response 25 of 45:

Sep 17 02:45 UTC 2000

Other very quick notes on the festival: we caught the last 10 minutes
of a set by Lo'Jo from France & North Africa, and the last 20 minutes
from American old-time/folk duo Jay Ungar and Molly Mason.
Both were excellent: we get to see Lo'Jo again Sunday, but this was
Ungar & Mason's  one set at this festival.
 
The Detroit Institute of Arts is having free admission during 
the festival, so we're going back tomorrow to spend some time in 
their temporary exhibit of art from the Ottoman Empire.
 
It's only a small number of visual artists & craftspeople; probably
smaller than the South U. component of the Ann Arbor Art Fair.
Leslie found a very nice cowboyish hat with some purple in it and 
lots of gaudy beads.
 
I'm surprised that we have never heard of this festival before;
I hope we can make it an annual event.

response 27 of 45:

Sep 18 02:58 UTC 2000

NP: MASS Ensemble, "Pleiades."  This was a Sunday purchase from the 
festival.  MASS Ensemble were a band I never got hear more than quick
snippets from as we travelled in front of the DIA, always on our 
way to Hear Someone Else.  :/  But the snippets were always 
intriguing, so I made sure to get a disc to take home.  Their enormous
"Earth Harp" was strung from the sidewalk on Woodward up to the
top of the DIA building.  This is a little more New Agey than I usually
go, but the album has lots of percussion to keep me interested.
Steve Andre' is gonna love this.

response 29 of 45:

Sep 18 18:14 UTC 2000

Well. Twila has *finally* gotten her brain into working order after the
amazing day we had yesterday. The day itself, for those of you not lucky
enough to be in the Detroit/AnnArbor area yesterday, was perfect. Blue skies,
a nice breeze, and temperatures that made walking around comfortable. First
off, we had lunch at the DIA, in the little medieval courtyard. Wow. I don't
recall it from previous visits to the DIA (but then, I don't think I'd ever
eaten there, so...), so it was really a wonderful place to eat. Very peaceful
and soothing. Then up to the second floor and the Ottoman Art exhibit. There
were a LOT of Korans. Cool things which impressed me -- pages from Admiral
Piri Reis' charts and maps with bird's eye views (I think they said they were
topographical maps, but I was suffering from Islamic calligraphy overload at
that point) of various cities and fortifications -- Venice's picture was
REALLY amazing, although Ken said it wasn't too accurate from his memories.
However, it did show the Doge's Palace and St. Mark's.... Some *amazing*
carapaces for horses, and some enamelled pen and ink cases -- oh. And the most
interesting fact that I learned was that the pens used for this calligraphy
were all made from reeds, which are imported from Iran and then buried in
horse dung for four years to make them strong and waterproof. After that, we
didn't really have time for more museum-hopping, not if we wanted to ensure
that we made it to Hedningarna's set on time (which, for us, was about a half
hour ahead, enough time to get decent seats and to watch the band do the end
of their soundchecks).

We secured seats in the shade, about three rows from the front, or
thereabouts, on the left. I was really pleased to hear the amplified sound
check much less muddy and distorted than the day before, and when the band
left the stage for a few moments before the performance, I was a shameless
fan girl and secured autographs. They were all very kind, and Liisa told me
that they'd spent three hours on their sound checks that day, and I told them
that it sounded good from what I'd heard from out front. When I got back to
where Ken and I were sitting, some Grexers (font, otaking, and the former
hope) had arrived. There were others there, whom I didn't actually get to
meet, but whom Ken recognized. 

The music was still very loud, but definitely better balanced than on
Saturday. The crowd was larger, more enthusiastic, and I think the band
enjoyed this set more -- there were more smiles, more dancing and the like,
which was good. Most of the songs were from Karelia Visa, although the Chinese
song ("We call it Chinese because we discovered it while we were there,
although it was from a book we'd brought with us...) and a new tune called
"hot and out" were as yet unrecorded, from what I could tell. There were about
four or five instrumental numbers on Sunday, more than on Saturday, and at
the end, the boys were really cranking -- I was afraid that the hurdy gurdy
would collapse from the workout Hallbus was giving it! There was no encore,
alas, since the stage was on a pretty rigid schedule, but it was probably the
most satisfying concert I've been to in years. We spoke to the band again
after the show, since Ken and otaking had to get their autographs. The gist
of what we heard was that they were happy to be in Detroit, and that they are
planning on a next album, probably an instrumental set, due out in early 2002,
late 2001. I asked how many instruments they had brought, and they said,
twenty. (Well, I know I counted at least fourteen that I saw being used,
but...) 

After that, I split off from Ken since the stage for Lo'Jo' felt a bit too
far for my sore feetsies to make it, and I mosied on down to the stage where
Matapat would be, just about at the right time. Matapat is a Quebecois group,
three men, one violinist, one electric bass, and the third, who plays spoons,
accordion, and dances. They sing in French, and are very good showmen -- they
did one dance called "The Barbers Dance" which required someone from the
audience to sit while being danced around and shaved. (Of course, I am sure
it was not a really sharp razor!) They said it was a metis (spelling?)
traditional dance. Another dance required major audience participation, and
was really fun (though I am glad I didn't try to do the steps myself!). Their
music is good, although quite a change from Hedningarna, and their voices do
blend very well. 

All in all, quite a wonderful day.

response 31 of 45:

Sep 18 20:49 UTC 2000

The Islamic collection we saw was a temporary exhibit, "Empire of the 
Sultans," which closes October 8.  Most of this was borrowed from 
another collection, never seen in the US before, etc.
I didn't know the DIA had a significant Islamic component in 
their permanent collection.

response 33 of 45:

Sep 19 00:50 UTC 2000

It's still on through the end of the month, I believe. Definitely worth your
time if you like Islamic calligraphy -- there were some really amazing pieces
of art and a lot of information about scribes and scripts. Unfortunately, I
am not as interested in Islamic calligraphy as I would have been in more
everyday items -- I was hoping for something a bit more useful for research.
But it was interesting, and I did learn some things I hadn't known before.

C'mon -- anyone else want to tell about the Detroit festival?! I know there
were at least four other grexers there!

response 35 of 45:

Sep 20 07:47 UTC 2000

It's only a four flight each way, isn't it?

response 37 of 45:

Sep 30 21:06 UTC 2000

  Yep, I went and dragged along former Grexer/M-Netter David Fred.
  It was indeed an excellent show -- the band played for nearly two
  hours and seemed quite pleased to see the crowd that turned out
  for the performance.

response 39 of 45:

Oct 2 12:28 UTC 2000

Yeah, he was nice. :-) Though I have to admit, the drummer was also quite 
nice...

response 41 of 45:

Oct 2 17:28 UTC 2000

So concert reviews mcnally, igor? Were they more comfortable in Seattle?
What'd you think of the two women singers? Did they do more of the
instrumental jam stuff or what? Enquiring minds want to know!

response 43 of 45:

Oct 3 22:11 UTC 2000

  The Seattle show was held at the Nordic Heritage Museum in the Ballard
  section of the city, which is a historically Scandinavian neighborhood
  (primarily Swedish so far as I can tell..)  It attracted a fairly diverse
  audience of neighborhood residents and music afficionados from throughout
  the city.

  According to overheard conversation, the museum is a converted elementary
  school (which wasn't hard to believe, although I would wager that the sauna
  was probably added later..)  The performance venue, therefore, was about
  what you'd expect for a converted elementary-school gymnasium, with a stage
  at one end and about 180-200 chairs set up.  I think they even wound up
  selling a few more tickets than they had seats -- at any rate there were a
  few spectators forced to stand around the outside of the autidorium..

  As I mentioned, the band played for almost two hours.  I'm not sure what
  else to say about the performance, since I'm not familiar enough with the
  band's repertoire to report what they played.  I found myself enjoying some
  of their longer instrumental pieces, but can't neglect the singers, who 
  looked like they were having a really good time up on the stage.  Sorry,
  Iggy, but I paid a lot more attention to them than to the young fiddler..
  Actually, the whole band seemed to be having a good time and their mood
  was infectious.  I brought along two people who'd never heard of the band
  previously and both enjoyed the concert.
   

response 45 of 45:

Jul 28 05:38 UTC 2001

Another reuse of this item: the schedule is up for this year's
Detroit Festival of the Arts.  For a handful of us, the big news 
will be that Ilgi is appearing, from Latvia.  The Ilgi album 
SEJU VEJU is almost certain to be my favorite album from 2001, 
unless something *really* dazzling comes out.
 
Other names: Kila, Spanish bagpiper Susana Seivane (directly opposite
Ilgi, dammit), Simon Shaheen, Sol y Canto, Bob Franke, a Karelian
folk band, and so on.  Http://www.detroitfestival.org.
I will start a new item after we roll the music conference, and when
the show gets closer.

Friday, September 14-Sunday, September 16