Updated June, 2011

1. The NORTH AMERICAN JEW'S HARP FESTIVAL (NAJHF)

	The main activity of the JEW'S HARP GUILD 
	will be organizing, publicizing and producing
	the NORTH AMERICAN JEW'S HARP FESTIVAL.

          The festival began in July 1992 and was originally named the
     "Sumpter Valley Jew's Harp Festival".  The current name was
     adopted in 1994.  For the first three years (1992-94) the
     festival was held in Sumpter, Oregon; from 1995 to 2002 it was held
     in Richland, Oregon.  Festival organizers expect; 2003 and 2004 in
     Bay City, Oregon (on the coast). Future locations will appear on 
     the website.

          The festival has been produced by its founders
     and a core group of volunteers.  Costs have been offset through
     private donations and festival sales (T-Shirts, Hats, Raffle
     Tickets).

          The festival's focus is the music, history and culture of
     the Jew's Harp, an ancient musical instrument found literally
     worldwide.  We believe it is the only annual event in the North
     America with this particular focus.

          From the start, the event has also attracted players of
     other unusual or uncommon instruments.

          The festival itself consists of three days of workshops,
     discussions, performances, jam sessions and sing-a-longs.

     Past workshops have included:
          Presentations of collections of Jew's harps from around the 
          world (Austria, Siberia, Bali, Pakistan, etc.) Jew's Harp 
	  playing techniques. Lectures/demonstrations on experimental
          mouthbow, Chinese percussive instruments, musical saw, 
          didgeridoo, mountain dulcimer, Clackamore  , and giant 
          chorded zither.

          Topics of future workshops depend on who attends the
     festival, but could include workshops on the construction of 
     bamboo and metal versions of the Jew's harp, how to play the 
     mouthbow or musical saw. And always "how to play Jew's harp" 
     workshops.

          Performances have included all of the aforementioned
     instruments as well as voice, guitar, piano, banjo, spoons,
     Autoharp, nose flute, and many more.

          Musical styles have been eclectic as well, with traditional
     fiddle tunes, folk, improvisation, blues, classical, rock-n-roll,
     and even Tuvan-style meditative music represented.  All types of
     music are encouraged.

          Attendees have included Tadagawa Leo, an authority of the
     instrument from Japan, and Desiree Dyk, an aficionado from the
     Netherlands.  Both planned their trips to the States (in 1992 and
     1993 respectively) specifically around the festival.  Aron Szilagyi
     (Hungary) and Roland Bades (from Wimmer Maultrommel, Austria) have 
     also attended. Other participants have come from Oregon, Washington,
     Idaho, California, British Columbia, Colorado, Arizona and Louisiana
     and Australia.

          Nearby camping, and no alcohol sales on the grounds have combined
     to make it a popular family event.

2. NEWSLETTER

PLUCK-N-POST

	PLUCK-N-POST is the Official Newsletter of the Jew's Harp Guild.
     Three to four issues of PLUCK-N-POST will be published each year 
     including double-issues featuring news and pictures about grand 
     events). Online versions appears on this website at the same time. 
     The first issue of PLUCK-N-POST was distributed in January 1997.