Graminy House Concert (Bluegrass)

Friday, March 21, 2014 at 7pm at River Arts on Water Gallery

Graminy is…class-grass

Founded in 2010, Graminy is a new band, based in Madison, Wisconsin. We seek to fuse the classical and grassroots traditions, from Bach to bluegrass, from Copland to Celtic, from Gershwin to native American, from Kodaly to klezmer, and more. Drawing on all these styles, Graminy composes and arranges all its music, which includes lots of quick changes, generous improvisations, and occasional singing. We call our style “class-grass.” Our aim is to put more class in grass and more grass in class.

Graminy’s music focuses on themes of ecology and place. Our name derives from the botanical name for the grass family, Gramineae, as our music draws on the entire family of grassroots traditions, from all places and ecologies. We also play for dances and other non-concert events under the name Thirsty Roots.

There is always a collective process to our composition. Usually, a member of band brings a new tune and an arrangement to rehearsal, but it fast becomes a de-rangement, as ideas spring into the air. We call it “graminizing” a piece.