Bela's speech at IBMA 2014

[Ky Slim]

This is just great!

[catmandu2]

Wonderful. An eloquent and intimate explication of the artist and the medium.

What a trip down memory lane.

[Bernie Daniel]

[QUOTE=Ky Slim;1331271]This is just great!


Entertaining speech for sure.

[Grommet]

Great reflections. You don't want to miss this.

Scott

[DougC]

Wow. I knew Bela is a nice guy but this really shows some heart that brings a tear to the eye. He loves bluegrass as much as anyone and has known some of the key figures in that world. Earl Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Tony Trischka, and on and on. I really like what he has to say about a small ensemble and the magic that happens with the right players. And to know the style well before you start messing with it.
Bela, you're an inspiration. Thanks!

Good catch Alan. I missed all of them, huh? (I never could spell very well).

[AlanN]

Wow. I knew Bella is a nice guy but this really shows some heart that brings a tear to the eye. He loves bluegrass as much as anyone and has known some of the key figures in that world. Earl Scuggs, Bill Monroe, Tony Trishka, and on and on. I really like what he has to say about a small ensemble and the magic that happens with the right players. And to know the style well before you start messing with it.
Bella, you're an inspiration. Thanks!

To really show that you are inspired, try to get the names right:

Bela
Scruggs
Trischka

[DougC]

Somehow I'm not inspired to spell correctly when writing about this video. It just jumped out and wrote itself onto the computer screen. It may look like a lack of respect for these people, so I'll take the time to correct the names.

At, night all cows look black... so what was my point? Er, cows, ensembles, magic?? Can't seem to think again.

[TonyP]

That was a great speech and I should have gone to see it because we were at IBMA. But I was just to beat.

There have been so many threads bemoaning the end of bluegrass and there's no youngin's playin' it right etc. And before there was this kneejerk about Chris Thile there was this horrible reaction to Bela Fleck. Like Satan incarnate come to destroy bluegrass. It just kills me that the ones that went through it and moved into other music are seen as somehow traitors and trying to destroy the music when all they are doing is growing. Like so many of my heroes they keep moving and evolving. But like Bela so eloquently put, it's always there because it's the base, the foundation. And that doesn't go away.

I saw so many young when at IBMA. It seemed like that's mostly what I saw. I heard Steffy clones and just as many Monroe clones. I don't think you could kill this music if you tried. But if you try to keep it static like a bug in amber it will be essentially dead.

One of the things I did get to take in was the documentary film Banjo Romantica about bluegrass in Czech Republic. I always wondered why the Czechs were so good at bluegrass. This documentary was about the history of the revolution and how bluegrass became the symbol of freedom. The Czech bluegrassers are worried the music wil die because they have their freedom and the originals are getting old and despondent about what's going on.

But like with Bela it's the intent not the rigid form that will continue on. And if there is that intent, there will always be those that will follow the masters and then move it further along.