There will be music in the air and dancing in the streets when the ninth annual Mill Race Festival of Traditional Folk Music takes place this weekend. Events will kick off on Friday evening at the Golden Kiwi pub on Dickson Street. On Saturday, from noon to midnight, there will be performances at the festival's main stage - the Mill Race Park amphitheatre - and an eclectic range of dancers will liven up Dickson Street. The Black Badger pub on Water Street will set up a performance stage and a beer garden, while the Golden Kiwi will also offer up plenty of music, beer and food.

Performers this year include Jeremy Moyer.

Originally from Waterloo, Moyer has spent several years in Mainland China, Taiwan, and New York City's Chinatown learning Chinese Music. He performs a repertoire of folk songs and ancient classical pieces from different regions of China. He especially loves to share the lively fiddle tunes of South-Eastern China which he plays on the Gaohu (Cantonese high-pitched fiddle) and the Taiwanese Coconut Shell Fiddle. He invites other musicians to accompany him playing instruments such as the Chinese bamboo flute, the Chinese zither, the pipa lute, and percussion instruments such as gongs, wood blocks, and bells.

Moyer has always been attracted to the living folk music traditions - music which can be heard many mornings in the parks and teahouses of Chinese communities yet which is rarely represented on recordings or in formal performances.

While working in Taiwan in 1996, he played the coconut shell fiddle regularly with then 78-year-old fiddler Zhang Shi-Dong, learning by rote Taiwanese folk tunes, folk opera pieces, and ancient religious and court songs which have been passed down through the Chinese oral tradition. While living in New York City from spring 1998 to January 2001, Moyer often visited the Cantonese opera clubs, and he played the Gaohu and studied Cantonese music with Mr. Lee Yeung-Yee.

Moyer performed on several occasions while in New York City between 1998 and 2001: he played the erhu (standard Chinese two-stringed fiddle) with the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York, a professional group which gives two major concerts annually; he was an Erhu accompanist in the "Evolution of Chinese Music" concert at Lincoln Center in September 2000 which featured reknowned erhu soloist Min Hui-Fen, and pipa soloist Yang Wei; he played erhu and gaohu solos at several community events in Chinatown; and he was lead coconut shell fiddle accompanist in a lecture/demonstration on Taiwanese folk opera.

In 1997, while in Canada, Moyer recorded "A Discovery of Chinese Folk Tunes" which features the Taiwanese coconut shell fiddle. Following the release of this CD, he performed at events in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, including the K-W Multicultural Festival, The Mill Race Festival of Traditional Folk Music, and Stratford Dragon Boat Races.

This weekend's folk festival will also feature performers like Les Chauffers A Pieds, with its four boisterous members delivering the lively and infectious music of Quebec; Jean Hewson and Christina Smith with music and stories of their native Newfoundland; Nancy Kerr and James Fagan, who put a trans-global twist on traditional English tunes; Johnny Collins of London, England with sea shanties and maritime ballads; the Dawnbreakers with banjo and button accordion dance tunes; Floating Widget, with tunes of Ireland, Scotland, and Canadian English and French traditions; Mauricio Montecinos with the flamenco, protest and gypsy music of Chile; Rukanas, a traditional Peruvian ensemble; Skitnice, a Croatian folk music band; and Alfie Smith, whose raw, rich baritone voice and unique blend of music styles from country blues to Appalachian blue-grass evoke strong emotions.

Several children's performers will also take part in the festival. As well, there will be arts and crafts booths and a wide range of food vendors.