SOUTHLANDERS JUST FIDDLE AROUND : ANNUAL FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL DRAWS 5,000 TO MOUNTAIN PARK.Byline: Susan Goldsmith Daily News Staff Writer City folk took to the country Sunday to enjoy down-home bluegrass music bluegrass music: see country and western music. and old-fashioned square dancing at the 36th annual Topanga Banjo-Fiddle Contest and Folk Festival A Folk festival celebrates traditional folk crafts and folk music. Regional Denmark
Staged at the National Park Service's Paramount Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains The Santa Monica Mountains are a low transverse range in southern California in the United States. Geography They run for approximately 40 mi (64 km) east-west from the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles to Point Mugu in Ventura County. , the festival drew more than 5,000 people - many of whom brought mandolins, banjos, spoons and cellos for impromptu jam sessions. Fiddlers, cowboy poets, yodelers, strolling musicians and clog dancers in gingham dresses entertained crowds from one end of the sprawling festival grounds to the other. ``This seems more like the North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. mountains than it does L.A.,'' Catherine Burris of Charlotte, N.C., said in a thick Southern accent. Festival organizer Dorian Keysor said about 500 performers took to the stage, playing everything from washboards to iced-tea spoons. Organizers estimated the $7-a-ticket event would raise $15,000 for the Santa Monica Mountains Fund, which supports educational and recreational activities in the area. Performers mixed bluegrass bluegrass, any species of the large and widely distributed genus Poa, chiefly range and pasture grasses of economic importance in temperate and cool regions. In general, bluegrasses are perennial with fine-leaved foliage that is bluish green in some species. with older American string music. ``People come here and have a good time because this music is very infectious,'' Keysor said. The festival marked 12-year-old Joncarlo Bruttomesso's first performance on stage. The Agoura youngster appeared nervous as he first looked out at the audience, but his jitters jitters 'Butterflies' Psychology An episode of nervousness or anxiety that often precedes a public event; jitters is a type of performance anxiety which may affect actors in a stage production–stage fright or soloist musicians; it may respond to anxiolytics melted away as soon as he started strumming ``Harvest Home'' on his mandolin mandolin (măn'dəlĭn`, măn`dəlĭn'), musical instrument of the lute family, with a half-pear-shaped body, a fretted neck, and a variable number of strings, plucked with the fingers or with a plectrum. . ``Being on stage felt natural,'' said Bruttomesso, who performed alongside his mandolin teacher. Jerry Saulvester of Downey showed up with his five-string Dobro hoping to find some jam partners. ``The only stranger here is the friend you haven't met,'' said Saulvester, who wore suede boots and carried a skunk-skin bag. ``People are here because they want to get back to their roots. You can get burned out on all the high-tech stuff.'' As Saulvester sat on a wood bench strumming the banjolike guitar, Dan Moore of Newhall wandered over. ``Want to duet?'' Moore asked, waving two spoons in the air. Within seconds, the two were jamming effortlessly, sounding as if they had been making music together for years. ``I'm playing with iced-tea spoons because they're longer and sound better (than other spoons),'' Moore explained. With fiddle music in the background, Pam Weiss of Hidden Hills and her two children browsed through the folk art. ``This is like being out somewhere in bluegrass country blue·grass n. 1. also blue grass Any of various grasses of the genus Poa, including many valuable lawn and pasture plants, such as Kentucky bluegrass, and also some weeds. 2. ,'' she said. ``The people just walking around playing their instruments are really good. I'd buy their albums.'' Before making his musical debut Sunday, Tom Harmon took a deep breath and then headed to the stage to play his fiddle. A beginning fiddler from Long Beach, he walked off stage all smiles a few minutes later. ``I love it here,'' he said. ``If you like music and don't like watching TV, this is the place to be.'' CAPTION(S): 3 Photos PHOTO (1) Crowds enjoy the music and fair weather Sunday at the Topanga Banjo-Fiddle Contest and Folk Festival at Paramount Ranch in Agoura. (2) Musicians warm up for the fiddle, banjo banjo, stringed musical instrument, with a body resembling a tambourine. The banjo consists of a hoop over which a skin membrane is stretched; it has a long, often fretted neck and four to nine strings, which are plucked with a pick or the fingers. and guitar contests at Paramount Ranch. (3) Michael Wichter, 15, left, and his brother Gabe, 17, play guitars. Phil McCarten/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion