My Translations of Druha Trava Lyrics Now Online

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

In advance of the upcoming U.S. tour of the "Czechgrass" band Druha Trava, DT's U.S. web site has posted the translations that I made (with David Kraus) of 10 of Robert Krestan's original songs. See them by clicking HERE.

The songs include some that the group will perform during the Sept. 3-Oct 4 tour.

Poland -- Me on Polish TV, Discussing European Country Music

Silesian TV interviewed me for the news piece they did on the Silesian Folk and Country Festival in Ustron.

You can view the clip by clicking HERE. (And please disregard how I'm identified..)

International Banjo -- Symbolism?

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

At the Silesia Folk and Country Festival in Ustron, Poland, the American banjo virtuoso Tony Trischka found symbolism in the men's room.... he guarded the door as I took the picture:

Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

"I'm someone who sees banjos everywhere," he said.

Poland -- Silesia Folk and Country Festival under way

Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

I got in to Ustron, in the way south of Poland, last night, driving from Oswiecim (Auschwitz) of all places....and into the Silesia Folk and Country Festival. It still gives me a thrill? chill? quick hit of the odd? when I hear a Czech band (in this case "Drops" this afternoon), in the market square of a Polish village (Ustron is a spa town at the foot of the Beskidy Mountains near the Czech border) singing "All Across America." Aside from the great banjo player Tony Trischka, who plays with Druha Trava tonight, I'm probably the only American here.

Drops. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

This is called an International Folk and Country Festival -- last night highlighted singer-songwriters: a group called Czerwony Tulipan (Red Tulip), the Warsaw-based singer Tomek Szwed, whom I have heard at other festivals and also interviewed a couple of years ago, and an English troubador called Pete Morton, who "sang out" with an energetic set that I have to admit was a little too spiritually uplifting for my taste! A bit hit with the crowd, though, even though he sang in English.

Tomasz Szwed. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

This afternoon, I was interviewed by Polish TV-Silesia for the feature they are doing on the Festival for the evening news tonight -- will post the link when it is up online!

Last night's concert was free, as was the afternoon performance today on the market square. Tonight's costs 10 zloty, I think -- about $3. It will be a mix of acoustic and more rocky stuff, with DT and the Slovak band Peter and the Rowers, one of the top European country acts.

I MUST photograph the food stalls -- last night I kept eating little pieces of local smoked goat cheese, grilled til almost melting and served with jam. Yum. Most of what else is on offer is what I have come to recognize as festival fare -- grilled sausages and chops, and other meats of various varieties. Oh yes, and beer. And honey vodka...

Poland -- Silesia Folk and Country Festival coming up

Indian hobbyist dancers at the Silesia festival 2007. photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Just a quick note to post a link to the web site of the Silesia Folk and Country Festival, in Ustron, Poland, which I'm looking forward to attending next month. An interesting mix of Polish, Czech, American and other musicians of various genres...

Thailand -- More on Cowboys There

I've written on this blog about cowboy theme parks and how the Imaginary Wild West is alive and well in Thailand -- but it turns out that there is much more there than I had known about (or imagined)!

There was even an article last year in The Atlantic by Joshua Kurlantzick-- called (what else) "Thai Noon"....

It’s 7:30 on a humid April evening, and the line dancing has begun. Women in cowgirl dresses sway to the music, mouthing the words as they step backward and forward in unison on the stage. After a while they sit down, and I hear whinnying in the distance. A group of horsemen in chaps and buckskin coats thunders up atop black-and-white steeds. Surrounded by guests in bolo ties, I watch, transfixed. It’s my first evening at the Pensuk Great Western Resort—a 40-acre spread in the heart of Southeast Asia. The “cowgirls” are graceful Thai women, the “cowboys” slight, lithe Thai men.

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This article reads remarkably like the piece I wrote for the New York Times some years ago about Wild West theme parks in Germany and the Czech Republic, called "Deep in the Heart of Bavaria":

IT'S nowhere near high noon, but a tough-looking hombre in a black leather vest, black stovepipe pants and a black cowboy hat is sauntering down the dusty length of a frontier Main Street, a gun belt slung low on his hips. He strolls past the sheriff's office, the Palace Hotel and a saddled horse hitched loosely to a wooden railing, then pauses for a moment at the broad covered porch of the Black Bison Saloon. Entering, he strides up to the bar and places his order. ''Ein bier, bitte.''

This is Pullman City, a theme park in southern Germany where more than a million visitors a year step out of 21st-century Europe into an American Wild West fantasyland of stagecoaches, gunfighters, mountain men and Indians.

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I've just been contacted by Erik Cohen, an emeritus professor of anthropology (and expert on tourism studies) at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who lives in Thailand and has included a lengthy -- and fascinating -- description and analysis of "Thai Cowboys" in his book Explorations in Thai Tourism, published in 2008 by Emerald, Bingley.

France -- Mirande Festival Coming Up

Line dancing at Equiblues, 2004. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

A posting I saw on the web reminds me that the Mirande Country Music Festival in southwest France is coming up July 9-14. It attracts more than 160,000 people to a mix of country, rock, Celtic and other music and crowdwise, it is probably the biggest country festival in Europe. In addition to the music, there are stands, games, line-dancing and you name it.

Among the line up is Roch Voisine, Cock Robin, Michelle Wright, Ricky Norton, Mike Sanchez and Hillbilly Boggiemen

The festival takes place over France's 14th July National Holiday - Bastille Day. This is the biggest festival of the French year, so you'll be treated to a massive fireworks display and
a big party atmosphere.

The town of Mirande hosts the festival each year. Mirande is a beautiful medieval town in the Gascony region of France. A region famed for its food and scenery. This is an unspoilt area of rural France with a timeless quality of life, there is little traffic so driving is a joy amidst the beautiful ever-changing scenery.

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There are dozens of country festivals in France throughout the summer (see my article on them on the NYTimes web site) -- the most prestigious is the Country Rendez-vous in Craponne, which takes place just two weeks after Mirande. One week after Craponne is the International Bluegrass Festival at La Roche sur Foron -- and one week after that is the great Equiblues rodeo and country music festival in St. Agreve....

And then, there are all those festivals in Germany, Poland, Austria, Lithuania, Switzerland, Sweden, Czech Republic.....impossible to keep track of them all....