On September 17, 18 and 19, 2010, the third Chanos International Steel Guitar Festival (CISGF) was held in Chanos-Curson, France.

On the evening of September 17 the festival was opened by an impressive steel guitar concert by Lionel Wendling , one of the best (if not the! best) French steel players, and another French player Jay Desoteux and his band. Lionel did quite a few of the vocals himself. Many Chanos people visited the local concert hall and enjoyed the show.

The Saturday and Sunday were taken up with the steel guitar convention. This year there were 25 players/groups from France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and USA who were allocated playing sessions. Steel builder Wolfgang Bednarz from Germany was present with 6 of his WBS pedal steels and 2 lap/console steels. One of his custom built "Ultimate" D10 models was delivered to Lionel Wendling. Lutier Roberto Reani (who administers the Italian steel guitar forum Slide e Co) also had a stand with his collection of lap steel guitars. There was a nice and friendly atmosphere in the "warming up" room, where several dobro, lap steel and pedal steel players sat together showing their abilities and listening to fellow players. There were performances by all kinds of players, both dobro, lap and pedal, both beginners, advanced players and professionals. The lunch and dinner were great and most people enjoyed the locally produced wine.

CISGF also hosts the annual award ceremony of the European Steel Guitar Hall of Fame (ESGHoF). ESGHoF was founded 3 years ago by Digby Hardy and Basil Henriques and last year held the first induction of laureates to be honoured for their contributions to the steel guitar in Europe. Inducted players/promotors were Gordon Huntley (England), Rod King (England), Basil Henriques (England), Sarah Jory (England), Gino Bordin (France), Harry Hougassian (France), Jean-Yves Lozac´h (France), Frank Baum (Germany), Theo Ehrlicher (Indonesia/Netherlands) and Rudi Wairata (Indonesia/Netherlands).

This year Basil Henriques unfortunately was not able to attend the festival because of an unplanned concert commitment. Although Basil owns an Emmons push-pull guitar and a much sought-after vintage Fender PS210 he is usually playing an old Fender 1000 (cable model), constantly using both feet to push the pedals. Fortunately one of his pupils, Jörg Schubert from Germany, was present at the festival playing a re-finished Fender 1000, with - of course - Basil´s tuning and set up.

Saturday dinner was a gala affair after which the ESGHoF awards were presented. The mayor of Chanos handed the medals and award certificates, flanked by Digby Hardy and Bernard Glorian. Bernard is a French steel player, always friendly and doing his own distinctive thing on his WBS D10.

As not every inducted player was able to be present and so were represented by proxies who received the awards which would be passed on to the laureates. Inducted were Lionel Wendling (France), Georges Chatagny (Switzerland), B.J. Cole (England), Gerry Hogan (England), Nils Tuxen (originally from Denmark, living in Germany during at least the past 2 decades), George De Fretes (originally from Indonesia/Netherlands, living in the U.S.A. during his last years), Koos Biel (Netherlands), our co-writer Jan Visser (Netherlands) and from the U.S.A.: Lloyd Green and Bob Lee (founder and administrator of the Steel Guitar Forum). Well-known Dutch steel player and teacher Johan Jansen (currently living in Germany) took Lloyd Green´s award. Wanda, daughter of famous Hawaiian guitarist George De Fretes, had come all the way from California to receive the posthumous award for her father, who passed away many years ago and is buried next to his great hero and all-time great Sol Hoopii. During the festival Wanda did an impressive singing job backed up by René and Nora Ranti from the Netherlands and Rod King on his vintage Rickenbacker S8 console steel and his wife Rosemary on bass guitar. Many Dutch people will remember the 50´s radio broadcasts with George, his wife Joyce Aubrey and their daughter Wanda.

All present inductees did a speech and the representatives read out a written message from the non-present inductees.

On Sunday the convention continued and there were playing sessions again. Before the evening dinner Digby Hardy did a charming and very entertaining solo performance by both playing his lap steel and crooning songs from a distant past. Rod and Rosemary King did a great show to end up the festival. Rod did some really comic steel playing. He truly is the Victor Borge of the steel guitar. The audience insisted in getting Jan Visser on stage once again and do a few heartbreaking tunes on his DeVis Universal-10. Eddy Scheepers from Belgium joined him to do a duet on "Together again". A great surprise was Digby´s charming French wife Chantal singing "Agnus Dei" with goose bumping backup and solo by Eddy.

It was a very nice festival, with so many European players meeting and exchanging ideas and information, and we can only recommend every European steel fan to attend the next festival. The dates for CISGF 2011 are 16, 17 & 18 September 2011. For further details Chanos ISGF.