SIX BARS JAIL Folk Club
Six Bars Jail is a Folk Club inFlorence, Italy,devotedto the acoustic guitarandabove all to fingerstyle technique.
Founded in 2006 by adiminutive circle of friends captainedby Sergio Bianco, in little more than three years it has blossomed so dramatically thanks to the appearance of other enthusiasts,that it has been able to invite to Tuscanysome of the international acoustic guitar world’s greats such as John Renbourn, Beppe Gambettaand Peter Finger,to mention but a few, as well as manyhighly talented emerging guitarists and promising youngstersfrom the Italian and international panorama.
The folk club isentirelyself-managed andmaintains itselfwith contributions fromspectators (including the organisers who pay for tickets just like everyone else),and the "Società di Mutuo Soccorso" Club at Serpiolle, a small hamlet in the hills above Florence. The SMS club welcomed the folkclub to its small theatre right from the startand continues to faithfully supporttheir cultural activities andmusicalinitiativesdespite the general economic gloom and theparticularityof the genre being presented.
Given thatall the initiativesare organisedin its supporters own free time by way of spontaneous contributions, it is clear that what lies behind the very roots of the folk club’s philosophy is thesense ofclose friendshipcoupled witha desire toshare an ardent passion for the guitarand fingerstyle playing with others.
In addition to the concert activitieswhichthe folk club holds dearest, further initiatives are organised,such as workshops, “open mic” events, and trips to participate in otherconcertsand festivals ―even overseaslike the one in Scotland last October at Ullapool, or culinary/guitar meetingslike the "Fingerporking" festival they have organised for the last two years at the end of August in thetiny medieval village of Rigomagno near Siena, at whichthe extraordinarily moving atmosphereof the Tuscan countryside joins forces with the fascination of theacoustic guitarand the deliciousnessof porkcookedin the age-old local way, all washed down with the incomparable wine of the area.
“Six Bars Jail” is the name ofaninstrumental piece by the Florentine guitarist, Giovanni Unterberger,who is someone the club wished to honour explicitly. Unterberger, a pioneerof finger-picking in Italyduring the Seventies and Eighties, has been a reference point for all thosewho have taken up this technique, notonly in those years but also afterwards. Little known abroad, Unterberger remains an important name in Italy today, not only because ofthe teaching methods he has produced, but also thanks to the "Lizard" school for modern musicwhich he founded several years ago in the hills overlooking Florence. On January the 8th of this year, Unterberger gave Six Bars Jail the special present of anunforgettable concert,after many years of notgiving a public performance;a genuine, bona fidecelebrationfor all fingerstyle enthusiasts and a special form ofacknowledgement for the prolific effortmade over the last few yearsby all the friends of the Six Bars Jail club.
The guitarists who have been invited so far are:
Adam RAFFERTY (USA)
Alberto CALTANELLA
Alex DE GRASSI (USA)
Alex GILLAN (UK)
AMBETRE (Alberto GIANOTTI, Francesco ALBERTAZZI, Luca RACIOPPA)
Andrea DEIDDA
Andrea VALERI
Andrea VARNIER & Serena FINATTI
Angelo GUARINO (CH)
Beppe GAMBETTA
Bob BONASTRE (FRA)
Brooke MILLER (CAN)
Chris PROCTOR (USA)
Clive CARROLL (UK)
Daniele BAZZANI
Daria FEDOTOVA (RUS)
Dario FORNARA
Davide MASTRANGELO
Don ROSS (CAN)
Enrico NEGRO
Eric LUGOSCH (USA)
Franco BEFANI
Franco MORONE
Gabriele NARDINI e Laura TASSI
Gabriele POSSENTI
Gareth PEARSON (UK)
Giorgio MAZZONE
Giovanni FERRO
Giovanni PALOMBO
Giovanni PELOSI
Giovanni UNTERBERGER
Ian MELROSE (UK)
Jackie PERKINS (USA)
Jacques STOTZEM (B)
Jens KOMMNICK (D)
John DOAN (USA)
John GOLDIE (UK)
John RENBOURN (UK)
Laurence JUBER (UK)
Livio GUARDI
Luca FRANCIOSO
Luciano PIZZOLANTE
Marçio RANGEL (BRA)
Massimiliano CONA
Matteo NATIVO
Michael FIX (AUS)
Muriel ANDERSON (USA)
OVER THE MOON! Trio (Alex GILLAN (UK), Letizia BRUGNOLI, Marco ASTESANA)
Paolo GIORDANO
Paolo SERENO
Peppino D’AGOSTINO
Peter FINGER (D)
Peter PRICE (UK)
Peyman SALIMI
Pierre BENSUSAN (FRA)
Pietro NOBILE
Pietro SABATINI
Pino FORASTIERE
Pino RUSSO
Riccardo MARASCO
Riccardo ZAPPA
Roberto DALLA VECCHIA
Rolando BISCUOLA
Simone AGOSTINI
Soïg SIBERIL (FRA)
Stefano BARBATI
Stefano CORSI
Tim SPARKS (USA)
Umberto LASCAR
Val BONETTI
Walter LUPI
WINE GUITAR CLAN (Gabriele POSENATO, Giulio REDAELLI, Fulvio MONTAUTI, Alfonso GIARDINO)
The SBJ calendar,already bristling with events will as usual feature manyinternationally famous guests, as well as highly talented, lesser known players: