Bluegrass -- EWOB is on

 Czech band All Bells and Whistles, playing in Prague, March 2009. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

The annual European World of Bluegrass - EWOB -- festival and trade fair is on in Holland, and once again I was not able to arrange my time (or, let's face it, funding) so that I could attend!

Score of bands are taking part, from France, Germany, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Hungary, Britain, Sweden, and on and on and on.... A fascinating and revealing chart on the EWOB web site demonstrates the Czech dominance of the European bluegrass scene -- the chart gives a country by country breakdown of performers for all EWOB festivals. See the full performance program for this year's event  HERE

See the workshop program HERE

Moreover EWOB's Trade Show showcases bluegrass-related merchants selling bluegrass instruments such as banjos, guitars, mandolins, dobros, and fiddles; acoustic instrument accessories, EWOB CDs and EWOB Festival t-shirts, bluegrass instructional materials and DVDs, bluegrass magazines, and more. Web sites for some of the exhibitors can be found HERE.