Celebrate the end of the Library's Westward Bound: African American Country Music History & Country Lore exhibit with a live performance by the Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellowship. December 14th is the last day to view the exhibit.
The Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellowship (BBFF) is a program of the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music. The performance will feature musicians Joe Zavaan Johnson and Patrice Strahan.
The BBFF project aims to repatriate old-time music in African American communities and illuminate the Black experience in creating old-time music. 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 is also a teacher-training program. It will train apprentices to teach the music, ensuring that it can be passed down from generation to generation.