A successful attempt in promoting the bluegrass music in Europe was done at a picturesque location in the foothills of the French Alps. La Roche-sur-Foron is a beautiful medieval town in Haute Savoie.
The event was organized by Christopher Howard-Williams, the chairman of FBMA, and supported by the town’s Mayor, the Tourist Bureau and others.
A part of the festival was a European band contest. The jury comprised of 10 local musicians and 2 Bluegrass musicians.
They expected an attendance of about 10,000 over those three days. It seemed unbelievable to me, in a part of Europe where about 99% of population had no idea what the bluegrass music was all about.
So on the way there I was a little bit skeptical. It was raining when we crossed the border at Geneva and as I looked around, the only bluegrass connection for me was the countryside looking a bit like the Appalachian Mountains. A German bluegrass friend of mine, Herbert Schildhammer and I arrived there on the Friday afternoon at about 4 p.m.
Everything seemed to be perfectly organized: about a hundred volunteers ready to help; a large festival area was located in the courtyard of a school that used to be a convent, almost in the middle of the town; a big black covered stage; no chairs. To me, it looked ready for a Rock festival. Should bluegrass audiences really fill this? Impossible!
Food and drinks market was set up on the opposite side of the stage, with the sidewalls for exhibitors, placed so that everybody could see the concerts.
We were given the same program as all the population of the town received lately in their mailboxes: a colorful festival booklet, with a festival poster on the front page and on the page 4 a picture of Bill Monroe and Christopher together at a French bluegrass event in 1991. The lead article explains in French and English the History of Bluegrass. There were also pictures of all the 21 bands with French-English text about them. Starting at the other end, all the cultural events in the town for this summer were listed, together with advertisements of all the event’s sponsors. Really nicely done.
But not many visitors yet and it was still raining.
Exactly at 8 p.m. Christopher and Didier Philippe from the Tourist Bureau made a little welcome speech and the first band showed up: French Signé Bluegrass, four musicians who have played banjo, mandolin, bass and guitar together for over 15 years. They played mainly traditional bluegrass.
What a nice surprise! I turned back and the audience was already there, standing under their umbrellas and taking shelter around the food and drinks booths and market stalls!
Friday evening we also saw the British family trio Wood, Wire and Words with beautiful vocals and a great dobro, followed by an international trio Rosewood (F/B/US) playing in the style of AKUS and Kenny & Amanda Smith.
The next band Moonshine from France was „a bluegrass without banjo“, but it had an interesting mix of two mandolins, one played by Phillipe Bony with David Grisman’s influence and the other one played by the event’s promoter Christopher, following Bill Monroe’s path, with Gilles Letort on guitar and Gerald Vandestoke on bass.
The evening was concluded by the new Czech-Dutch group Blue Roses Bluegrass Band, formed around young singer Katka Kuhlweinova, with Dennis Schut on the guitar, Milan Leppelt on banjo and Marek Macak on mandolin. By the way, Marek’s father Honza Macak is the founder and organizer of the famous Czech festival Banjo Jamboree – the oldest BG festival in Europe since 1973.
Even despite the rain, the festival was very well attended.
Saturday morning welcomed us with sunshine. Everything looked much better; we could even see the mountains between the clouds. Breakfast for musicians was provided at a Café house in the town.
I went for some sightseeing; there was a lot to see around there.
The festival started at eleven. We found some stapled chairs, so we sat down in front of the stage. The first band Tante Agatha’s (F) began with a Nickel Creek song „The Lighthouse”. A mixture of newgrass and original songs followed, also some swing pieces. The band members are veterans of the French folk music scene. Next came the new Czech-Dutch band Blue Roses Bluegrass Band, the one we had already seen yesterday. The last one before the break was a Czech band specializing exclusively on Stanley Brothers tradition, The Log.
There were four nominations. Pete Gisin & Bill Bohn from the first Swiss band, the Country Pickers, were left out. In the third place was Phil Morley from Great Britain; second came Algirdas Klova from Lithuania. The beautiful hand-made wooden Award went to the Czech banjo player Jarda Dvorak from The Log. He is one of the best Czech banjo players and years ago he was also inducted by the Czech BGA to the Czech Hall of Fame. He admires Ralph Stanley style. The Log also organizes a festival named The Carter Stanley Memorial. As an expression of thanks for this, he also got a framed and signed photograph of Ralph Stanley. He looked very moved…
During the lunch break, there were some musician workshops and a lot of jamming.
I went to the town again. It seemed to me the whole town was in a festival mood.
At the town square, some Line Dancers were performing and musicians were jamming in front of some restaurants.
Everywhere you could see the festival posters, a lot of children and dogs and everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves. There were attractions for the whole family everywhere, such as horse riding and horse wagons, a horse carousel for the very little children and so on.
And the music was in the air.
The movie theatre was showing „O Brother, where art thou?” for the last few days. The local newspaper covered the festival with double page. I can’t read French, but there were lots of pictures of musicians, bands and instruments with explanation of what the bluegrass music is all about…
Also a local TV and radio were present. Excellent promotion work!
Back at the festival area, the first band in the afternoon, Peter O. Ruby with all Bells & Whistles around the high lonesome singer Peter Ruby already started. From the announced band he brought just his Czech mandolin player Zuzana Liskova. But with the help from French multi-instrumentalist legend Thierry Lecoq on the fiddle and Dutch banjo player Hans Wolters they put together a great show.
The next Czech traditional band Bluegrass Comeback showed us their beautiful vocals and good instrumental work. The audience came to the boil and wanted more. I would rank them among the festival favorites.
Next came the Veget from the Czech Republic and then the French band Keep Off the Grass.
I would describe them as a „pop grass”, with beautiful vocals. We could also hear some swing from them. I liked especially their guitar player Eric Parsotam who is a gifted singer.
After the dinner break came the Russian band Country Saloon from Nizny Novgorod. They started their long journey to France on Monday already. The band history goes back to the late seventies with many personnel changes. They are very active on the Russian country music scene since 1989. Michael Dushin-banjo, Evgenij Veselov-bass, Sergey Suhonin-guitar, Tatiana Pechenova, mandolin and Elena Yakusheva-violin. All of them are also very good singers. They played bluegrass with a country music flavor and some own compositions. Audience just loved them and wanted to hear more of them.
Next played the Czech band Country Cocktail.
Another legend entered the stage, The Grassroots. They have long been regarded as one of the most stylish British bluegrass bands. Their members started to play bluegrass in the early seventies. Kelvin Fosberry-banjo, Barry Martyn-mandolin, Terry McCarty-guitar,
Ron Nesbitt-bass. In October 2003 veteran bluegrass virtuoso Rick Townend joined them on the fiddle. He brought with him a wealth of experience playing bluegrass at the highest level.
His work promoting bluegrass was rewarded in 2003 by his induction into the British Hall of Honor. He was proclaimed by the EWOBA as the European Bluegrass Pioneer of 2004.
It was a pleasure to listen to their beautifully done music. Their version of „Rebel Soldier” sang by Ron gave shivers for sure not only to me! During their „Amazing Grace” you could hear a pin drop. Their last song was an instrumental „Uncle Pen.” Never ending applause!
The next band came from the Netherlands. The trio Lazy Tater is one of my favorite bands since the EWOB festival 2004 in Voorthuizen (NL). They started „Opus 57” by David Grisman, continued with beautifully done „South of the Border” and with their „Old River Blues” they won the audiences hearts.
The high point of the evening was an Italian traditional band Bluegrass Stuff around the mandolin virtuoso Massimo Gatti. They are one of the oldest BG bands in Europe. Their sound embraces the classic bluegrass of Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt and Jimmy Martin and the Stanley Brothers.
With their dance around the microphone they could maybe compare to The Del McCoury Band only. And their lead singer is a perfect showman. Just in my opinion, as the all time favorites, they shouldn’t perhaps go to amateur band contests anymore. There is no chance left for any other band. As usual, they ended with some Italian „bluegrass” songs such as „Volare” and „Tu o fa Americano”. Just great!!! Massimo thanked Eda Krystufek of Country Cocktail, who was in the audience, for letting him play his beautiful Krishot mandolin.
The evening concluded with a jam session in the V.I.P. tent. The Bluegrass Stuff played there with the Russian and French musicians.
Early on Sunday at 9.30, the Spruce Pine sang three gospels in the church during the morning Mass.
The festival program started at 10.30 with a gospel set starting with Springfield (F). I was their big fan since the SPBGMA Festival in Vienna, Austria in 1998, and hoped for them to be placed between the best ones. Wood, Wire and Words (GB) had played yesterday already with another repertoire. Very nice, I loved the best their „Grandpa’s Radio” and a „Pocket of Dreams”. The Grassroots were even better than yesterday. I loved especially their „Little Mountain Church”, „Few Old Memories and „Follow Jesus to the Saviour Ground” – just incredible singing!
My favorite song by the Spruce Pine was „I am using my Bible for a road map”.
The last word on this sunny Sunday morning was given to a Czech Band called The Bluegrass Comeback. They too were even better than yesterday. They had to play three encores, before the audience let them to leave the stage.
The afternoon opened with an experiment trio The Zip Code 2025 (F). Their show was unexpected, fun, quick, cheeky and surprising. Who else has the knack to turn songs as „Barbie Girl” into a baroque banjo hit? I liked best their dancing with 3 banjos and kazoos, while playing Dueling Banjos (all three were fingering one banjo and picking another!). They reminded me somehow at the Italian Mideando String Quartet, who won the title European Bluegrass Band 2006 at the EWOB in Holland.
Bad luck for the French band Quartier Francais. As they started playing their first song, the next rain and thunderstorm started, increasing into torrential rain. I ran to take shelter in the V.I.P. tent. Inside it was too noisy to hear anything. But all the people under their umbrellas outside gave them a big hand, so they had to be great.
Fortunately, the rain stopped soon, so for the next band, the Springfield, I sat back in the first row. As I turned back, the area was crowded again, so the next Spruce Pine played for a „full house”.
The big finale started with the legendary Czech group Prazce (The Frets), who played as if their life depended on it. I know them for ages, seems like forever, but they had never been better. The area was crowded, and all the people seemed to be happy and enjoying themselves. Finally, the festive moment came that everybody was waiting for. Christopher Howard-Williams with the mayor of La Roche-sur-Foron and Denis Shut showed up on the stage.
The results of the contest for the European Band of the Year 2006 were announced.
In the third place came the Bluegrass Comeback. Pavel Jurena got the Award from the hands of the Mayor. They were mad with joy. They really deserve it for their hard, lifelong work (anyway, the Bluegrass Comeback started as a family band, parents Eva on the bass and Pavel Jurena on the banjo, and their little son Tomas on the guitar. So they gave the world one of the great young guitar players, Tomas Jurena. You all certainly have an opportunity to see him in the States with the Slovak-Czech band Fragment).
The second place went to the band, which traveled to the festival the longest distance from Russia, the Country Saloon. They really were worthy of it. Besides the Award, each member also received a flower bouquet, actually intended for the first place winners. But the Bluegrass Stuff, proclaimed „The European Bluegrass Band of the Year 2006” as expected, were already on their way home to Italy.
Congratulations to the winners but also to all the bands participating in the contest! You were great!
There were a lot of speeches, mostly in French, that I could not understand. But for sure I understood that the Mayor thanked FBMA and EWOBA that the town had the opportunity to organize this great festival, and that he would regard it as an honor to be able to repeat the event next year again.
Finally, they invited the Country Saloon onto the stage. So they played another set. Many encores followed. Unfortunately we had to leave, say good-bye and drive back to the North. Herbert hurried back to Germany for his midnight bluegrass radio show. He wanted to report fresh on the festival there, and bring me back to Buelach on the way.
So we missed the great jam session on the stage, with all the remaining musicians.
Is this not a little miracle? One of the biggest bluegrass festivals I ever attended in Europe, if not the biggest one. Where else came about 5,000-6,000 visitors during 3 days?
A festival with entrance free, with 21 bands, each of them played for at least 40 minutes, which means more then 16 hours of music. If the weather had been nicer, I am sure the planned 10,000 visitors would have come there.
The whole town of 11,000 was in a festival fever, 8 big sponsors, over a hundred local volunteers. More than 200 CDs were sold; only 14 bands had CDs for sale with them.
This all happened in a part of Europe, where most people heard the bluegrass music for the first time on that very Friday night.
La Roche-sur-Foron lies about 25 km south of the Swiss border. The only Swiss car we saw belonged to the English band Grassroots. They rented it at Geneva airport. It looked like Herbert and I were there the only ones from the German part of Europe. What a pity!
Anybody who was not there missed a really great event.
Again: thank you Christopher, FBMA and all the people of La Roche-sur-Foron. You were just great! Now you know well, what the bluegrass music is! And you love it!
All the musicians and fans from Europe and maybe overseas, I hope to see you there next year.
P.S. Look at the great festival home page with lots of pictures
http://www.larochesurforon.com/francais/koikikan/festivalbluegrass.htm
