Czech Bluegrass: Fieldwork, Americanness, and Media In Between
Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
11-15-2017
Description
No other place in the world has a romance with American bluegrass like the Czech Republic. 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.
Location
Knoxville, TN
Citation Information
Bidgood, Lee. 2017. Czech Bluegrass: Fieldwork, Americanness, and Media In Between. Distinguished Musicology Lecture Series, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN.