VOA标准英语2008年-Fans Celebrate Worldwide Bluegrass Music Month

By Katherine Cole
Washington
30 May 2008

We know that 12 months make up one year. There is one exception to that rule, however. When you are talking about commemorative months, several types of music are celebrated¹: September is Classical Music Month; April is Jazz Appreciation² Month; Black Music Month is coming up in June. And May? VOA's Katherine Cole reports this is Worldwide Bluegrass Music Month.

For the uninitiated, bluegrass is a kind of acoustic³ music, built around banjos, mandolins, guitars and fiddles⁴, and it's famous for its lightning-fast picking. While there are now thousands of bluegrass musicians in all parts of the world, not so many years ago, there was only one bluegrass band in the world … Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Boys.

Bill Monroe came to be known as the "father of bluegrass music," because he invented both the name and the sound back in the 1940s. His group, Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Boys, featured Bill on his mandolin, Lester Flatt on guitar, Howard Watts⁵ on bass⁶, and Earl Scruggs on banjo.

Bluegrass has now been a part of American music for more than 50 years. While bluegrass fans are fiercely-dedicated, learning as much as they can about their favorite musicians, the instruments they play, and the songs they've written, most Americans are probably only familiar with the genre⁷ through a handful of songs that have become popular outside of the bluegrass mainstream⁸. Most of those tunes⁹ were associated with television shows like The Beverly Hillbillies, or movies such as O Brother Where Art Thou?, Deliverance,"and Bonnie and Clyde, which featured Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs performing the classic "Foggy Mountain Breakdown¹⁰."

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs met while performing in Bill Monroe's bluegrass band. In 1948, they decided¹¹ to form their own group, The Foggy Mountain Boys, recording¹² "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" a few years later. That "breakdown" did wonders for banjo sales when it appeared in the 1968 movie Bonnie And Clyde. It also helped to introduce bluegrass to a whole new audience.

Today, the popularity of bluegrass has spread far beyond the United States, with fans and musicians, popping up in Europe, South America and beyond.

A few international pickers have even settled in the U.S., and have proven they can play bluegrass just as well as the homegrown talent. One such band is The Greencards, made up of Australians Kym Warner and Carol Young, and U.K. native Eamon McLaughlin.

Cole: "Considering that many Americans don't know the music of Flatt and Scruggs, how did you all discover it living where you did? I can't imagine that American bluegrass was always at the top of the [Australian] charts."

Young: "There was this sort of underground scene in Australia."

Warner: "Like there is anywhere. You're going to meet people from the Czech Republic and Italy playing bluegrass music. Same sort of things. There's just pockets of people [playing it]. For me, it was through my dad. I was one of the few people in Australia that had a father who actually played banjo. And Eamon's family was musical too, so he got into it in that sort of way."

McLaughlin: "Yeah, my Dad had a country band in England for many years, so he'd always have these old LPs [albums] of Charley Pride, and Buck¹³ Owens and Jim Reeves. It [the music] was always on. Sunday dinner, it was always country music. As Carol said, it was this sort of underground scene where there'd be one or two radio shows per week that you'd listen to religiously, and you'd write down all the names, and go and try to find out who these singers were. Kind of like a cult¹⁴."

Twenty years ago, arts consultant¹⁵ Bob Wolff decided it was time for bluegrass to outgrow¹⁶ its cult status, and proposed that May be designated Worldwide Bluegrass Music Month. He had a theory that if more people were introduced to the music he loved, the audience would grow. That seems to have worked, as sales of CDs and concert tickets show bluegrass is more popular than ever these days.

If you're new to bluegrass, and would like to learn more about the music but don't know where to start, a compilation¹⁷ album may be the way to go. Several labels have released new bluegrass collections this year, and they are a very good way to learn more about the music. Rebel Records' latest is called Best Loved Bluegrass: 20 All-Time Favorites.  Artists on this collection include first generation performers like Mac Wiseman, The Stanley Brothers, The Seldom Scene, The Country Gentlemen, Tony Rice, and J.D. Crowe, who contributes an instrumental called "Train 45."

If you'd like to find out where to find bluegrass music near you, contact the International Bluegrass Music Association online at IBMA.org. And don't forget to tell them you heard about Worldwide Bluegrass Music Month on VOA.

1 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

2 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

3 acoustic   

adj.听觉的，声音的；(乐器)原声的

参考例句：

• The hall has a fine acoustic.这个大厅的传音效果很好。
• Animals use a whole rang of acoustic, visual,and chemical signals in their systems of communication.动物利用各种各样的听觉、视觉和化学信号来进行交流。

4 fiddles   

n.小提琴( fiddle的名词复数 )；欺诈；（需要运用手指功夫的）细巧活动；当第二把手v.伪造( fiddle的第三人称单数 )；篡改；骗取；修理或稍作改动

参考例句：

• He fiddles with his papers on the table. 他抚弄着桌子上那些报纸。 来自辞典例句
• The annual Smithsonian Festival of American Folk Life celebrates hands-hands plucking guitars and playing fiddles. 一年一度的美国民间的“史密斯索尼安节”是赞美人的双手的节日--弹拔吉他的手，演奏小提琴的手。 来自辞典例句

5 watts   

（电力计量单位）瓦，瓦特( watt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• My lamp uses 60 watts; my toaster uses 600 watts. 我的灯用60瓦，我的烤面包器用600瓦。
• My lamp uses 40 watts. 我的灯40瓦。

6 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

7 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

8 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

9 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

13 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

14 cult   

n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜

参考例句：

• Her books aren't bestsellers,but they have a certain cult following.她的书算不上畅销书，但有一定的崇拜者。
• The cult of sun worship is probably the most primitive one.太阳崇拜仪式或许是最为原始的一种。

15 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

16 outgrow   

vt.长大得使…不再适用；成长得不再要

参考例句：

• The little girl will outgrow her fear of pet animals.小女孩慢慢长大后就不会在怕宠物了。
• Children who walk in their sleep usually outgrow the habit.梦游的孩子通常在长大后这个习惯自然消失。

17 compilation   

n.编译，编辑

参考例句：

• One of the first steps taken was the compilation of a report.首先采取的步骤之一是写一份报告。
• The compilation of such diagrams,is of lasting value for astronomy.绘制这样的图对天文学有永恒的价值。