I just came back to Indianapolis from Lansing Michigan, where I spent three happy days at the National Folk Festival.

One of the many great acts I saw (heard)--and all for free!--was the great Cajun band, Beau Soleil ("Beatiful Sunshine") (pronounced something like "Bow Solay", for those not familiar with) them.

I have to confess that in the past I've not been too impressed with Cajun music in general or Beau Soleil, having encountered them only in bits and pieces on the radio. The actual present, personal experience is something else! I was blown away!

One instrument I saw them play intrigued me no end. Others may be familiar with this, but I was not. It's what I'm calling a "minimalist upright bass". The instrument the bassist played on was what amounted to just the fingerboard of an upright bass, plus about five inches of material between the bottom of the fingerboard and what on a full stand-up bass would be the bridge. STrings, of course, but no scroll or visible tuner pegs at the top; no "body" of the instrument. Since there was no body to the instrument, there was no bridge as such, but I assume there would be what I'd call a lower nut. A tripod to hold the "instrument" up to playing height completes the visible apparatus. Of course I know there had to be (an) electronic pickup(s) to feed the speakers which actually made the sound the audience heard.

Have I just been isolated from the working musical scene, or was this really as unusual as it seemed to me? And what's the right name for this "minimalist upright bass"?

Dave Oesterreich