performed by the Family Folk Machine on Nov. 9. The concert is part of a year-long project brought together by artists in the community to explore the multicultural history of the state.
The Family Folk Machine is a local audition-free choir committed to making music accessible to all ages. Their members range in age from six to 80 years old, and the group is a unique milieu where all are welcome to perform. Jean Littlejohn, the executive director of the Family Folk Machine, helped put on the concert, hoping it would showcase the history of Iowa people might not be aware of.
“We want people to remember the real history of Iowa, which is that, since it’s become a state, it’s always been a multicultural place full of immigrant streams from a lot of different places,” Littlejohn said. “What we’re celebrating in this concert is what we consider a more true version of Iowa’s history, that we can use as a guide for the present moment.”
The concert was put together with the help of local historic societies, who provided the history of the immigrant populations that have come to the Hawkeye state since its sovereignty was granted in 1846. The concert was performed with emphasis on the German, Mexican, and Czech immigrant populations that have come to Iowa, as well as some performances of modern folk music.
This performance came together through the work of the Family Folk Machine’s board of directors.
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Alma Drake, a company board member, joined after attending a performance one day and being blown away by the messaging and love behind the music. Now, as the associate director of the choir and a leading member, she was instrumental in assembling the concert.
“This session was a long labor of love. Jean Littlejohn and I worked for years on this.” Drake said. “A lot of songs were incredibly emotional and have been very challenging sometimes to perform together. We’ve kind of reimagined the music, and it was so powerful when we put it together.”
The performance blended traditional and original folk music and featured accomplished Iowa artists who brought the songs to life. One of these artists was singer Eugenio Solis. Solis was born in Sombrerete in the state of Zacatecas and immigrated to Iowa in the ‘90s.
The choir opened with a rendition of “Power and Glory” by Phil Ochs, sprinkling in facts between verses about the long history of diversity and progressiveness in Iowa.
As a self-taught musician and singer, Solis’s musical talent has led him to record music for the Smithsonian, and for this performance, he sang “Cucurrucucu Paloma” with the Folk Family Machine backing him up.
“It’s special with the kids,” Solis said. “I didn’t pick the song they did, and it’s just a special piece of work.”
The choir also performed an original song written by Svitlana Volkogon called “It’s Time Too.” The song is about Volkogon and her family, who immigrated to Iowa from Ukraine two years ago. The song tells the struggle of moving to a new place and finding the strength to start again. The song brought tears to the audience as well as the people singing it.
“These songs are so powerful,” Drake said. “A lot of people in the choir were singing and crying at the same time.”
The choir finished out their concert with a rendition of the “Iowa Waltz” by Greg Brown. A classic in the history of folk music, the group put their own spin on it by encouraging the audience to sing along. Littlejohn was conducting the choir and even turned around to direct the audience instead.
This performance was the first part in the Dreaming Iowa series, and the second performance will take place next spring. Rehearsals begin this January.