Seth Swingle is an award-winning banjo and kora player. A dedicated student and practitioner of American traditional music, Seth studied Southern banjo styles with folklorist Mike Seeger, is two-time Virginia State Banjo Champion, and for the last four years was a finalist in the banjo contest at the Appalachian String Band Festival (AKA "Clifftop"). He plays a variety of archaic regional banjo styles - clawhammer, index- and thumb-lead 2-finger, up-picking and 3-finger - on everything from mandolin-banjo to 6-string banjo, and every banjo in between! Seth also spent several years in West Africa studying the kora, a 21-string harp - one of the few stringed instruments capable of playing counterpoint with itself, thereby producing mesmerizing layers of accompaniment, melody and harmony. As one of the few Westerners to have mastered this instrument, he is uniquely situated to be an ambassador between musical cultures. Seth is currently based in Charlottesville, Virginia, and is hard at work on a banjo instructional website for obscure banjo-specific music.
Seth Swingle
