Chanos International Steel Guitar Festival 2010

[Digby Hardy]

The third annual event of CISGF will be held in Chanos-Curson, France from the Friday 17 to Sunday 19 September. As with last year it will open with a Steel Guitar Concert on Friday evening featuring 3 great French steel guitarists - Lionel Wendling (psg), Jay Desoteux (psg and blues guitar) and Thierry Loyer (resonater). The Convention will run from Saturday a.m. to Sunday late - all attendees will be expected to play as is our usual policy.

The European Steel Guitar Hall of Fame inductions will be conferred in a ceremony after dinner on Saturday evening. We will be inducting 11 people this time, the actual name will be announced in early September.

This year CISGF will contine the expansion we have experienced each year. Walter Bednarz of WBS guitars has taken a stand and will unveil his latest guitar. We expect players from France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, UK and USA - it will be a great gathering. In addition to playing at the convention we will have 2 rolling jam sessions for steel guitar and one acoustic jam session outside the Convention Hall.

Getting to Chanos-Curson is pretty simple if you use EuroStar from St. Pancras. Change at Lille and hop off at Valence. The TGV station is only 15 minutes by car from Chanos_Curson.

Digby Hardy

[bob adams]

Sounds good Digby I know for sure Lionel & Jay won't disappoint, have a great event!

[Basil Henriques]

Here is link to a selection of videos from last years festival.
http://www.chanos-isgf.org/souvenir%20v ... 02009.html

It's a great place to host a Steel Guitar Festival.

This year we're adding a rolling jam session in the parish hall and an acoustic jam session outside the village cafe so as to attract the locals.


We've engaged three excellent French Steel Guitar players for the Friday Steel Guitar Concert - it's bound to be a terrific evening.

[Graeme Jaye]

We expect players from France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, UK and USA....

You left out Spain... but then I realised you said 'players' .

[Digby Hardy]

Jam Session

This year we will include jam sessions for amplified steel guitars and for acoustic instruments.

Jam session for steel guitars.
Joerg Schubert will control a jam session for steel guitars. Time and space only allow 4 to 5 players to take part in each session so those interested in playing must register their names. Joerg has produced backing tracks for four songs and each player will have a chance to play a section from each song as directed by Joerg. If you are interested we will supply you with the backing track, a song track and chord sheet for you to practice before you take part.
The jam session is expected to last about one hour and we will have one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis but only for players who have paid for their Players ticket.

Acoustic jam session.
The acoustic jam session will take place on Saturday around lunch time outside the Café. This session is for acoustic instruments only. Songs will be played from a list of four or five songs and controlled by Rod King.
Players of resonator guitars, rhythm guitars, acoustic bass, ukuleles, etc. are all welcome. We have sample tracks of the songs.

Note: It is possible that the jam sessions will overlap because they must not interfere with the playing in the convention hall so please apply for one or the other.

[Basil Henriques]

The inside cover of Aloha Dream..

[Basil Henriques]

From Bobby Lee AKA b0b

To The European Steel Guitar Hall of Fame committee and members

I am not a world traveller. In fact, I have never physically crossed any national border. Nevertheless, I feel that I know many of you through the power of technology, and I feel a friendship based on our common interest: the steel guitar.

Do you believe in destiny? I don't understand the powerful force that brought me to the steel guitar in the early 1970's. I also don't understand the powerful force that drew me to electronic bulletin boards in the 1980's, or my early fascination with computer programming. I found myself designing and writing code for message boards, learning how to run them and, more importantly, learning how to deal with people in this strange flat-screen world.

Destiny. By the 1990's, my pedal steel came out of the closet only once a week, for a Friday night bar gig that was more an excuse to party than any serious attempt at music. Then in 1995 Tom Bradshaw, hosted a small steel convention near my home in California. I went to that show and met Herb Remington, Jimmy Day and Bobby Black, and I was inspired once more!

Around same time, the World Wide Web was beginning to reach critical mass. Bulletin board operators like myself were looking to the Web as a way to expand their membership. This is what I mean by destiny. I had this renewed steel guitar inspiration and over a decade of recent message board experience. The cards were dealt from a “stacked deck”. Thus, in 1997 The Steel Guitar Forum was born. The internet's floodgates were opened and you all stepped into my living room to talk about steel.

I neither planned for nor expected the worldwide response. To my delight, I found myself befriending great players like Basil Henriques and Lionel Wendling. The snowball effect was amazing. The inspiration was contagious.

Now I find myself in the odd position of receiving an award from the other side of the world, for being at the center of a chain of events that I still don't fully understand. I am grateful of course, but more than anything I want you all to understand that this award is a celebration of community. I am the face of the Steel Guitar Forum, but you are the body of members who made the web site a success. You are the community that continues to inspire steel guitar players and “wannabees”.

I humbly accept this award as an appreciation of service to the European Steel Guitar community. The recognition means a lot to me. Thank you very much.

So, it's no less than what he deserves, where WOULD we all be if it wasn't for the contacts and information imparted by the

Basil Henriques (Secretary ESGHoF)

[Digby Hardy]

CISGF 2010 has grown again this year, something I was not expecting. The main attraction of the festival is the Convention where everybody is given a slot and is expected to play. This takes place mainly on the Saturday and such were the numbers of players that we will not be able to give everyone a slot next year - if the growth trend continues. Just not enough hours in our day. The problem is compounded by having to limit playing from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm because we have to prepare for the European Steel Guitar Hall of Fame induction ceremony during the gala dinner on Saturday evening. This little side show is also becoming increasingly popular as more European guitarists are recognised.

To anticipate the shortage of playing time we introduced an amplified and an acoustic jam session which gives players a 1 hour session instead of the 20 minute solo sesssion. The jams worked very well and we will develop these as an alternative for CISGF 2011.

This year we engaged Jay Desoteux and MrJays band with Lionel Wendling and Thierry Loyer to play a Steel Guitar concert for a paying public on the Friday evening. A fantastic evening of Country and Rock. We will do it again next year. Jay and Lionel are playing at the Irish Steel Guitar Festival this weekend.

Photos of CISGF 2010

For videos: http://alternativ-steel.forumactif.com/ ... 550-15.htm

The dates for CISGF 2011 are 16 to 18 September 2011. I'm thinking of organising a minibus next year to take a group of players down to Chanos (and back). If you are interested, let me know.

[Digby Hardy]

Pat and Basil Henriques have published and article on CISGF 2010 in the December issue of Aloha Dream.