Living among us in Olympia, Washington is a self-taught, Irish style fiddler and guitarist, born in Indiana, who is considered among the best Irish style fiddlers of his generation. His discography is vast, including recordings with Ireland’s top traditional musicians. He has performed throughout Europe, Canada and the U.S. and played for the President of Ireland. This international treasure is Randal Bays, who enriches our lives all year with performances and who provides classes and opportunities for youth to assure that this fine art form will live on.
Randal began playing music at the age of eight, including serious study of the classical guitar, prior to taking up Irish fiddling in the 1970s.
Every year in March the Seattle-Tashkent Sister City Association fills the Event Center of Vasa Park in Bellevue with over 600 guests for Navruz, the Central Asian celebration of the spring equinox. The event is indescribably joyful, with most of the guests newcomers from the diverse nations of Central Asia who have settled in the Northwest since 1990. A huge feast awaits, as the Uzbek Ambassador or another representative from Uzbekistan arrives, along with Seattle public officials. Children are everywhere, intoxicated by music from the loudspeakers. But the highlight is the dance performance program of Emiko Nakamura and her students in stunning multi-colored costumes, most of them created by Emiko, and featuring dances from a part of the world we hardly knew when the Seattle-Tashkent Sister City Association was established as the first US/USSR sister city in 1973.
The Gordon Ekvall Tracie Memorial Award was established in 1990. It recognizes an ethnic performing artist(s) for excellence in ethnic performance and for his or her significant contributions to the development and presentation of the traditional cultural arts in the Pacific Northwest. It is presented at the Ethnic Heritage Council’s Annual Meeting.
| 2020 | Randal Bays and Emiko Nakamura |
| 2019 | Ben Hunter and Joe Seamons |
| 2018 | Harvey Niebulski, MD |
| 2017 | Christos Govetas and Ruth Hunter |
| 2016 | The Morovich Family: Cathryn Morovich, JoAnne Morovich Abdo, and John Morovich |
| 2015 | Warren Chang and Buyun Zhao |
| 2014 | Sidney Deering |
| 2012 | Swil Kanim |
| 2011 | Omar Batiste |
| 2010 | Luis Gramal |
| 2009 | Nat V. Raman |
| 2008 | Dr. Ratna Mukherjee Roy |
| 2007 | Rubina Carmona |
| 2006 | Melody Wenying Xie |
| 2005 | Arthur W. C. Nation |
| 2004 | Jiyeon Cheh |
| 2003 | Roger R. Del Rosario |
| 2002 | Mary Mariko Ohno |
| 2001 | Bruce Miller “Subiyay” |
| 2000 | Sara Contreras |
| 1999 | Henry Louie |
| 1998 | Kofi Anang |
| 1997 | Allan Swensson |
| 1995 | Ken Jackson – Grey Eagle |
| 1994 | Prabha Rustagi |
| 1991 | Patrinell Wright |
| 1990 | Ruben Sierra |