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Grex > Music > #18: World/Folk/Roots/Celtic/Whatever Catchall & Travelogue | |
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| 25 new of 35 responses total. |
micklpkl
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response 7 of 35:
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Sep 12 13:46 UTC 2006 |
Fiamma Fumana were featured last night, in a short segment on NPR's "All
Things Considered" (perhaps that's why their website was broken?). I certainly
appreciated the bagpipe-centric review. :)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6056149
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cmcgee
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response 8 of 35:
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Sep 12 19:01 UTC 2006 |
Saw eMusiki at the Ren Festival last weekend. Gypsy, Greek, Celtic band from
San Antonio Texas.
If you go to the RenFest, try to find them. They were on the south side, in
the middle, at their own little performance area, not one of the big stages.
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krj
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response 9 of 35:
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Oct 4 16:48 UTC 2006 |
Not that anyone is likely to take my recommendations for last-minute shows,
but TONIGHT Wednesday October 4 is the Lansing show by Fiamma Fumana,
the Italian techno-folk-pop band. Beatbox and bagpipes. That's at the
Creole Gallery at 7:30 pm. The band's website is http://www.fiamma.org.
Thursday night, Fiamma Fumana play in Dearborn. resp:6 for more
blather from me.
And Thursday, October 5, Swap is playing at the Ark in Ann Arbor.
The band is half British, half Swedish; accordion, guitar and two fiddles.
Mostly dazzling acoustic instrumentals, though they have started mixing
Swedish songs into their repertoire. The accordion player is Karen Tweed,
who some of you will know from The Poozies. I think this is my most
anticipated show of the year.
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krj
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response 10 of 35:
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Nov 11 19:38 UTC 2006 |
The 3 Five Hand Reel albums which featured Dick Gaughan have been
issued on a two-CD set from BGO. Amazon reviewers are very enthusiastic
about the quality.
Five Hand Reel's vinyl albums have been treasures here since
their late-1970s issue; they were an excellent Scottish folk
rock band which never got any traction.
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krj
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response 11 of 35:
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Nov 28 22:50 UTC 2006 |
Some incoherent ramblings about some music I heard on the BBC shows:
The "Folkwaves" show (BBC Derby) had a track from the album MANSKRATT
by Groupa which really impressed me. Cliff at CDRoots.com writes
that this 1990 album was near the mainspring of the subsequent Swedish
roots revival - two of the performers are the ever-present Ale Moeller
and Lena Willmark, and a third is a guy who went into the band
Hedningarna.
I have some vague memory that I own this CD. 1990 is three years too
early for me to have been buying Scandinavian albums, and the cover
only looks a wee bit familiar. Sigh. Might just buy another copy,
then kick myself if I ever exhume a previous one from the piles in the
house.
"Global Gathering" (BBC Radio Scotland) had a live set from the
Belgian band Think of One, who play with a big brass section and lots
of Brazilian influences. The live set was lots of fun; I have
previously had trouble wrapping my head around what this band is
about, and I'm unsure how much I like the clattering Brazilian sound.
"Global Gathering" also played a great cover of Ellington's "Caravan"
by the Gypsy brass band Fanfare Ciocarlia. I was all set to order
that, but listening to some other samples on line I came to the
conclusion that too much of the band's material concentrates on
stuffing as many notes as possible into a phrase -- that's a
characteristic I've noticed in some of the other Romanian Gypsy folks,
and I'm not sure I like it.
In non BBC news, the annual Austin fundraiser CD BROADCASTS is out.
Sigh. I've bought a dozen of the darn things and never played a one.
BROADCASTS is an annual charity compilation of live tracks recorded
by KGSR, mostly of roots/folk/country type people. If one doesn't
live in Austin, one has a window of about two weeks to order it from
Waterloo Records.
Here's the track listing:
http://www.buymusichere.net/rel/v2_viewupc.php?storenr=13&upc=60739600142
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krj
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response 12 of 35:
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Jan 2 16:57 UTC 2007 |
In the Queen's New Year's Honors list, two UK folk musicians were
honored this year.
Shirley Collins -- Besides her own singing work, she is also
important for the song collecting work she did in the
US South with Alan Lomax in the 1950s.
Archie Fisher -- who I listen to every week in his day job
as host of the "Travelling Folk" show on BBC Radio Scotland
In non-folk musical honors, percussionist Evelyn Glennie was
honored as a Dame, which I think is the female equivalent of a
knighthood.
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krj
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response 13 of 35:
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Jan 18 17:39 UTC 2007 |
Breaking news for Mickey: Haale has CDs for sale. They're on CD Baby.
Curiously, she has chosen to package ten songs as 2 five-song EPs.
I haven't explored how the track list compares to the MP3s we had
from her earlier websites.
No time to write an introduction for those who haven't heard her, so
I'll just steal the recent press quotes from her publicity email,
hype hype:
'[Haale's] earnest blends of electric guitar, thoughtful lyrics, and
vocal gymnastics borrow from both ancient song and the poetry of
Persia. The surprise chestnut at the heart of the music is the
dynamic, fiery delivery of Haale herself, whose voice is by turns
deep and commanding, feather-light and breezy, and as rich and
sensual as dark-chocolate fondue.' FLAVORPILL (MUSIC PICK: LA on
1/5/07, SF on 1/12/07)
'[Haale] draws from both the American rock lexicon and Sufi
mysticism...She sings in Persian and English, quotes Iranian poets
like Rumi and can shred on guitar.' SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
(I'll have to look online for the reviews when I have some time.)
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eprom
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response 14 of 35:
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Feb 8 06:21 UTC 2007 |
Anyone here listen to Loreena McKennitt's new album "An Ancient Muse"?
She has a sample of each track on her website in mp3 format.
http://www.quinlanroad.com/explorethemusic/anancientmuse.asp
Back in 97' I was a freshly minted Airman at my first duty station.
With nothing to do on the weekend without a car, I would go to the BX
to blow my money. I saw her CD "The Book of Secrets" and bought it
just because I liked the cover art. This was like 6 months, before
her song "The Mummers Dance" started getting air-play. After listening
to the album, it kinda grew on me.....and that was my introduction to
celtic/new-age music.
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krj
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response 15 of 35:
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Apr 1 06:22 UTC 2007 |
In party, mcnally asked (loose paraphrase) if the BBC folk & world music
awards were like big mainstream awards, honoring old past-their-prime
stars and heavily hyped new pop people. I think you could paint
the Folk Awards that way, but in the case of the World Music awards,
I think they do a good job of highlighting people who are doing
vital work now.
Here's the nominations list, with sound samples, for the 2007 awards.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/a4wm2007/nominees.shtml
I know lots of the nominees, few of the winners. Yes, Ali Farka
Toure won for album of the year, and he's an old guy who just died.
I haven't heard this new one -- the living room ate it before I
got to play it -- but I don't think Toure ever made a bad album,
I've heard just about all the other ones.
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krj
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response 16 of 35:
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May 25 17:10 UTC 2007 |
This one's for Mickey. Northumbrian piper Kathryn Tickell
has a new album out ("Instrumentals", kind of an ironic title
since nearly all her work has been instrumental) and there is a
track at the end of the first hour of the current "Global Gathering"
show. It sounds great. Definite but slight jazz influence,
I think
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krj
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response 17 of 35:
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May 25 18:14 UTC 2007 |
Mike Harding tickled my brain in a couple places. There's an
interesting track from the new Richard Thompson album due out next
week, but of course that one is an automatic buy.
Eleanor Shanley performed the song "The Tide Full In," which it turns
out I remembered fondly from another recent band. Google reminded me
that it was Fine Friday, from their second CD. I'm guessing that
Fine Friday is defunct, since Nuala Kennedy now has a solo album out
(nice track from that too on the Harding show) and Kris Drever is
now in the band Lau which is garnering great acclaim. (For the few
reading this who care, Kris Drever is the son of Ivan Drever, who was
one of the people behind Scottish bagpipe-rock band Wolfstone.)
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mcnally
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response 18 of 35:
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Jun 15 03:56 UTC 2007 |
For those who are Richard Thompson fans: the Onion AV Club currently has
both an interview with Thompson
http://www.avclub.com/content/interview/richard_thompson
and a review of his new album
http://www.avclub.com/content/music/richard_thompson
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krj
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response 19 of 35:
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Jul 13 23:43 UTC 2007 |
For those who don't have enough to read:
UK "roots" music distributor Proper has a magazine called PROPERGANDA
which they are kindly making available free as a PDF file on the web.
The current issue, #6, features an interview with Richard Thompson,
written by Colin Irwin so you know it will be interesting :)
Other features are on Alison Krauss, Nick Lowe (now swimming in the
roots music pond) and the BBC Jazz Awards.
About the magazine:
http://www.properdistribution.com/proper-partner-scheme/magazines-detail.ph
p?pg=2&id=15
Download page including back issues and lots of promo stuff:
http://www.properdistribution.com/downloads/downloads.php?pg=14
----------
Colin Randall writes in a very professional manner about the UK folk
scene in this blog:
http://www.salutlive.com/
Currently near the top of the blog: a guest piece from Robb Johnson
on Johnny Hallyday; Martin Simpson; numerous pieces on Fairport and
Cropredy. Dig into the archives if you are so inclined.
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krj
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response 20 of 35:
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Aug 9 17:46 UTC 2007 |
Note mostly for Mickey: The current Mike Harding Show on BBC Radio 2
has a track from a new Kate Rusby release, and Rusby will be the
featured guest on the August 15th Harding show.
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krj
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response 21 of 35:
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Oct 25 14:58 UTC 2007 |
Here's a nice article, one of many, about the just-released
collaboration between Robert Plant and Alison Krauss:
"Led Zepplin Were A Country Band"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/10/25/bmplant125.
xml
This is the next step in Led Zep Goes Country: previously,
John Paul Jones produced the most recent album for the band Uncle Earl.
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krj
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response 22 of 35:
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Mar 14 19:11 UTC 2008 |
I remember, back when I used to pay more attention to it, that the
celtic folk-rock stuff was definitely a minority taste....
Flogging Molly's new album "Float" is at #4 on the Billboard charts.
Yes, I know it was released in time for St. Patrick's Day, and yes, I
know album sales are down -- really down, if Flogging Molly's 48,000
copies are good enough for a #4 album chart position.
Still, I'm rather awestruck.
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10
03724042
(Flogging Molly sold only 9000 copies less than Janet Jackson, whose new
album was in its second week of release. Given Janet's overhead, I
wonder who is making more profit?)
Oh yeah, I also had a giggle over the names of the top three chart
artists for the week: Alan Jackson, Jack Johnson, Janet Jackson. If
only Joe Jackson could have had a top hit this week!
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anderyn
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response 23 of 35:
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Mar 17 13:59 UTC 2008 |
Wish I liked Flogging Molly but they seem to be a younger taste than mine.
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cyklone
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response 24 of 35:
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Apr 3 17:08 UTC 2008 |
Is that the band with the Celtic fiddles over the rock guitars that I keep
hearing in TV ads and promos?
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krj
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response 25 of 35:
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Apr 11 17:45 UTC 2008 |
Don't know, have not seen those ads.
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krj
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response 26 of 35:
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Jun 19 15:22 UTC 2008 |
Idle internet browsing led me to two more second-generation folkie/
acoustic musicians last night. I have not heard the material from
either of these yet, but there are samples on MySpace pages for when
I have some time. Finding these just makes me feel old. :)
Lucy Wainwright Roche, daughter of Loudon Wainwright and Suzzy Roche:
http://www.myspace.com/lwrlwr
Lucy is the half-sister of Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright.
-----
Kamila Thompson, daughter of Richard & Linda Thompson:
http://www.myspace.com/kamilathompson
I knew that Kamila was out there and I think she'd done a few guest
vocals with her mom, but I didn't know that she was seriously pursuing
performing. Kamila is the sister of Teddy Thompson.
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krj
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response 27 of 35:
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Sep 17 05:03 UTC 2008 |
Should mention a couple of recent shows at the Ark. Janis Ian was
at the Ark last Saturday, and we had a big Grex turnout for that one:
remmers, mary, Carol, katie, arabella and krj. Janis' stories were
much darker this time than on previous times I'd seen her; she's
promoting a new autobiography which has a lot of dark stuff in it.
She still sings great. She's going to be one of the last of the
60's singers left standing, since she started when she was about 14.
Last Friday was the Barra MacNeils, from Cape Breton in Nova Scotia.
Sister Lucy MacNeil missed this show because her oldest child was
starting school, so it was the five brothers and their friend the
bass player. They've added two more younger brothers to the band
since I last saw them about four years ago.
I really should get past their over-ten-years-past flirtation with
folk-pop on a major label; they are back to 80% or more traditional
material, though sometimes there's a bit of a showbiz sheen on it
that I find a bit offputting. But we had a great time, and I continue
to be surprised how much Leslie is enjoying the "Canadian Celtic"
pigeonhole.
Possibly upcoming for me on Thursday: young Scottish band Bodega, with
all members about 18-20 years old.
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krj
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response 28 of 35:
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Sep 18 16:52 UTC 2008 |
Great Lakes Folk Festival: August 8-10, 2008. East Lansing, Michigan
Friday evening:
The opening concert is always at the small M.A.C. stage, my favorite
stage, located right in the heart of downtown, and they start with
short speeches by the director of the MSU Museum, the mayor of East
Lansing, and local folk radio host Bob Blackman.
6 pm: April Verch -- She's a fiddler from the Ottawa Valley in
Canada, an area with a mix of European traditions, without one
dominating. She's also a very good stepdancer, maybe only so-so as a
singer though. Her band included a guitarist and bass player, and
her husband on bodhran and other percussion.
7 pm: Crooked Road Revue --Hike down to the Valley Court grassy main
stage. The Crooked Road collection of old-time musicians was
assembled for a tour by the National Council for the Traditional Arts,
and they were planned to be the core of this year's festival. The
Crooked Road refers to a highway running in the mountains near the
Virginia/North Carolina border; the land of the Carter Family.
Guitar, banjo, fiddle, and a striking young singer named Elizabeth
LaPrelle. The leads flowed from player to player, as if they were
sitting on a porch. About half of Elizabeth's songs with the ensemble
were lightly accompanied. More details on the performers when I
cover their solo sets. But the ensemble performance convinced me that
these performers were worth following for the many hours they were
booked to sing and play for the weekend. As a vocal ensemble, they
had a fine performance of "Bright Morning Star", and they closed with
a Carter Family medley.
8 pm. (Back to the M.A.C. stage.) Mamadou Diabate on kora, with a
scorching band of balafon, percussion and upright bass. Totally
delicious. This was not mentioned in the promo material, but I found
a claim on the web that Mamadou Diabate is Toumani Diabate's cousin.
Mamadou D. is now resident in Durham, North Carolina.
9:30 pm Back to the main stage, by way of the Maria's Taco booth...
I missed a good deal of the Cephas and Wiggins set and will cover them
in their Sunday set.
10 pm: Reveillons! a Quebec quartet who I was trying hard to like.
They are very cheerful performers, great stage presence, but I'm
annoyed that they play a concertina rather than a big accordion, and
the vocal quality isn't what I want for what they are trying to do.
(I just played some of their CD, while writing this festival review,
and my wife asked me to take it out of the player because the voices
grated on her.)
(I am starting to suspect that understanding the French lyrical
content may be essential to appreciating this band.)
------
(( more to come... ))
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krj
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response 29 of 35:
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Aug 5 18:10 UTC 2009 |
It's been a year, sigh, since any activity in this item.
At the moment I am really obsessing over Kalamazoo's band
Red Sea Pedestrians, who I saw live twice at the end of July --
once at Art Fair, once at the Ark. Their CDs have gone into
carry-with-me-every-day status.
Coming up this weekend: the 2009 credit-crunched edition of the
Great Lakes Folk Festival in downtown East Lansing. Three stages
this year, down from 4 last year, and 11 artists, down from 18.
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krj
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response 30 of 35:
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Aug 10 21:17 UTC 2009 |
Great Lakes Folk Festival was achieved -- two days of it, anyway,
and I have hopes of writing something up so it can be ignored.
Given the high level of activity in this conference, I probably won't
rush it -- but I need to write it anyway for a few other people, so
something will trickle back in here eventually.
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mary
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response 31 of 35:
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Aug 11 01:08 UTC 2009 |
I'm looking forward to hearing about it. So there! ;-)
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