May is Bluegrass month and accordingly, the European Bluegrass Music Association held its 12th annual EWOB Festival in Voorthuizen, The Netherlands. One of the highlights of the EWOB festival is the voting for European Bluegrass Band of the Year. There are actually two awards given in this category. The first is voted by the performers present at the event. The second is voted by the audience present at the event.

The winner of the first award will be invited to perform at next year’s (2010) IBMA World of Bluegrass in Nashville, TN.

Here are this year’s winners.

#1 European Bluegrass Band 2009:
1. Downtown Ramblers, Sweden
2. G-Runs ‘n Roses, Czech Republic
3. Kreni, Czech Republic

Audience Popularity Award 2009
1. Blackjack, CZ
2. Bluegrass Stuff, Italy
3. Sunny Side, Czech Republic

Earlier this month we brought you news of the European Booking Network Notice Board, one initiative that came from the European Bluegrass Summit that took place early in February at Buhl/Baden (Germany).

The summit considered in depth six topics, namely ‚Ķ‚Ķ

1. Associations and their relationships
2. Internet-based, inclusive networking (hub)
3. The involvement of young people in bluegrass
4. Lobbying, fund raising, and marketing on a continental scale
5. The use and significance of the term ‘European World of Bluegrass’
6. Continent-wide booking

Other aspects relating to bluegrass in Europe were set aside due to lack of time during the two-day event.

In concluding, the attendees provided a country-by-country review of the current European market for bluegrass and gave their individual impressions of what had been achieved

A full report, in the form of the minutes of the meeting, is now available online at the European Bluegrass Music Association website (opens as a PDF).

We posted a report last month about the recent European Bluegrass Summit held in B?ºhl/Baden (Germany) in early February. The summit was convened to allow for closer collaboration among European bluegrass associations, and to further the promotion of bluegrass music in Europe.

One of the first fruits of this conference has been announced, the work of the ‘booking issues’ group. They have created a notice board, posted on the EBMA web site, where bands planning a tour in Europe can announce their tour dates in a central place for promoters and venues to view them.

John Sheldon, secretary of the Scottish Bluegrass Association, has written an open letter to any artists who might be interested in this service:

Planning a European tour?  Do you have a European festival booking and are you looking for some more follow on gigs? Do you have a gig offer in Europe and are you looking to build up a tour?

If you are acting as your own agent and organizing your own tour you can put your dates forward to me with a request for enquiries to be routed  to your e-mail/telephone number etc. This will be placed on the On Line Notice Board. This can be accessed from a button on the EBMA site, and more links are being established with bluegrass promoters, European Music Festivals and European National Bluegrass Associations.

What I am looking for is a fairly concise notice about your tour with links to your own site. You can put this notice forward to me as your own representation, or if you have an agent/manager I’m happy to accept information from your representative.

Information can be submitted to Sheldon by email.

Other members of the booking issues group who worked on this project include Christopher Howard-Williams, organizer of the
European Bluegrass Festival at La Roche-sur-Foron, Chris Keenan, organizer of the Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival at Longford, Ireland, Dagfinn Pedersen, organizer of the Ris??r Bluegrass Festival in Norway, and Rienk Janssen, International IBMA Board member, EBMA board member, and coordinator of events throughout Europe during European World of Bluegrass.

Following on the heels of a successful International Bluegrass Summit at this year’s IBMA, a European Bluegrass Summit is planned to take place February 7-8, 2009 in B?ºhl/Baden, southern Germany.

Anyone within the bluegrass community in Europe is invited to attend. Specifically the organizers would like to see participation from bluegrass association staff, event organisers and promoters.

The summit has four stated goals.

• To provide an opportunity for a wide audience of up to forty participants to meet face to face, bond, and get to know each other
• To highlight some of the issues affecting the promotion of bluegrass music in Europe
• To explore the issues facing different countries and different cultures in Europe
• To motivate people to work together more closely and to communicate more effectively

The European Bluegrass Blog has more details and application information for any interested in attending.