Rafe Stefanini is an Italian old-time

Old-time music

Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre also...

 banjo player, fiddler, guitarist, singer, teacher, and violin maker and restorer.

He was born in Italy and grew up in Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

. He first visited the United States in the late 1970s and came to live in the U.S. in 1983. He is a permanent resident of the U.S. and lives in Elkins Park

Elkins Park, Pennsylvania

Elkins Park is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is split between Cheltenham and Abington Townships in the suburbs of Philadelphia, roughly from Center City, Philadelphia.-Points of interest:...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, a suburb of Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

. In addition to playing music, he is also trained in violin making and restores violins.

He has performed with the Wildcats (along with Carol Elizabeth Jones and Stefan Senders. Along with Dirk Powell and Bruce Molsky

Bruce Molsky

Bruce C. Molsky is an American fiddler, banjo player, guitarist, and singer. He primarily performs old-time music of the Appalachian region.Molsky was born in 1955 at New York Infirmary in Manhattan, and grew up in The Bronx...

 he has performed with a trio called the L-7s. He has also performed with Molsky and guitarist Bev Smith

Bev Smith

Beverly "Bev" Smith is the former head women's basketball coach at the University of Oregon. She held that position from 2001 to 2009. She replaced controversial coach Jody Runge, and posted an 83-69 record. Her 2004 team made the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament, after...

 in a group called Big Hoedown, a group that broke up in 2000. Along with Meredith McIntosh, John Hermann

John Hermann

John "JoJo" Hermann was born in New York City. He toured the South extensively with the band Beanland until 1992, when he went to Athens, Georgia to play keyboard with Widespread Panic....

, and Bev Smith, he has performed in the Rockinghams. He has also recorded with Bob Herring. He performs with his wife Nikki and daughter Clelia (who plays fiddle, guitar, double bass, and ukulele) as "Nine Pound Hammer."

He has recorded for the Rounder

Rounder Records

Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...

, County

County Records

County Records also expanded into the bluegrass music genre, although Freeman preferred those artists who stayed the closest to their old-time roots. The label's first bluegrass release was 1965's Blue Ridge Bluegrass featuring Larry Richardson and the Blue Ridge Boys.-Related businesses:Freeman...

, Marimac, Heritage, Yodel-ay-hee, 5-String, and World Music Network labels.

Stefanini has performed on A Prairie Home Companion

A Prairie Home Companion

A Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The show runs on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central Time, and usually originates from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it is frequently taken on the road...

and at the Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention

Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention

The Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention is a popular festival devoted to old-time and bluegrass music, as well as related arts such as dance, which takes place each summer at Veterans Memorial Park in Mount Airy, North Carolina, United States. It was established in 1972. It is held on the first weekend...

. He has performed throughout the United States as well as in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, Malaysia, and Brunei

Brunei

Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...

.

His brothers Gianni and Bruno also play old-time music and the three performed in The Moonshine Brothers, which formed in the late 1970s and remained together until Rafe Stefanini moved to the U.S. in 1983.http://www.myspace.com/themoonshinebrothers

As leader

• 1999 - Hell and Scissors (County)
• 2001 - Glory on the Big String (County)
• 2006 - Bluegrass Meadows (5-String)
• 2006 - Ladies Fancy (County)

Compilations

• Galax International (Heritage)
• 5th Annual Galax Fiddlers Convention 1985 (Heritage)
• 2002 - Rough Guide to the Music of the Appalachians (World Music Network)
• 2003 - The Art Of Old-Time Mountain Music (Rounder)

Other

• The Rockinghams (Yodel-ay-hee)
• Shout Lulu (with The Rockinghams)
• Old Time Friends (with Ray Alden and others) (Marimac)
• The Young Fogies (Heritage)
• Mike Seeger's 3rd Annual Farewell Reunion (with Mike Seeger and others; 1995 Grammy nominee) (Rounder)
• A Tribute to the Appalachian String Band Music Festival (with The L7s) (Chubby Dragon)
• The Marimac Anthology (Rounder)
• Young Fogies Vol. 2 (with The L7s) (Rounder)
• Red Prairie Dawn (with Garry Harrison & The Mule Team) (Garry Harrison)

External links

• Official site
• MySpace page
• [ Allmusic entry]
• Rafe & Clelia Stefanini MySpace page