Lively and energetic, the sounds of a fiddle and guitar harmonizing together wove through the bookshelves of the Berkeley Public Library on Saturday morning.
The usually quiet atmosphere now filled with the laughter and the singing of parents and children as musical twin brothers Greg and Jere Canote performed jaunty tunes about animals, fried ham and ukuleles.
The family concert kicked off the second-to-last day of the Berkeley Old-Time Music Convention, an annual festival celebrating nostalgic musical acts since 1968.
Hosted at different venues throughout the city, events ranged from stringband contests and musician panels to local band performances and national acts, such as the Canote Brothers, who have played all over the country since the 1980s.
“It’s really fun when you feel like you’ve really connected and people are having fun,” Greg Canote said. “There’s a feedback loop where they send (the energy) back to you and you amplify it, send it back to them. Our favorite thing about performing is connecting.”
Two floors below, six musicians discussed the history of old-timey music and its origins in the African diaspora.
The panel drew a crowd at the library’s Mystery Room, attracting fellow musicians, community members and library attendees walking by.
“Berkeley Old-Time Music Convention has been really part of integrating, bringing and helping the culture,” said old-timey musician Darcy Ford, who moderated the panel.
Sam Wilkins, a violinist who performed in the Berkeley Old-Time Music Convention for the first time this year, said he’s been able to explore different styles of music through the Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellowship.
The Oakland Public Conservatory of Music started the fellowship in collaboration with the Berkeley Old-Time Music Convention. According to Ford, the fellowship has performed at the convention since 2023.
“I’m always looking for new ways to think about playing violin, and in different contexts,” Wilkins said. “This was one of the ways that I could have a unique experience of learning a lot of deep Black history through the context of my own instrument.”
Some panelists said old-timey music represents a more community-oriented approach to music, in which anyone can participate in jamming spaces.
Following a week of community festivities and conversations, the Berkeley Old-Time Music Convention wrapped up Sunday, ending with family dances and a final jam session in Ohlone Park.
“We’re like links in a chain,” Jere Canote said, looking toward his twin. Greg Canote added, “I always think of these beautiful old tunes as little history nuggets. You know, you take the nugget, you value it, you polish it up and perform it and teach it to other people.”