Electric riffs, acoustic melodies and the strumming of a sitar are just some of the diverse sounds that can be heard at the ELLNORA Guitar Festival.

Taking place at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts from Sept. 5 to 7, ELLNORA brings together some of the leading and most talented guitar artisans from around the world for a weekend filled with concerts featuring diverse musical talent.

This year’s featured artist-in-residence will be the Austin-based Dobro/steel master and three-time festival alumna Cindy Cashdollar. Her creative virtuosity will be showcased in collaborations with Dan Zanes and Friends, Kevin Breit’s Sisters Euclid, The Lee Boys and many others throughout the three-day festival. Other notable musicians include Buddy Guy, Luther Dickinson, The Wandering, Andreas Aase — and the list goes on.

“We want to provide a global perspective of music,” said Bridget Lee-Calfas, advertising and publicity director for Krannert.

Keeping up with the festival’s international theme, many of the festival’s 20-plus performers will be traveling from South Africa, India, Canada, England, Australia, Spain, Croatia and Norway, as well as the United States.

Krannert Center Director Mike Ross and his collaborator David Spelman, the founder of the New York Guitar Festival and artistic director of ELLNORA, started the biennial festival in 2005.

According to a letter from Spelman on the ELLNORA website, the festival “is a celebration of music and musicians from around the globe, diverse in technique and sensibility, united in their exploration of a single instrument.”

Ross said he hopes ELLNORA sends a message across campus and throughout the performing arts communities that Krannert is committed to full cultural and creative diversity.

“We are keeping our doors wide open to people of all walks of life, and ELLNORA is adding uniquely to the vibrancy of the Illinois student experience and of our micro-urban Champaign-Urbana scene,” Ross said. “Very few, if any, population centers our size can claim the quality and scope of arts, culture and nightlife we have in this community.”

Lee-Calfas said that Ross and Spelman both ultimately wanted the festival to serve as a center for people to learn and discover new possibilities with the guitar.

The festival will have a mix of formal ticketed performances in theater spaces and free performances located in the amphitheater and lobby of the Krannert Center. There will be a total of 11 free performances at this year’s festival.

The center has discounted tickets for University students, a standard for all Krannert performances, according to Lee-Calfas.

“Big names like Buddy Guy and Lucinda Williams are all only for $10, so it’s really a rare opportunity to see artists of that caliber at such an affordable rate,” Lee-Calfas said. “The opening night party (on Thursday), which has a quadruple lineup including Jonny Lang, is only $5.”

In addition to the weekend formances, there are pre-festival events on Sept. 3 and 4. On Tuesday, Krannert will host “Local Heroes Night” to feature local musicians. The following night, the Art Theater will show a documentary about the Champaign-Urbana music scene called “Out of Nowhere.”

Because of the affordability of the festival and the diversity of musical talents, ELLNORA has drawn in several visiting enthusiasts as well as curious students and local residents.

Andres Garcia, junior in FAA, has played guitar for seven years and plans on attending the festival.

“My style is garage rock, but I am also into Mexican folk guitar playing, like Rodrigo y Gabriela,” Garcia said. “So the idea of a global and diverse take on the guitar sounds like something that makes the festival unique and worth checking out.”

Lee-Calfas said that she hopes students will come to discover something special at the festival and take pride in ELLNORA.

“It is really a rare opportunity to see so much artistry and such a diverse set under one roof,” Lee-Calfas said. “To see a festival of this caliber without having to drive to another city and to just be able to come and partake in it either for free or very low cost is really something special that sets this festival apart from others.”

Saher can be reached at [email protected].