James Warren
WITH the COVID-19 pandemic curtailing most live events until 2021, country music fans can rejoice as the Barcelona bluegrass festival takes place this weekend, albeit virtually.
The World famous event, known as the Al Ras Bluegrass Festival, takes place in various locations across the Catalan Capital and celebrates everything bluegrass and country.
Starting at 9.00pm tonight, organisers have adapted the three day event to take place online, with performances from across Europe as well as activities and competitions.
The event will be streamed live on their Facebook page and will include both live and historical performances.
For the first time, viewers will be invited to reminisce over past performances as replays of previous years will be mixed with this year’s events.
Classic performances from the 60s and 70s from stars such as Bill Keith, Jim Rooney, Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, J.D. Crowe and Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys will be shown throughout the weekend.
Traditional activities such as the raffle will also still be present, however instead of buying tickets, comment and interactions will be entered to win special prizes.
There will also be banjo and fiddle workshops with Lluis Gomez and Oriol Sana on the Saturday as well as ‘song swap’ discussions and a live jam session.
