Florida Folklife Program

09/29/2026

We are back this Tuesday with some photos from the 2015-2016 Miami-Dade fieldwork survey, this time from folklorist Vanessa Navarro-Maza’s time with David Garcia. David is the co-owner of La Camaronera Seafood Joint and Fish Market with his cousin, Maritza Garcia. La Camaronera was established in 1966 as a fish market by David’s father and uncles, known as Los Hermanos Garcia.

In 1976, the market expanded to become a Cuban fish-fry with u-shaped counters so that customers could eat while standing, and essentially, get in and out quickly. This counter, which still exists today, gave the restaurant the nick-name "Los Paraditos" because customers eat standing up.

09/28/2026

Heritage Award History!

Haiqiong Deng: 2017 Florida Folk Heritage Award

Haiqiong Deng was born in Lanzhou, China, where she began studying zheng music at an early age. The zheng is a plucked, 21-stringed instrument with a resonant body. The zheng is considered the ancestor of other Asian zithers such as the Japanese koto, Korean gayageum and Vietnamese dàn tranh, and the history of the instrument itself can be traced back over 2,500 years. Deng made her professional debut in Beijing in 1997 and since has developed an international reputation as a soloist and chamber musician with numerous performances throughout China, Japan, Singapore, and North America, including a debut at Carnegie Hall in 2003.

Driven by a passion to share and promote this music, Deng has given hundreds of performances at concert halls and universities, worked with various composers and taught numerous students.

09/25/2026

It’s Folk Festival Friday!

We are continuing our representations of Seminole culture, this time with Florida Folk Heritage Award winner Brian Zepeda from the 2019 Florida Folk Festival.

In this video, Brian describes his process of creating Seminole Bandolier Bags. Brian will take hundreds of hours to create these intricate bags, and is proud to have picked up the tradition and pass it on.

Seminole artist Brian Zepeda discusses bandolier bags at the Folkli...

09/24/2026

Seminole Spotlight!

1890 (circa)- Seminole sailing canoe. (Florida Memory)

09/23/2026

Artist Residency Alum!

Matthew Sabatella and the Rambling String Band: 2025 Artist in Residency

Matthew Sabatella is a multi-instrumentalist who uses traditional American folk music to bring to life the story of America’s past, present, and future. He is frontman of The Rambling String Band, where he sings lead vocals and plays guitar, banjo, and mountain dulcimer, along with Jack Stamates on fiddle, Chris DeAngelis on bass fiddle and vocals, and Sean Edelson on mandolin, guitar, and vocals. The band specializes in traditional folk songs, including fiddle tunes, old-time country, bluegrass, Appalachian music, ragtime, blues, spirituals, railroad and cowboy songs, work songs, sea shanties, reels, breakdowns, ballads, and more.

2025 Artists-in-Residence Matthew Sabatella & the Rambling String B...

09/22/2026

We are back this Tuesday with some photos from the 2015-2016 Miami-Dade fieldwork survey, this time from folklorist Vanessa Navarro-Maza’s time with Kevin Morris. Kevin Morris is a Bartender and Bar Manager at Ortanique on the Mile, a Caribbean restaurant that has been consistently voted as one of the top places to drink a mojito in Miami. The mojito is as iconic to Miami as Art Deco, and the cocktail is a part of Miami’s identity as a Caribbean influenced city with a vibrant nightlife.

Kevin’s interest in bartending began when we was about 14 years old, and it was sparked by his father’s old fashioned bar that housed a variety of containers, bitters, and other ingredients and tools for making cocktails. He considers himself to be a speed bartender focused on efficiency and stresses the use of picking the right ingredients when making drinks. He is knowledgeable about the history of bartending, bartending trends in Miami, and bartending techniques, as well as the significance of the mojito to Miami’s history and culture.

09/21/2026

Heritage Award History!

Michael Kernahan: 2005 Florida Folk Heritage Award

Kernahan was born in 1947 in Palo Seco, a small village in southern Trinidad. While a child, he moved to Manzanilla on the island's eastern coast and, around 1960, moved to Port of Spain (the capital of Trinidad and Tobago). Kernahan was fortunate to have cousins who were members of the steelband Tripoli, and he soon started playing with the band.

Kernahan toured North America with Tripoli, later settling in the United States on a permanent basis. He continues to maintain close ties with Trinidad and returns for visits on a regular basis. His many contributions to pan in the U.S. are based on his firm foundation and extensive education in the Trinidadian pan tradition. He ceaselessly explores ways of improving the sounds of pans so that they will continue to captivate audiences in South Florida and around the world.

09/18/2026

It’s Folk Festival Friday!

From the 2017 Festival, Florida Folklife was glad to feature Osceola’s Warrior Legacy and their demonstrations of Seminole martial arts techniques.

Excerpts from Seminole War era combat demonstration by Osceola's Wa...

09/17/2026

Seminole Spotlight!

1870 (circa)- Chief Tallahassee and son Tommie. (Florida Memory)

09/16/2026

Artist Residency Alum!

Michael Kernahan: 2014 Artist in Residency

Kernahan isn't just an Artist in Residency Alum. He is also the 2005 Heritage Award winner! And similarly, Kernahan doesn't just play the steel pans. He also teaches, builds, and tunes them!

Over the years Kernahan has devoted more and more time to tuning. In addition to making pans for bands and individuals in Florida, he has tuned for school bands in Michigan, Illinois, Mississippi and South Dakota. The phone is always ringing in the Kernahan residence, with inquiries from as far away as Belize and Guyana. He even found himself tuning pans on a recent "vacation" back to Trinidad for Carnival.