The Berkeley Old Time Music Convention is a five day music festival featuring a lovingly curated roster of local and national acts, with concert sets, rollicking square dances, workshops, jams and the illustrious string band contest in venues throughout Berkeley. Head to the BOTMC website for a full list of this year’s activities!
EVENING EVENTS
Cedric Watson, Bigfoot, and Clean Heat
Thursday, September 18 | 7PM
Maria Muldaur & Her Old Timey Pals, The Onlies, and Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellows
Friday, September 19 | 7PM
BOTMC 2-Day Passes available for $50 (plus fees)
Pass holders can attend workshops for free. Registration required.
WORKSHOPS AT FREIGHT & SALVAGE
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 at 4:00PM-5:15PM
Workshops TBA
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 at 4:00-5:15PM
Workshops TBA
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 at 11:00AM-2:00PM
Workshops TBA
Black Banjo and Fiddle Fellowship
The Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellowship (BBFF) is a two-year paid fellowship program that trains Black musicians in old-time music and its rich history. To repair the historical and cultural ruptures that erased the Black origins of banjo and fiddle music and to ensure that the tradition is sustained in Black communities, the BBFF also will train apprentices to teach the music, ensuring that it can be passed down from generation to generation. A collaboration between the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music and the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention, the BBFF project aims to repatriate old-time music in African American communities and illuminate the Black experience in creating old-time music.
