Banjo Jamboree 2009 at Čáslav

Rosta Capek and Jarda Prucha

Thanks to Lilly Pavlak for many photos and a report of the 37th Banjo Jamboree at Čáslav, Czech Republic. Read the full text of Lilly's report here; see the photos here.

The All-Star Band

Photos from the Banjo Jamboree 2008

Following the news of the Banjo Jamboree at Čáslav, which appeared on the European Bluegrass Blog on 5 May, Lilly Pavlak sends these photos of the beautiful setting in which Europe's oldest bluegrass festival is held, taken at last year's event. More of Lilly's photos from the Banjo Jamboree can be seen here.

Banjo Jamboree 2009 at Čáslav

Bluegrass festivals take place almost every weekend in the Czech Republic during the summer season, including Europe's oldest bluegrass festival, the Banjo Jamboree at Čáslav, which will be held on Friday 19 June and Saturday 20 June.

Twenty-four bands will take part in the band contest on the Saturday morning - these are winners from the regional contests held at Nový Jičín and Chomutov in April, and at Sloupnice and Bratislava in May. The winning band at Čáslav gets a spot on the main stage at the Saturday afternoon concert, a guaranteed spot at EWOB 2010, and free membership of the EBMA.

The full Čáslav concert programme and other details of the festival - including workshops, location, and accommodation - are on the Banjo Jamboree website.

Hootenanny Festival at Lisbon, Portugal: 2-7 Feb. 2009

Thanks to EBMA member André Luis de Figueiredo Lentilhas from Ferragudo, Portugal, who reports that banjo legend Tony Trischka (USA) (left) will be among the artists taking part in the Hootenanny Festival at Culturgest, Rua Arco do Cego, 1000-300 Lisboa (Lisbon), Portugal.

The Hootenanny Festival, which runs from 2 February to 7 February 2009, also features Mike Seeger (USA), the single most important figure in the old-time music revival, and Ira Bernstein & Riley Baugus (USA), two of the best old-time musicians now playing.

Tony Trischka's Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular concert will be on 7 February. For more details and sound tracks, see the festival web page.

Seventh Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival

The lineup for the Seventh Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival, to be held on 25-28 September in Longford town, Co. Longford, Ireland, has just been announced. The Americana side of the programme includes:

Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band
Tony Trischka
Tom Russell
Don Rigsby
Pete & Joan Wernick
Carter Brothers Band
Lluis Gomez Quartet (E)
Ranch House Favourites (NL)
Niall Toner Band
Rough Deal String Band

Irish traditional music is represented by Barney McKenna, Gerry O'Connor, At the Racket, and Thom Moore & Seamie O'Dowd; others TBC. Full details are on the Festival website.

Andy Glandt at Vilnius Bluegrass 2007

Andy Glandt reports that he had a great weekend in Lithuanian's capital, Vilnius, during Vilnius Bluegrass 2007 on 16-17 November:

I was there at invitation of Algirdas Klova and the Lithuanian Bluegrass Music Association... I introduced my new program, 'The Singing Banjoman'.

On Friday night I was part of a live performance of a folklore show in the Lithuanian TV, and on Saturday I gave a workshop and played at the festival. If you want to see photos of the festival, please go here. If you want to see the TV show, please go here. I sang two songs, one in English and one folk song in German. The English song starts around 31:30 minutes and the German one around 43:50 minutes.

I made a lot of new friends there and hope to go back there some day and I want to thank everybody who helped organizing that festival and gave me such a great time.

Que viva España

Lluis Antonio Gomez Martinez reports from Spain that the 7th edition of the Al Ras Festival of bluegrass and old-time music will be on 7 June 2008: 'We're booking groups, and we're open to book European bands!'

Lluis's new CD will be released in December 2007. Guest artists on the album include Tom Corbett (mandolin) and Tim Carter (banjo), who also mixed the CD in Nashville. The ten tracks include bluegrass, jazz, and Irish tunes; all but two are original compositions. Two tunes from the CD can be heard on MySpace.

Lluis is also writing tabs and articles for Tom Nechville's newsletter Banjovia. Tabs for the David Grisman tunes 'EMD', 'Opus 38', and 'O'Banion's wake', as well as Liz Carroll's 'Lost in the loop', can be downloaded at the Nechville website.

And a video of the Lluis Gomez Quintet on stage at the 2007 Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival in Longford, Ireland, can be seen on YouTube.

More photos from the Banjo Jamboree, 2008

Photos by Lilly Pavlak, taken at the Banjo Jamboree at Čáslav, Czech Republic, June 2008