Abby Washburn & The Sparrow Trio Tour Guangdong

 

August 15, afternoon – Consul General Guangzhou hosted a Master Class with the band at his residence for 20 college-aged musicians from the Xinghai Conservatory of Music, the most prestigious music school in Guangzhou.  Playing several songs, the Sparrows discussed the relationship between musical genres like country, bluegrass, folk, blues, and jazz; discussed theories of improvisation, with several free-form examples; and the American musical penchant of combining disparate and foreign influences to make something new.  The class highlight was the combined American-Chinese jam.    

August 15 – After being introduced by Consul General Guangzhou, the “Sparrow Trio” (Abby Washburn, Bela Fleck, Casey Driessen) exposed a capacity crowd of close to 450 at the Sapphire Art Space in Guangzhou to their unique blend of traditional American music.  Showcasing her fantastic Chinese-language skills, Abby explained the origins of banjo and fiddle music in American musical history, and demonstrated bluegrass, country, and jazz styles. Singing original songs in both Chinese and English, the audience was wowed by the power of Abby's voice, Bela's Grammy-winning banjo styling's, and Casey's one-of-a-kind rhythmic fiddle playing. The trio's creative blend of numerous American musical genres resonated with the crowd, and their Chinese-language numbers nearly brought down the house. After the show, local print and TV media was invited by PAS for a back-stage interview with the band.

August 17 - the Sparrows traveled to Dongguan where they performed for an audience composed primarily of young Chinese students at the Guancheng District Culture Center. Over 800 people packed the house to hear the “Sparrow Trio”, and once again the group's musical skill and cross-cultural styling's wowed the audience. After the show, numerous audience members gathered for photos with the band and thanked the Consulate for bringing a real American cultural act to a primarily industrial city with few other cultural outlets.

August 19 – After being introduced by Consul General Guangzhou, the Sparrow Trio played at the Foshan Chancheng District Culture Center to a crowd of over 300 young and old Chinese music fans. After overcoming some challenging technical issues relating to the sound equipment, the group concluded their swing through Guangdong on a high note. The crowd roared when Abby sang in Chinese, Bela's banjo solos received a chorus of (American-style) whoops and shouts, and Casey's fiddle solo had the audience clamoring for more.