April 30, 2009
May 1: BlueGrass Kirtan
Come and hear AC fiddle! Chant along with Bluegrass Kirtan!
The Rhine Research Center presents
Bluegrass Kirtan!
May 1st, 2009
7:30 - 10:00
BlueGrass Kirtan Concert: Mantra chanting with kicking old-time Appalachian fiddle and banjo music.
Band members: AC Bushnell, fiddle; Bobb Head, bass; Terry Burtyk, banjo; Jon Newlin, guitar.
Vocals: Jon Seskevich, Betsy Bickel, Mark Smith, Jude Casseday, Emily Reece.
This special live event will be at the Stedman Auditorium, Center for Living Campus Duke Univ:
3475 Erwin Road
Durham, NC 27705
For more information call 919-309-4600.
Purchase Your Tickets Now!
Tickets are: $10 for Rhine Center members, $15 for non-members and $5 for students.
Find out more about the music and art, go to Bluegrass Kirtan.
Click here to listen to 11 samples from their great CD.
Mantra chanting can be an extension of shaking your ass or raising your voice in joyful exultation, with no fundamentalist associations. It’s sheer joy to sing, a good way to loosen one’s heart in the world.” — Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997)
From the BlueGrass Kirtan liner notes by Jon Seskevich:
This poem by the renowned beat poet skeleton Allen Ginsberg has delighted and inspired me as a veritable foreshadowing of the spirit and experience of BlueGrass Kirtan.
Living in the Durham-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina, I have enjoyed old-time/bluegrass jam sessions. Listening to the melody of tunes as they repeated in a regular pattern, in my mind, heart, and soul, I began to “hear” a mantra that fit the melody and rhythm. These were the same mantras I had learned during my time of study in the 70’s and 80’s with Ram Dass, noted spiritual teacher, friend of chanting and author of the book Be Here Now. In 2006, I went to a concert to hear fiddle great AC Bushnell playing with Stillhouse Bottom Band.
Afterwards AC and I chatted, discussed this concept and began a fun musical and spiritual collaboration that has culminated in this album! AC who has many rich years of playing, recording, and performing, has brought together wonderfully talented North Carolina musicians for this East-West project. They highlight their skills and artistry with traditional bluegrass instrumental breaks woven throughout the pieces.