Banjo Romantika: Screening and Discussion

Banjo Romantika introduces the musicians who play this unique bluegrass hybrid. Czechs first heard bluegrass during World War II when the Armed Forces Network broadcast American music for soldiers. The music represented freedom to dissatisfied Czechs living in a communist state. Czechs’ love for the music was solidified when Pete Seeger visited and performed in 1964. Inspired by classic American bluegrass sounds, an assortment of musicians from across the formerly communist Czech Republic have melded the past, the political and the present into a lively musical tradition entirely its own.Screening and discussions occurred on the following dates and places: Czech and Slovak Cultural Association / Minnesota Bluegrass and Old Time Music Association, St. Paul, MN (11/18/2017) William King Museum Speaker Series, Birthplace of Country Music Museum, Bristol, VA (02/07/2017)Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Society of Ethnomusicology Annual Conference, Charlottesville, VA (03/05/2016)Appalachian Studies Association, Johnson City (03/27/2015)Society for Ethnomusicology, Pittsburgh, PA (11/13/2014)IBMA World of Bluegrass Business Conference, Raleigh, NC (09/28/2014)International Country Music Conference, Nashville, TN (05/24/2014)Colgate University, (9/20-21/2016)Merlefest, Wilkesboro, NC (4/24/2015)College of Charleston (3/19/2015)West Virginia University (11/12/2014)University of Virginia Dept. of Music, Charlottesville, VA (11/8/2013)Walker Arts and History Center, Cary, NC (9/26/2013)Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Series, American Center at the U.S. Embassy, Prague, Czech Republic (6/20/2013)Banjo Jamboree Bluegrass Festival, Čáslav, Czech Republic (6/21/2013, 6/22/2013)Jerome College of Prague, Prague, Czech Republic (6/24/2013)Moravská Zemská Knihovna, Brno (6/27/2013)White Stork Bluegrass Festival, Luka nad Jihlavou (7/8/2013