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| Berkeley Old Time Music Convention | |
|---|---|
| Name | Berkeley Old Time Music Convention |
| Location | Berkeley, California |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Dates | late spring (annual) |
| Genre | Old-time music, folk |
Berkeley Old Time Music Convention is an annual gathering in Berkeley, California dedicated to old-time music, fiddle traditions, banjo playing, clawhammer technique, and related folk music practices. The event draws practitioners, scholars, and enthusiasts from across the United States, Canada, and Europe, featuring concerts, competitions, workshops, and dances that celebrate regional repertoires such as Appalachian music, Ozark music, and Carolina tunes. It serves as both a performance festival and a working meeting for tradition-bearers, educators, and archivists connected to institutions like the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution.
The Convention traces origins to early-21st-century revival movements influenced by recordings from the Alan Lomax collections, fieldwork by Jean Ritchie and Pete Seeger, and regional festivals such as the Appalachian String Band Festival and Old Time Fiddlers' Convention (Galax). Founders drew inspiration from the urban folk scenes of Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland, and Bay Area venues associated with KPFA broadcasts and Freight & Salvage programs. Over successive years the Convention incorporated elements from historic gatherings like the Viper Room-era jam circuits, links to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum archives, and collaborations with scholars from University of California, Berkeley, California State University, Hayward, and the American Folklore Society.
Programming typically includes parallel tracks: instructional workshops taught by masters associated with Rounder Records, hands-on square dance calls, and evening concerts curated with attention to repertoire documented by Alan Lomax and Samuel Charters. The Convention features contest formats reminiscent of the Galax Old Fiddlers' Convention and adjudicated by judges from institutions like Smithsonian Folkways and Old Time Herald. Panels often engage researchers from the Folklore Society, archivists from the Bancroft Library, and educators connected to the National Endowment for the Arts. Community-oriented events include contra dances with callers trained in the traditions of Ragtime accompanists and gatherings honoring elder tradition-bearers affiliated with the National Heritage Fellowship program.
Attendees span a wide network including traditional players rooted in Appalachia, descendants of African American string-band traditions, and revival musicians linked to labels such as Rounder Records and Smithsonian Folkways. The Convention attracts noted teachers who have appeared at Clifftop (Festival), Port Townsend workshops, and Old Settlers Reunion stages, as well as collectors and ethnomusicologists from UCLA, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Community partnerships extend to local organizations such as Berkeley Repertory Theatre and California Arts Council grantees, and to regional radio programs like KALW and KQED that document performances.
Events have been held in venues across central Berkeley including halls associated with Berkeley Marina, campus spaces near University of California, Berkeley facilities, and community centers in neighborhoods proximate to Telegraph Avenue and Shattuck Avenue. The Convention’s location facilitates collaborations with nearby institutions: outreach with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory cultural programs, archival visits to the Bancroft Library, and joint presentations at Berkeley Public Library branches. Proximity to San Francisco Bay transit hubs, including BART stations, supports travel for participants coming from Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, Oregon, and the Rocky Mountains region.
Over the years the Convention has presented artists and tradition-bearers connected to prominent figures and institutions: performers who apprenticed under Doc Watson and Mose Scarlett, scholars who published with University of North Carolina Press and Oxford University Press, and guest lecturers affiliated with Smithsonian Folkways and the Library of Congress. Featured acts have included players with ties to the Earl Scruggs legacy, banjoists influenced by Roscoe Holcomb repertory, and fiddlers known from the Clawhammer Revival scene and broadcasts on NPR programs. Guests have ranged from grassroots elders recorded by Harry Smith-era collectors to contemporary practitioners who collaborate with ensembles on labels like Waterbug Records and Dawn Records.
The Convention has spawned field recordings and sessions that appear on compilation releases with producers associated with Rounder Records, Smithsonian Folkways, and small independent presses. Proceedings and transcriptions have been published in outlets such as the Old-Time Herald, scholarly journals linked to the American Folklore Society, and collections archived at the Bancroft Library and Library of Congress American Folklife Center. Educational materials developed at workshops have been adapted into curriculum resources used by teachers connected to National Endowment for the Arts grants and regional folk schools like Swannanoa Gathering.
The Convention contributes to the preservation and transmission of regional repertoires, influencing revival networks that intersect with festivals such as Clifftop, Galax, and Old Town School of Folk Music programs. It has supported intergenerational mentorship that sustains repertoires tied to Appalachian and African American roots, and has fostered scholarship informing museum exhibits at institutions like the Country Music Hall of Fame and programming at Smithsonian Institution centers. Its archived recordings and pedagogical resources continue to shape research at universities including UC Berkeley and Duke University and inform curatorial work at the Library of Congress American Folklife Center.
Category:Music festivals in California Category:Berkeley, California