Amuma Says No is a Basque American band based in Boise, Idaho.

The process of writing a song has always seemed daunting to me. Especially at the Folklife Festival, surrounded by wildly talented musicians steeped in generations of tradition and bursting with innovative ideas, I can’t even imagine how to begin.

Sheltering from the hot sun at the Frontoia on the National Mall, the Aukeran Dance Company graced the Arts and Industries stage at the 2016 Folklife Festival.

As visitors stream into the Euskaltegi Speaking Basque tent, quickly filling the long brown benches, Errukine Olaziregi hops onto the stage and unhooks the microphone from its stand.

It was the very last concert of the 2016 Folklife Festival, and the Basque folk rock band Korrontzi was performing on the Ralph Rinzler Concert Stage.

Environmentalists, activists, educators—the Arrow-weeds are a force. They protect the sacred sites and desert ecosystem of their ancestral lands, the lower Colorado River region, through successfully protesting the creation of mines and turbines.

At the 2016 Folklife Festival, I had the pleasure of seeing and meeting Aukeran, a Basque dance company from Donostia-San Sebastian that performs contemporary pieces inspired by traditional Basque styles.

The spirit of the Godfather of Go-Go spread across the National Mall on July 3 with each bass riff and brass blast of the Chuck Brown Band.

During the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, I had the opportunity to share my story of citizenship. As I showed my Certificate of Citizenship to the audience, I was reminded of why it is one of my most prized possessions.

What performances or demonstrations at Folklife Festival did you enjoy the most? What brought you to the Festival? Did any of the programming remind you of your own cultural traditions or personal experiences?