The film has moved many audiences, opening new spaces for discussion, art, and movement. Releasing this soundtrack album will provide new opportunities to spark conversations about where bluegrass music can belongs and how we can share a global discourse across cultural boundaries. / https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1203/thumbnail.jpg

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)

Excerpt: I never imagined that I would help produce a documentary film based on my ethnographic fieldwork. Meeting documentary filmmaker Shara Lange during new faculty orientation at the university where we were both newly hired eventually led to our film Banjo Romantika (2013)—a full-length feature based on my research on bluegrass music in the Czech Republic, in which I play a key role as writer, producer, and on-screen character. Taking part in this film project has led me to consider how film enriches relationships with field colleagues, providing new opportunities for teaching and learning. I find that collaborations like ours can reframe and extend ethnomusicological work in productive ways.

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This informal presentation will include discussion with the filmmakers about the background and production of the film "Banjo Romantika," as well as sneak peeks at a selection of key scenes from the film. For more information, visit http://music.virginia.edu/colloquium-lee-bidgood-and-shara-lange-banjo-romantika