Every year since 1982, American folk and traditional artists have been honored for their contributions by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) through its National Heritage Fellowship awards. Eleven winners have been selected for 2009, most of them older adults, and they represent a cross section of ethnic cultures including Cambodian, North Indian, and West African, and promote diverse traditional art forms such as zydeco, willow basketry, dance, and Yoruba sacred song and drumming.

Here’s a little about each of the winners, who will travel to the nation's capital in September to accept their awards. For pictures and more information, visit the NEA’s Web site.

The Birmingham Sunlights, of Birmingham, Alabama, is a five-man a cappella gospel group that formed in 1978 and draws on the rich heritage of quartet-style singing of Alabama’s Jefferson County region, often characterized by a fifth member doubling the tenor voice. The style developed after World War I, when rural blacks left their farms to work in coal mines and steel mills, and came to have widespread influence on the recorded gospel music of the era. In addition to performing around the country, the group has performed as cultural ambassadors under the auspices of the US Department of State and toured Canada, Italy, France, five African countries, the Caribbean, and Australia. Watch them in an hourlong Library of Congress Webcast concert.

Edwin Colón Zayas, of Orocovis, Puerto Rico, is the master of the cuatro, the national instrument of Puerto Rico. The cuatro, shaped like a small guitar with five double-coursed strings, became the preferred instrument for performing música jíbara (“music of the peasants”), heard in the small central-island towns. He began playing cuatro at the age of five, learning from his father. He tutored his brother and two sisters in several jíbaro instruments, and they often join him in his group, Edwin Colón y su Taller Campesino. He has 17 solo albums and has performed on, arranged, or directed more than 250 recordings for Puerto Rican artists. His collaborations have incorporated classical music, South American and Latin popular music, and jazz. Watch a video of him performing on YouTube.

Chitresh Das, of San Francisco, is a dancer and choreographer schooled in the North Indian dance tradition of Kathak. He learned both the percussive and sensual elements of Kathak, including the solo tradition in which the dancer is required to go on stage without any prior rehearsal and execute improvised rhythms, compositions, and storytelling for two to three hours. For the past 38 years, he has been teaching and mentoring students and maintaining a vigorous performing schedule. In 1980, he founded his own school, and more recently he opened a school in Kolkata, India, to teach dance in the red light and lower-income districts. Watch videos of him performing traditional dances as well as a collaboration with young tap dancing phenomenon Jason Samuels Smith.

LeRoy Graber, of Freeman, South Dakota, learned to weave willow baskets at age 10 from his grandfather, who came to the Dakota Territory from the Ukraine in 1874. He has demonstrated this craft for more than 25 years, weaving both willows and stories at the annual Schmeckfest (tasting festival) held in Freeman. Through the years, the stands of willows appropriate for basketmaking have gradually disappeared, so he and his son have planted acres of different kinds of willows on their farm. Graber demonstrates the craft at local schools and teaches basketmaking in the apprenticeship programs of South Dakota and North Dakota. See pictures and read more about him at the South Dakota Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program Web site.

“Queen” Ida Guillory, of Daly City, California, was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, into a family of Creole rice farmers. As a child, she helped cook for 30 to 40 field hands and later drove a tractor during the planting season. She grew up hearing French lullabies as well as zydeco, the vigorous, blues-inflected music played at weekend dance parties. After marrying and raising three children, she began playing accordion with her brother’s band. She later assumed leadership of the band, and after bookings at the San Francisco Blues Festival and the Monterey Jazz Festival, her touring and recording career took off. Queen Ida and her Bon Temps Zydeco Band have toured nationally and internationally. She also has published a popular cookbook, Cookin’ with Queen Ida. Watch a video of her and her band.

Dudley Laufman, of Canterbury, New Hampshire, is a dance caller and musician who is so closely associated with the contra and barn dances of New England that most long-term residents refer to local gatherings as “Dudley Dances.” He came to New Hampshire in 1947 to work at a dairy farm and began attending local dances. He called his first dance in 1948 and soon started his own musical group for the dances, which later became the Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra. He traveled throughout the region, performing and teaching dance at schools, community centers, and public parks, averaging 300 or more engagements a year. Today, he performs and gives workshops as part of a duo called Two Fiddles. Read more about him at the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts Web site.