Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra

The D.C. Urban Sketchers met at the National Portrait Gallery for the 34th World Wide Sketchcrawl. As we were gathering, something rather strange was going on in the central courtyard: a band of musicians known as the Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra was setting up to play.



The Gourd Orchestra plays instruments made out of locally-grown gourds - and had some pretty colorful costumes, including gourd hats. They played several lively instrumental pieces, sang songs about gourds, and told stories about growing gourds in their neighborhoods in southside Richmond, VA. Not many orchestras can say that they grow their own instruments, but these guys can. Children of all ages had a good time.



At one point, the band noticed us sketching them - and announced from the stage that they would be critiquing our work after the show. Which they did.