The Elephant Grass Musical Chairs Bluegrass Band, pictured here during intermission at a program for the Muthaiga Club in Nairobi, Kenya, is a recent recipient of an Arnold Shultz Fund grant. Specifically, a grant will support the expense of fiddle lessons from a local Kenyan violin teacher for the two Kenyan fiddlers in the band. The grant will also allow the violin teacher to become more familiar with bluegrass fiddling and integrate it into her teaching in various Kenyan schools, as well as eventually become an Elephant Grass Musical Chairs band member (or substitute) herself.
“Of course we had our IBMA Foundation banner on full display,” said band leader/banjo player Tom Wolf, “which I also took some time to talk about, especially when I called Sanya (pictured third from right, above) up on stage at the start of the second half to surprise her and most of the band by reading the grant-announcement – which triggered quite energetic applause!”
RETURN to the May 2025 issue of The Cornerstone.
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