New York Banjo Festival – Coming Up On Wed. 4/16/08

Banjo Band circa 1917. Photo courtesy of Shlomo Pestcoe

Banjo Jim’s First Annual 2008 Banjo Festival – Wednesday, April 16, 2008 7:00-2:00am

Banjo Jim’s First Annual 2008 Banjo Festival with Tony Trishka, Noam Pikelny, Shlomo Pestcoe, Andy Cartoun, Dayna Kurtz, Matt Munisteri, Eamon O’Leary, Jesse Harris, Skip Ward, Eli Smith, John Pinamonti, Jake Schepps, Alexa Story, special guest Sana Ndiaye and much more! $10 cover, two drink minimum, no advance tickets, doors open 6:30pm

Banjo Jim’s First Annual 2008 Banjo Festival is being held in benefit for The Akonting Center.

(For complete schedule see below)

The Akonting Center is a grassroots, non-governmental, cultural initiative in the village of Mandinary, Gambia (West Africa), started by Gambian Jola folk music scholar Daniel Laemouahuma Jatta and Swedish banjo historian Ulf Jägfors. Its objectives are to research, document, and perpetuate the many different endangered string instrument traditions of the various peoples of Senegambia, such as plucked lutes (e.g. the Jola akonting [ekonting], the Manjak bunchundo, the Wolof xalam, etc.), bowed lutes (fiddles, e.g. the Fula nyaanyooru, the Wolof riti, etc.), and harp-lutes (bridge-harps, e.g. the Jola furakaf, the Mandinka simbingo, etc.). The Akonting Center is organized under the auspices of The Chossan Center for Senegambian Culture, a community-based NGO which strives to perpetuate the traditional agrarian way of life and folkways of Senegambia as the foundation for progressive communal self-development on a democratic cooperative basis.

Roots ‘n’ Ruckus at the Jalopy Theater: Live Recording From the Feb. 20th Show

Jalopy Theater – Redhook Brooklyn, 2/20/08:

Peter Stampfel, Sam Shepard, Pat Conte, Citizen Kafka at Roots ‘n’ Ruckus Jalopy Feb 20 2008
Peter Stampfel, Pat Conte, Sam Shepard and Citizen Kafka perform live at Roots ‘n’ Ruckus at the Jalopy Theater. (photo by Eli Smith)

This is a recording of the Roots ‘n’ Ruckus show, briefly mentioned in today’s New York Times piece, “The Sound Is Rural, the Setting Urban,”
which takes place every Wednesday at the Jalopy Theater in Redhook Brooklyn. The recording here is from the show on 2/20/08.

This particular show had special guests! – Playing together were Peter Stampfel (of the Holy Modal Rounders and Fugs), Sam Shepard (the playwright and actor), Pat Conte (Otis Brothers, Secret Museum of Mankind) and Citizen Kafka. The show also featured Dom Flemons (of the Carolina Chocolate Drops) and many of the Roots ‘n’ Ruckus regulars: Down Home’s own Eli Smith (hope you enjoy my set!), Feral Foster, Jessy Carolina and Hubby Jenkins. This is a long show, running more than 2.5 hours. I’ve split it into 2 sections, see above. Peter, Sam, etc’s set starts at 31:00 minutes in the 1st part.

If you’re trying to figure out who’s who on the recording, the order of performances is as follows:

Part 1: Eli Smith; Feral Foster and Jessy Carolina; Peter, Sam, Pat & Citizen

Part 2: Dom Flemons; Feral Foster; Hubby Jenkins with Dom Flemons.

Peter, Sam, Pat and Citizen played at Roots ‘n’ Ruckus again on March 26t, 2008. That appearance is now posted here as well. Click the 3rd play button above.

For more information check out the Folk Music In NewYork section of this page.

See below for more pictures: