The IBMA Foundation e-mailbox has been full during the past two months with reports from across the country and around the world.
Uganda—
We shared news in the October issue of this publication about the bluegrass education program created by Michael Stein (California) aimed at combining music and culture from the U.S. Mike just returned from an August trip to Uganda, funded in part by an IBMA Foundation Arnold Shultz Fund grant. Much bluegrass music fellowship and friendship were shared with musicians in Uganda, and Stein was also to take one of the Foundation’s banjos with him on the plane. Prior to that the banjo player was playing a guitar to open G tuning so he could learn chords. “I bought a second violin and am having the mandolin player play chords and melody by plucking the strings of the fiddle,” he said. “I am proud to say that our group is made up on Christians, Jews, and Muslims – a really great force for peace.”
Stein is in touch with the American embassy in Kampala to let them know about the bluegrass project. “We continue to meet every other week (online), and I am making videos to teach the musicians their parts,” he said. “They are very excited and quite diligent about learning. We have started to write a song, ‘It’s a Long Road to Mbale,’ the place where many of the players live.” More news is coming regarding a new bluegrass collaboration in Uganda. Stay tuned!
Stein is a former member of the U.S. Navy Band Country Current, a GRAMMY-winning children’s music artist, a cast member of several major musicals, and a recording artist in the bluegrass world as well as the fiddler on albums by musicians like Mary Chapin-Carpenter and Tom Paxton.
RETURN to the November 2025 issue of The Cornerstone.
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