It was day one at North Carolina Folk Festival 2025. As the Friday night sky dimmed over a picture-perfect September day, traffic on downtown Greensboro streets was replaced by groups of excited music fans of all ages. Aromas of smoked meats and fried dough filled the air, which vibrated with instruments playing on faraway stages and buzzing voices setting up lawn chairs and blankets in LeBauer Park.
All attention turned to the stage as a young singer walked up to the mic, her warm smile bringing the audience in on a secret. For Lora Mouna ’22, this performance was not only her first festival gig, but it was also an emotional homecoming.
“Playing the folk festival just feels like a gift,” she said the week before her performance. “I’m giving back to everything people gave me in Greensboro. All the wisdom and knowledge and advice and support — I’m able to give it all back musically.”
Honing Her Craft
Just five short years ago, Mouna was a student in the audience at the NC Folk Fest.
“I went every year,” she said. “My senior year, I sold merchandise.” The UNC Greensboro music student from Winston-Salem eagerly absorbed all she could from the talented performers she met on the UNCG campus and playing venues in Greensboro. “I just wanted to be around musicians and creative people,” she explained.
In the College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA), she studied vocal performance and minored in musical theatre. She praised classical instruction from Carla LeFevre, and the impact of musical theatre instructors Dominic Amendum and Erin Speer.
“There were so many beautiful gems at UNCG, and I’m so lucky to have gone there,” Mouna said. “I really credit everything in my voice to my vocal teacher, Dr. Lefevre. She taught me so much that I’ve carried on to many genres.”
Looking back, she remembers “being impressed by the faculty’s ability to connect with students on a deeper level than just academics.” As Mouna perfected her vocal range and learned more about different genres of music, she found herself exploring personal expressions in songwriting and incorporating her family’s Syrian roots into her music. Her senior recital included a musical theatre piece and a classical performance with a Middle Eastern section between, illustrating the varied vocal areas she studied at UNCG.
Spartan Networking from NC to NY
Aside from the technical training, Mouna reveled in opportunities to see and perform in venues throughout Greensboro.
Her friend, Ashley Virginia ’19 B.F.A. encouraged her to play in her “What the Folk: Songwriter Sessions” at Oden Brewing Co. in 2022. “I was focused on auditioning at the time and was scared out of my mind to play the songs I had written, but Ashley gave the push I needed to fully dive into songwriting again,” Mouna said. “I really fell in love with the songwriting community in Greensboro.”
After a year of performing in Greensboro and Winston-Salem, Mouna decided to make a move to New York to audition for Broadway shows. But when she arrived, she realized that her own music was calling to her: “Auditioning soon became exhausting. I wanted to take matters into my own hands and tell my own stories.”
She found other alumni in New York, including jazz guitarist Logan Butler ’20. They became creative collaborators, and he accompanied her at this year’s folk festival. After more than a year in the city, the connections have paid off: “When I first arrived in New York, I had to advocate for myself and prove myself to people. Now people are coming to me with gigs and projects.”
Today, Mouna is making time for rehearsals, working on an EP in the studio, and building her music business acumen with M.B.A. classes at New York University: “My music is being taken more seriously and therefore I’m taking it way more seriously and it feels really good, honestly.”
Balancing Commerce and Creativity
Playing the NC Folk Fest was a milestone in Mouna’s career not only for professional promotion, but for the opportunity to share her ideas on a large, festival stage. “My music has always been an outburst of something,” she explained. “It just kind of pours out of me.”
She remembers wise words from her mother, a Syrian pianist who came to the United States for college: “The song is already there. You just have to listen to it.” Mouna’s mother’s encouragement to play and write music became a cathartic process at an early age. At the festival, she played songs personifying depression or anxiety and others, like ‘Falling’ about the plight of refugees.
“My goal is for someone to listen and not feel alone. That’s the beauty of music. It’s so healing,” Mouna said. “It’s also the responsibility of an artist to use the platform to speak about important things — not only the problems I have in my own personal life, but awareness of things that are happening globally.”
Mouna’s NC Folk Fest appearances were well attended by crowds that included former instructors, friends and family, and young music students. After her performances, she was eager to speak to them and offer encouragement. Her favorite advice stems directly from experience she cultivated as a young musician at UNCG:
“Meet everyone that you can and be willing to collaborate, because your biggest inspirations will come from learning other people’s stories, experiences, and their musical talents. Oh, and go to live shows. Be inspired. Just look around you. Art is everywhere.”
Story by Becky Deakins, University Communications.
Photography by Sean Norona, University Communications.
Videography by David Row, University Communications.
