Che Apalache

Members who give $500+ annually receive 10% off concert tickets.

This blend of Appalachian and Latin music took me completely off guard and won me over instantly. This is a band to watch.

—Béla Fleck

Even a few minutes of listening to this four-piece are enough to demonstrate how beautifully Latin folk and bluegrass sounds can intertwine.

—Chicago Reader

Che Apalache is a four-man string band based in Buenos Aires with members from Argentina, Mexico, and the United States. They began as a bluegrass band but eventually incorporated Latin American styles into their repertoire.

The group’s founder is Joe Troop (fiddle), a North Carolinian multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and composer who moved to Argentina in 2010. While patiently carving out a niche in the local music scene, Troop taught bluegrass and old-time for a living. That’s how he met Pau Barjau (banjo), Franco Martino (guitar), and Martin Bobrik (mandolin), his most dedicated students. They quickly became picking buddies and in 2013 decided to hit the stage. Combining instrumental prowess with tight vocal harmonies, they have curated an authentic blend of genres to reflect the nature of their lives, evoking images from Appalachia to the Andes. The group’s most recent album, Rearrange My Heart, is produced by banjo legend Béla Fleck.