Living Traditions Festival

Strong links connect diverse ethnic cultures

 Ana Tijoux, Mexican Institute of Sound

Posted // May 17,2012 -When you stroll through the Living Traditions Festival grounds and hear the array of sounds and smell the culinary crafts ranging from traditional African fare to Turkish grub to South American specialties, you quickly realize Utah is not as homogenous and lily-white as our reputation would have you believe. As multicultural as Salt Lake City actually is, when it comes to musical offerings at Living Traditions, it is, indeed, a small world after all.

In 2012, even the featured guest musical artists booked by the Salt Lake Arts Council are indicative of just how small the world is. On the surface, it looks like festival organizers split the headliners evenly between two American blues acts and two Latin dance/hip-hop artists. But look deeper and you start to see stronger links between the acts despite their obvious differences in ages, home countries and musical styles.