Event

Mountain Minstrelsy presented by Marah and the Place Studies Initiative

Mountain Minstrelsy
April 20, 3-5 pm, Campus Theater downtown Lewisburg

Presented by Marah and the Place Studies Initiative
Bucknell.edu/psi
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mountain-Minstrelsy/295990917129295

David Bielanko and Christine Smith core members of the Rock & Roll band Marah fled NYC for rural Pennsylvania and soon became obsessed with the old, forgotten music of the region.

Upon discovering a book of song lyrics compiled by folklorist Henry Shoemaker called "Mountain Minstrelsy of Pennsylvania" (as sung in the backwoods settlements, hunting camps and lumber camps 1840 1923) Bielanko and Smith built an analog recording studio in an old church and recruited local musicians to record an album of brand new music for these songs.

The "Mountain Minstrelsy" band members also include Kai Schafft, Jimmy Baughman, Chris Rattie and a 9 year old fiddle prodigy named Gus. A full-length documentary is in the works for this project. Below are two teasers filmed during the record making process.

"Mountain Minstrelsy Part 1 (an introduction)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKRKZ0OcAUA

"Mountain Minstrelsy Part 2" (the music)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAfon0-6SO4

Their performance at the Campus Theater will include Bucknell faculty members Duane Griffin, Katie Faull, Ben Marsh and Alf Siewers who will provide brief overviews and discussions between songs about the places, people and landscapes in which these songs were originally sung. The show is supported by the Place Studies Initiative, the Bucknell Environmental Center, Department of Comparative Humanities and the Music department.