International Jazz Banjo Newsletter

The National Museum of Civil War Medicine is proud to announce the
second annual Antietam Early Banjo Conference to be held at the Pry
House Field Hospital Museum in Keedysville, Md Sept 14, 15 and 16th
(http://civilwarmed.org/events.cfm). This year's event is being held
in cooperation with the Piedmont Folk Legacy of North Carolina. The
purpose of the event is to raise awareness of the important role the
early banjo played in multicultural roots of American popular music
and culture and the role music played in the lives of our Civil War
ancestors.

Last year the conference brought together 32 stroke style banjo
players from 14 states to take part in 19th century banjo workshops,
jam sessions and scholarly lectures. This year the program has been
expanded to include one-on-one mentoring sessions and a Civil War era
banjo-building workshop.

There will be a public concert and stroke style banjo contest on
Saturday September 15th at 4:00 p.m. Feel free to bring a picnic
basket, blanket or chair and eat dinner on the lawn of the historic
Pry House! The concert will be held rain or shine. Rain location
will be the inside of the Pry House Barn. Tickets will be available
at the gate, $5.00 for adults or $15.00 for a carload. All proceeds
benefit the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.

The banjo contest winner will be awarded a handmade fretless
antebellum banjo reproduction. Last year's winner, Greg Adams of
Germantown, Maryland, graciously auctioned his prize banjo to raise
money for the Akonting Cultural Center in Gambia (western Africa).
The center is dedicated to the preservation of traditional African
culture including the African antecedents of the American banjo.

Those wishing to attend the conference or wanting information on the
concert should contact the Museum at 301-695-1864. The Pry House is
located on the Antietam National Battlefield at 18906 Shepherdstown
Pike (MD route 34), between Sharpsburg and Boonesboro Maryland.