WOODSTOCK INVITATIONAL recently completed its 7th Luthiers Showcase which took place over the Oct. 23 – 25th weekend. The annual event brings together acoustic guitarists, guitar builders, and their fans from all over the country. This year we even had participants from Canada, Turkey, Sweden, and Japan. The Showcase offers a huge array of workshops on the guitar and vendor exhibits of fine handcrafted string instruments. Master musicians brought their beautiful sounds to life by playing them for an eager audience. I bought a ticket on Sunday which allowed me to attend the entire day’s event and a special grant made it possible for the Showcase to also feature a couple of wonderful free performances. One was given by Sones de Mexico, a terrific Mexican ensemble that brought more than 20 different stringed instruments to perform folk songs and dances from the many regions of their country. I was able to capture a bit of it in the video clip below – sorry for the rather abrupt cut off (My camera doesn’t like commands and takes them slowly).
I had never heard of a harp guitar before and fell in love with the sound when Claude Laflamme gave a demonstration on one that was made by luthier Michel Pellerin of Quebec.
DEMONSTRATION OF THE HARP GUITAR
I spent most of Sunday at the Woodstock Invitational Luthiers Showcase where demonstrations of guitars and other string instruments continued throughout the day and evening culminating with a free after party performance that went on well into the night. The quality and musical talent was so outstanding that it was hard to leave. Next year I plan to go for the entire weekend. If you are an aficionado of the guitar and other string instruments come to the Luthiers Showcase next year 2016: You won’t be disappointed nor will you ever want to go home!
Guitarist Kinloch Nelson brings the Showcase to a close with a piece he played in Sunday night’s after party music line up.