Larry and Joe were destined to make music together.

Larry Bellorín hails from Monagas, Venezuela and is a legend of Llanera music. Joe Troop is from North Carolina and is a GRAMMY-nominated bluegrass and oldtime musician. Larry was forced into exile and is an asylum seeker in North Carolina. Joe, after a decade in South America, got stranded back in his old stomping grounds during the pandemic. Larry was working construction to make ends meet. Joe’s acclaimed “latingrass” band Che Apalache was forced into hiatus, and he shifted into action working with asylum seeking migrants.

Currently based in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina, both men are versatile multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters on a mission to show that music has no borders. As a duo they perform a fusion of Venezuelan and Appalachian folk music on harp, banjo, cuatro, fiddle, maracas, guitar, upright bass, and whatever else they decide to throw in the van. The program they offer features a distinct blend of their musical inheritances and traditions as well as storytelling about the ways that music and social movements coalesce.

This concept is baked into the Spanish word inquietude, Bellorín says. He and Troop spend several jocular minutes cycling through possible English translations—Ancientness? Longing? Concern? Reflection?—before accepting the lack of any perfect analog. “That’s the bridge we’re building,” Bellorín says. “We’re structurally dismantling barriers to our music. Language isn’t a barrier, since we play a bilingual set. Race and color aren’t barriers; in the end, all blood is red. We’re promoting a message of unity between our two folk traditions.”

—Nick McGregor, Indy Week

The Susquehanna Folk Festival is happening all weekend, August 9-11, and includes lots of FREE programming as well as concerts and dances. See full schedule of events.

COMBO FESTIVAL TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE: Day Passes, All Festival Dances, and (for a limited time) All Festival Concerts.

The Susquehanna Folk Music Society (SFMS) presents a full calendar of traditional arts events throughout the year, including concerts, workshops, jam sessions, open mic nights and coffeehouses. For almost 40 years, SFMS has been bringing a wide variety of world-class artists to local audiences. Visit SusquehannaFolk.org to see upcoming events, including 2024-25 Concerts to be announced this summer.

With admission discounts, a membership to SFMS can easily pay for itself!