Members of the Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra include, in no certain order, Arthur Stephens, John Ramsey, Barry Bless, Pippin Barnett, and Christopher Hibbin.

Gourds are no longer the exclusive domain of Halloween decorations and birdhouses: for the five-man Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra (RIGO), gourds are just instruments waiting to happen.

“I started growing gourds back in 1985, and at the same time, I was a musician and so I was listening to a lot of different music,” says Arthur Stephens, RIGO member. “I started noticing that on one of my record albums, a lot of the spoken music from South America and Africa used gourds. That kind of started it.” Intrigued, Stephens began investigating organizations like the American Gourd Society, a group of gourd growers that helps them connect and share information. From there, he visited the Ohio Gourd Festival, the largest of its kind in the world, where he discovered the gourd band of fellow grower Minnie Black. “She didn’t have her band with her, but I listened to her recordings and thought it was a good idea,” Stephens says. He began examining pictures, going to museums, researching at the library, and ultimately – with a group of friends – making and playing gourd instruments.

“We’ve been together about 19 years now,” says Stephens. “We get together every Tuesday night and have been playing together for all those years.”

Members of the group include, in addition to Stephens, John Ramsey, Barry Bless, Pippin Barnett, and Christopher Hibbin. “We switch between instruments,” says Stephens, who usually focuses on melody and has played everything from the xylophone to the thumb piano to numerous string instruments. “We create all the music ourselves. Everyone in the group is a musician who plays other instruments in their ‘normal’ lives, so we’re interested in all kinds of music. Everyone has their own style.”

For the most part, says Stephens, RIGO’s work is influenced by folk music from around the world. Over the course of their four CDs, the group has dabbled in jazz, rock, and blues. “We might play blues that sounds like blues from Virginia, and then another song that sounds like blues from Africa,” says Stephens.

At this year’s ChesterFest, RIGO will not only be performing two 40-minute sets, but will offer an educational and hands-on component as well. “Typically, we like to set up what we call a gourd petting zoo,” says Stephens. “That’s to allow people, especially kids, to come and handle dried gourds that a lot of people aren’t familiar with, or they may have  only seen as birdhouses. We like to show a variety of gourds to show what some of them look like inside. We show the seeds, and we usually bring our informational signs, which depict how to grow gourds, the different stages of growth, and the history of gourds.”

While Stephens and the other members of RIGO take their music seriously, they also acknowledge a comedic aspect to it. “It is kind of a novelty, and we play up that part of it,” he admits. “We do wear gourd hats. We play music that we consider serious, but we look a little zany because we do know that it is kind of funny.”

As ChesterFest draws closer, Stephens and his bandmates are excited about performing at the event for the first time. “I think they’re going to love us!” he says. “People like to see fun things, and we kind of fit that bill.”

The Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra takes to the main stage at 11:30 a.m. for their first 20-minute set; a second 20-minute set will follow at 1 p.m.

For more information about RIGO, visit gourdorchestra.com.

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