Musician and scholar Lee Bidgood started exploring the Czech bluegrass scene while a student at UNC, and while playing mandolin for the Steep Canyon Rangers - now a professor working in the ETSU Bluegrass, Old Time & Country Music Program, he has been working with Slovak banjoist Richard Ciferský for most of a decade to support musical dialogue between two parts of the world that love bluegrass music and the banjo.

Bidgood and Ciferský will visit the Czech and Slovak School of North Carolina on Saturday morning 2/10/18 to meet with adults and children who are renewing their language skills, or are working to make new connections through this language and its related cultures. Learning songs is a great way to rekindle cultural memories, and to create new ones.

Free and open to the public, donations accepted. CDs, DVDs, and other band materials will be available for sale.

For more information contact: Marta McCabe: mccabe.marta@gmail.com

This event is a part of a residency at UNC-Chapel Hill sponsored by the UNC Music Department and the Carolina Bluegrass Initiative (as well as the Slavic Studies program and the Southern Folklife Collection). Lee and Richard will be visiting with students and faculty, and on Saturday 2/10/18 will leading a banjo workshop (2pm, Person Recital Hall) and a screening of Banjo Romantika at 4pm followed by Q&A with Lee and Richard.

We are excited to partner with the Czech and Slovak School of North Carolina for this event, as their efforts to support and enrich the lives of people who identify with Czech and Slovak culture.