Waila Festival

Arizona Historical Society
520/628-5774
www.arizonahistoricalsociety.org [1]

At the end of May, thousands of Tucsonans gather at the University of Arizona [2]’s Bear Down Field to step and hop to the very danceable sounds of the folk hybrid that is Waila, sometimes called chicken-scratch.

The polka-like party-inspiring music was built and adapted by the Tohono O’odham over the years, based on European and Mexican songs they’d heard during interactions with their various colonizers. This is a fun, free party, with young and old dancing and laughing, and good foods (including traditional O’odham fare) sizzling and smoking.