RSS Syndication
FolkWorks RSS Syndication
|
FolkWorks is supported in part by |
|
|
|
Site Statistics
Visitors: 363781
|
|
May-June 2008
MIKE SEEGER - old-time musician
AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
By Audrey Coleman
It was mid-afternoon in the modest green room of UCLA's
Schoenberg Hall, where ethnomusicology students and aficionados of Southern
traditional music had gathered to chat with musician-field researcher Mike
Seeger. A soft-spoken man, who often pauses thoughtfully to find the precise
word to express his meaning, he had just concluded a lecture on the history of
the Southern guitar. This was part of a two-week stint in the Department of
Ethnomusicology where students and faculty benefited from his breadth of
knowledge of rural songs and of performance styles on instruments ranging from
the banjo, fiddle, and mandolin to the less familiar lap dulcimer and quills
(Southern pan pipes). Today's lecture also tied in with Seeger's most recent
Smithsonian Folkways recording, Southern
Guitar Sounds, which he is following with a two-DVD instructional program
due for distribution next fall.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
May-June 2008
SUZY WILLIAMS AND HER SOLID SENDERS
performing at the Temple Bar throughout 2008
By Joel Okida
About a mile and a half from the boardwalk and just past the
promenade of Third Street
in Santa Monica,
on a stage encompassed by shadow and red, a raven-tressed figure gyrates back
and forth to the big beat of a sizzling band. The LA Weekly calls her, "L.A.'s Diva Deluxe," but
perhaps a better monicker would be Suzy "the Doozy" Williams. Williams coaxes
and cajoles her Solid Senders 8-piece rhythm section to reach for that
something extra on the upbeat tunes and eyelashes them to caress those minor
keys on the ballads. On any given night, the Solid Senders include: Kahlil
Sabbagh (bandleader and vibes), Brad Kay (piano), Dave Jones (bass), Nick
Scarmack (drums), Danny Moynahan (sax), Dan Heffernan (sax), Dave Weinstein
(trombone and arrangements) and Corey Gemme (trumpet).
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
January-February, 2008
THIS BYRD HAS FLOWN:
JOHN YORK TRANSCENDS HIS MUSICAL PAST WITH INNOVATIVE ROOTS
AND INTERNATIONAL MUSIC
By Terry Roland
John York is the last pure voice of the
Silver Sixties to make it through… intact to the first decade of the 21st
Century - Kim Fowley
John York is not a typical veteran of
the 60s LA music scene. Number one, he's still alive. This may put him in a
very small percentage of the veterans from those days. Number two, he's not
holding on to the musical style and songs of the past. Rather, York has remained
passionate about his musical growth and pilgrimage in world music, Native
American styles and a diversity of international instruments. Along with the
twelve and six-string guitars, fretted and fretless bass, the instruments he
has studied include pipa (the Chinese lute), gu zheng (the Chinese table harp),
violin, Native American flute, Chinese jade screen flute, dong xiao (Chinese
bamboo flute), oud (Arabic lute), Mexican five-string guitar, and Irish harp.
His musical path has taken him through Arabic, Native American, Chinese and
Japanese influences. Probably most important of all these accomplishments is
the spirituality energizing his music with a fresh and original integration of eastern
and western influences.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
January-February 2008
SLACK KEY FESTIVAL IN SO CAL
By Audrey Coleman
Jim Kimo West Photo Jim Viets
On January 20, nine acclaimed slack key guitarists will grace
the stage of the Redondo Performing Arts Center in the first Southern
California Slack Key Guitar Festival. They include Cyril Pahinui,
Dennis Kamakahi, George Kahumoku, Ozzie Kotani, Makana, Jeff Peterson, Owana
Salazar, Steve Espaniola, and Jim “Kimo” West.
Slack key is the least known of the guitar traditions despite
the rich history, refined aesthetic, and continued vitality that should give it
equal status with flamenco, bluegrass, jazz and blues guitar. But recently
slack key has been attracting attention on the mainland, in part because of its
presence at the Grammy Awards. This year a compilation of live performances by
slack key guitar luminaries, Treasures of Slack Key Guitar (Daniel Ho Creations), is competing for a Grammy in the
Hawaiian Music Category. The 2006 and 2007 music awards went to similar
compilations.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
November-December 2007
RICHIE FURAY RETURNS
TO RE-CLAIM HIS FAME WITH HEARTBEAT OF LOVE
By Terry Roland
On first listen to Richie Furay's latest CD, Heartbeat of
Love, one may have a hard time hearing his folk influences. As co-founder of the legendary Buffalo Springfield
and country-rock pioneers Poco, he is no stranger to originality,
innovation and the marriage between traditional and contemporary music. One of
the many innovations of his first mainstream release in 25 years is the layer
of styles that he has successfully integrated. As
in the past, he has provided an innovation of country and rock roots into an
original contemporary sound.
The influence of folk music on Richie's music should come as
no surprise for those who know his story. He began playing Kingston Trio influenced
music in the early 60's in his hometown of Yellow Springs, Ohio.
From these roots he graduated to the basket houses of Greenwich
Village following in the footsteps of artists like Bob Dylan and
Tom Paxton. Richie's musical odyssey in NYC included the formation of the Au Go-Go Singers which included a young Stephen
Stills. The Au Go-Go singers were an
attempt to follow the success of the New Christy Minstrels. They performed
Civil War songs and traditional folk songs with a contemporary flair. The group
completed one album before disbanding
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
September-October 2007
BOHEMIANS WHO RHAPSODIZE-
A NIGHT AT THE VAGABOND OPERA
By Joel Okida
If you like your Opera-Balkan-Arabic-Klezmer music with a
touch of nostalgia, a jab of the bawdy, an uppercut of mystery, and a
roundhouse punch of impassioned showmanship, and the thought of jumping in a
hand-cranked time machine with a sextet of footloose ramblers appeals to you,
then leap on board or more accurately, crowd into this medicine show. Like running away with the carnival, Vagabond
Opera let's you peek under the tent flap, sip from their musical elixir, and
then allows you to bump to their grind at the cabaret, leaving you a bit
wide-eyed and short of breath. This is
no sideshow which hints at the bigger things happening under the big top, but a
finely tuned showboat that invites you to paddle away from that hum-drum life
at the office, follow the siren call and dive into their world, if only for one
night. They can be unabashedly absurd,
droll and melodramatic, but always keep the art, heart and soul of the music
cohesive and tight.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
September-October 2007
Blowin’ in the Wind:
A Breath of Fresh Air at the Jammin’ Tree Didgeridoo Festival
BY JOEL OKIDA
The small, but mighty Jammin' Tree Didgeridoo Festival ( www.jtdidgefest.com ) located in a wisp of a town called North Fork, and under the shadow of Yosemite, is the kind of unique entertainment that runs below the radar of the giant music festivals in California. An acquired taste to be sure, the festival promotes the culture, music and art of the Aboriginal people. The intimate setting requires a mellow demeanor, but a curiosity for the unusual in terms of sound and art. The mood is low key, but friendly and the family atmosphere adds to the openness of the environment. The grounds of the festival are actually a local baseball field, but this grassy venue is surrounded by the wildness of its Sierra surroundings. A river and swimming hole a few steps from the vendor booths are much more inviting as the warm temperatures push the visitor to submerge in some relief. If you are lucky enough to reserve a camping spot adjacent to the water, you have the best of both worlds at opposite ends of your tent.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
September-October 2007
YIDDISH TANGO, ARGENTINEAN KLEZMER Y MAS...
BY AUDREY COLEMAN
A Yiddish tango! Sounds crazy, no? But in our global village of Los Angeles, that's what's in store for the audience at Redcat on the evening of October 20th.
Of course, if you're already steeped in Yiddish culture and history, then you know that the waves of immigration bringing East European Jews to North America at the turn of the 20th century and then again after the Second World War, also brought Yiddish speakers to Latin American countries. Thus, in the 1930s, while Irving Berlin and George Gershwin were making music for Tin Pan Alley, Anibal Troilo and Carlos Gardel were busy writing Yiddish lyrics for tangos performed in the clubs of Buenos Aires.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
July-August 2007
The Living Tradition Concert Series
by dennis roger reed
In the land of
folk music concert series, a year or two is a highly regarded history. However,
the Living Tradition concert series held in the Anaheim Downtown Community Center
has reached the 100 show mark. These concerts, held on the third Saturday of
each month, have featured the best in all things folk, and helped to foster the
Southern California folk scene in a myriad of
ways.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
July-August 2007
New World Flamenco Festival
La Flor de la Vida, August 10-19
By Chris Stuart
There are few folk dances that blend passion and precision, energy and elegance, as well as flamenco.
Its origins are only dimly known, and there is debate over the very word. The dance appeared first in the Andalusian region of Spain in the sixteenth century during what is known as the Reconquest and quickly spread. The unique mélange of native Andalusian, Islamic, Sephardic, and Gypsy cultures, gives the dance its themes of loss, persecution, pride, as well as its characteristic rite of sexual tension.
The word flamenco might mean gypsy or perhaps a reference to the Flemish, the legendary home of the gypsies. In either case, the origins are distinctly folk oriented, the dance developing from the poorer strata of society. Over the past 500 years it has been alternately derided as an uncouth regional dance and hailed as the pinnacle of Iberian soul.
Now we have a unique opportunity to appreciate the very best in flamenco dance with the New World Flamenco Festival August 10-19 at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. The festival is titled La Flor de la Vida, The Prime of Life, and premieres three companies of young flamenco dancers who are among the very best currently performing in Spain.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
July-August 2007
A Feast of Hawaiian Festivals
L.A.-Honolulu Round-Trip
By Audrey Coleman
The pitch was mid-range, the tone full, yet somehow fragile. It reminded me of a Native American flute, yet the sound had a unique, delicate quality I couldn't define. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that the breath was coming from the player's nose.
Mike Kalikolani Wong, maker of Hawaiian nose flutes, was one of several workshop leaders demonstrating traditional Hawaiian arts at the annual E Hula Mau Competition held Labor Day weekend. Visiting the canopied "Hawaiian Village" on the mall of the Long Beach Convention Center, I came upon Kalikolani chiseling holes into a small, dried, hollowed-out gourd. Moments later, he picked it up in the palm of his right hand and pressed it to his right nostril while blocking the other nostril with his left index finger. Then he made this marvelous music. He spent over a half an hour showing me the rudiments of nose flute technique and made an instrument for me to take home.
Cultural workshops and demonstrations add an important dimension to E Hula Mau, There is an exciting difference between attending an event purely as a spectator, wandering among performance stages and craft booths and having opportunities for meaningful encounters with cultural practitioners such as Mike Kalikolani Wong. This gives an event the quality of a folk life festival, even if it doesn't bear that name.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
July-August 2007
SUMMERGRASS
by dennis roger reed
Southern
California has a lot of
bluegrass fans, but not nearly enough great bluegrass festivals. The San Diego
Bluegrass Society decided to do something to rectify that, and Summergrass will
be celebrating their fifth year in 2007. The festival runs from Friday August 24 to Sunday August
26. This year's festival has a theme of "Saluting the Military" and the
headlining stars include the US Navy's bluegrass band, Country Current. Also
billed this year are Bluegrass Etc., Fragment,
John Reischman & the Jaybirds, Lost
Coast, the Brombies, Uglum & Sons,
the BladeRunners, Lighthouse, Virtual Strangers and Soledad Mountain Band. As part of this year's theme honoring the folks in
the military, there will be discount tickets to those in the armed forces.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
July-August 2007
INTI-ILLIMANI CELEBRATES 40TH ANNIVERSARY AT FORD
By
Audrey Coleman
On the evening of
July 13, the sweet melancholic yet life-affirming sounds of Andean panpipes and
bamboo flutes will soar high above the Hollywood
hills. Within two hours, these hallmarks of Latin American indigenous music
will blend with over 20 other wind, string, and percussion instruments drawn
from European, Native American, African, and Mestizo cultures. The occasion:
the 40th anniversary concert of Inti-Illimani. The Ford Amphitheatre,
an open-air, 1245-seat venue -- intimate compared to the neighboring Hollywood
Bowl -- seems ideally suited to showcase
the music of the acclaimed eight-member Chilean ensemble.
|
|
Read more...
|
FORD STAGE TO SIZZLE,
COLUMBIAN STYLE
By Audrey Coleman
Do you have plans yet for Sunday afternoon?
How about an outdoor fiesta of Columbian music and dance? Slather on some
sunscreen, bring your broad-brimmed straw hat, perhaps a fan to cool you down,
and be ready to surrender to the hot rhythms of some of Columbia's most
talented musicians. On August 5 at 3
p.m., the Ford Amphitheatre in
Hollywood will host a Columbian Festival of Traditional, Contemporary, and
Popular Music.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
May-June 2007
47th Annual
Topanga Banjo & Fiddle Contest
By Warren Garfield
Since the first Topanga Fiddle Contest in 1961, numerous bluegrass, folk and old-time musicians have graced its stages, including Jackson Browne, David Lindley, Taj Mahal, John Hartford, Byron Berline, Dan Crary, Frank Hamilton, Eric Darling, John Hickman, Stuart Duncan, Phil Salazar, Pat Cloud, Larry McNeeley, Bill Knopf, Howard Yearwood, Tom Sauber and many more. Others who got their start as contestants became musical headliners. This year on Sunday, May 20th, the Topanga Festival will again present some of the finest bluegrass, old-time and folk musicians ever assembled in Southern California.
On the Main Stage, it's all-out, unadulterated bluegrass with PETER FELDMANN AND THE VERY LONESOME BOYS, which always includes high energy instrumentals and heartfelt singing. Peter Feldmann has been the pre-eminent bluegrass artist of the Santa Barbara area for decades. Tommy Marton has a great sense of finesse, blending several bluegrass, old-time and Western contest fiddle styles. David West is known as one of the founding members of the Cache Valley Drifters, and currently divides his time between performances and record production for Los Angeles-based CMH Records. Tom Lee is one of the West Coast's premier bass players in bluegrass, jazz, and blues circles. Guitarist Mike Nadolson is a great singer as well as a hot-picker and he also runs Tricopolis Records, a new venue for Western bluegrass bands.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
May-June 2007
Walking on Bilgewater
Eefing, bilabial fricatation, and the "strum" and "twang" of the Bilgewater Brothers
By Joel Okida
Design by David Barlia
Photo by Thomas Hargis
The act of grinning comes naturally when you hear the very tongue-in-cheek tune, Give It to Mary with Love. And when David Barlia resurrects the lost art known as "eefing," the grin becomes a chuckle. For those not in the know, eefing is the vocal ability to nasally impersonate a coronet, oddly named by uke old timer, Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards. John chirps in with a melodic whistling solo and you know there's a spectacle of rare entertainment to be had. Over the course of an evening with the Bilgewater Brothers, you get a very lively variety show without having to change channels. Mostly you get uke strummer, David and plectrum banjo and National guitar wiz, John Reynolds, having a good time for your listening and viewing pleasure. They are often supported by other local musicians and surrounded by makeshift props which give a wink and an elbow of embellishment to whatever theme they are imbedded in. No matter how ragged the production may get, the music stays up front and engaging. It's an excuse to have a good time for what is really a madcap romp through vaudeville, burlesque, a backroom speakeasy, a squat in the parlor room and always a Keystone-Kop-run down tin pan alley.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
May-June 2007
Chicks
Nix Hicks' Picks
By
Ross Altman
After striking
out in Nashville at the CMA awards,
the Dixie Chicks hit a grand slam home run in Los Angeles
at the Grammy's last February 11. They swept all three major awards: Song,
Record and Album of the Year, on the
way to winning all five categories in which they were nominated. They added
insult to the injury of the red states' defeat in all the major contested
elections last November, throwing control of the House and Senate into blue
state Democratic hands for the first time in a generation.
Call it the last
nail in the southern coffin. The bi-coastal cultural power centers New York and LA showed that they have no objection to country
music - it was the politics they abhorred. Give us a country band not tied to Bush
country, and we'll embrace it wholeheartedly, which we did.
It was also a
great night for folk music, as Joan Baez - who was there to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award - looked resplendent as she
introduced the Chicks to an international TV audience, as well as the Staples Center crowd. Joan drew abundant
applause when she reminded us that over the years she too has been told many
times to shut up and sing (the title of last year's documentary on the
Dixie Chicks). She ended her brief but bravura performance by quoting Woody
Guthrie: This Land Is Your Land. For one beautiful evening, it felt like
it.
|
|
|
May-June 2007
Ross
Altman's Mailbag
Occasionally a column elicits some interesting differences of opinion
that our readers might enjoy-so herewith are a few of the comments on Barry
Manilow from three FolkWorks readers with an afterthought by columnist Ross Altman (How Can I Keep From Talking-Jan/Feb 2007
issue).
Hi Ross-I picked up a copy of FolkWorks' Jan-Feb issue at the Coffee
Gallery Backstage last week and read your article.
I have no difference of opinion with you on the subject of the King of
Pap; however, I do feel inclined to point out that your selection of The
Greatest Songs of the Sixties bears some glaring omissions, notably Ohio and Joni Mitchell's Woodstock by CSNY and For What It's
Worth by Buffalo Springfield.
I'm sure I could comb my memory to discover dozens more...these are just
the first that came to mind. The point I would make is that there's a certain
liability in labeling something "the greatest" (unless one floats like a
butterfly and stings like a bee), and it would be best to title a collection the
likes of which we speak "Great Songs of..." and let the superlatives lie.
Tom Fair
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
May-June 2007
Support
Your Local Folk Festival
By
Ross Altman
The Crooked Jades
Photo by Cesar Rubin
In
the summer of 1927, Babe Ruth was on his way to hitting 60 home runs, Charles
Lindbergh had just flown solo across the Atlantic,
Ralph Peer discovered the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers, and the rhododendrons
were blooming in Asheville, North
Carolina.
The
Asheville City Council decided to
have a rhododendron festival to celebrate their favorite local attraction. Only
it didn't turn out to be the flowers. They asked Asheville's
old-time banjo player and folk song collector Bascom Lamar Lunsford - The
Minstrel of the Appalachians - to
invite a few of his musician friends to liven up the festival, and suddenly a
new tradition was born: The Great American
Folk Festival.
If the name Bascom
Lamar Lunsford doesn't ring a bell, you have probably sung his songs. He wrote Good
Old Mountain DewI Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground. and
So when you make
your plans for May 5, the day of the 27th annual Claremont Folk
Festival, and May 20, the 47th annual Topanga Banjo and Fiddle
Contest and Folk Festival, and June 22-24, the 25th annual CTMS
Summer Solstice Festival of Traditional Music, Dance and Storytelling, remember
that you are doing more than supporting your local folk festival, you are
participating in an American ritual
that is now 80 years old.
|
|
Read more...
|
May-June 2007
The Nautical Trail of Pint and Dale
By Audrey Coleman
Call them folk singers or perhaps sea song gypsies. William Pint and Felicia Dale travel the country, singing seafaring songs at gigs such as the Renaissance Faire here in Southern California and the Mystic Seaport Festival in Connecticut. Their 2003 Dodge Sprinter is outfitted with camping gear for all weather. Their constant travel companion, parrot Ranzo, whose name appears in many a sea shanty, belts out "There's a good bird!" and imitates the sounds of cell phones to amuse them. Together 21 years now, Pint, 53 and Dale, 49, cross the salt seas regularly to perform in England and throughout Europe in pubs and folk clubs and at sea music festivals. In concert, they definitely seem touched by the maritime folk music muse - Pint with his stubbly beard and robust baritone, Dale cradling a hurdy-gurdy, her delicate features framed by flowing dark hair threaded with silver strands.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
May-June 2007
San Pedro Shanty Sing
By Audrey Coleman
On a warm spring evening, you're strolling down West Seventh Street in San Pedro, headed towards the Whale and Ale. Friends have recommended the traditional British restaurant-pub and you are looking forward to the beef Wellington and for dessert, that uniquely delectable "sticky toffee pudding." Approaching, you can see the Victoriana furnishings and oak paneled walls through the thick, green-paned picture window. Then you hear something between a song and a chant emanating from the open second story window.
Leader: Oh, poor old Reuben Ranzo!
Chorus: Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!
|
|
Read more...
|
|
Roundin’ Up the Music
National Festival of the West, March 15-18
The 17th annual festival has moved around, and this year it’s at a recreated western town near Phoenix, AZ. With five stages, music (artists being booked at press time), cowboy poetry, chuck wagons, a western film fest, mountain man rendezvous, square dancing, Buffalo Soldiers, and more, it’s very affordable, at $12/day. Info at http://www.festivalofthewest.com/.
Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, April 25-29
This local festival has become one of the nation’s best annual western events. It delivers many of the stars of western and cowboy music, performing everything from traditional 19th century cowboy folk music to Bob Wills-flavored prairie swing and wonderful new songs. You’ll hear AWA and WMA award winners for top vocalists, best artists, best original songs and best groups among today’s top western singer-songwriters and bands, along with national award-winning cowboy and cowgirl poets.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
March-April 2007
Gig for a Musical Statesman
By Audrey Coleman
One month after a terrorist bomb ripped open the United Nations Headquarters in Bagdhad, killing 22 U.N. workers and injuring over 100 people, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan invoked the healing power of music to help colleagues and families of the fallen recover from the horror and loss. At a memorial service held in the Great Hall of the U.N. General Assembly on September 19, 2003, Annan introduced a musician who, he explained, “… can do justice to all the complex feelings we are experiencing today. Someone who can lift us all out of our
sorrow. I can think of no one better suited to do this than Gilberto
Gil, an artist with a conscience, an artist with a gift. Gilberto has
given the world a kind of music that seeks to empower people as much as
to move them.”
|
|
Read more...
|
|
March-April 2007
A Legacy of Sagebrush and Song
By Larry Wines
There are Cowboy Junkies, a Cowboy Nation, Cowboy Celtic, even Kahuna Cowboys, and all are bands on today’s music scene. There are the enduring images of frontier primogeniture, Sons of the Pioneers and Sons of the San Joaquin. There are Riders in the Sky and Riders of the Purple Sage, all riding decades before, and still in the saddle decades beyond, the life span of the rock-era’s New Riders of the Purple Sage. And there are all those rangers, including the Lost Canyon Rangers, the Steep Canyon Rangers, and the Americana band with the Celtic name of Kaedmon, and their song, Still the Lone Ranger.
All these and countless more conjure western images, and to varying degrees, perpetuate the legacy of western music.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
March-April 2007
Back By Spring: The Return Of Wendy Waldman
By Rex Butters
From 1973’s Love Has Got Me to 1978’s Strange Company, Wendy Waldman proved her talent justified her inclusion in the legendary Warners/Reprise brain trust, which included Bonnie
Raitt, Van Morrison, Maria Muldaur, Captain Beefheart, Van Dyke Parks,
Randy Newman, Ry Cooder, Miriam Makeba, Arlo Guthrie, John Hartford, Jesse Colin Young, and John Sebastian. In addition to her own performances, Waldman became a widely covered songwriter, with versions by Muldaur, Linda Ronstadt, Kim Carnes, Judy Collins, Melissa Manchester, Rita Coolidge, and Bette Midler
released simultaneously with Wendy’s. By decade’s end, nearly all these
legendary artists were dropped or forced to find greener pastures due to management changes and the arrival of punk rock.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
January-February 2007
Tango!
A Beginner's Tale
By Meg Hoffman
On a recent trip
to San Francisco my
husband and I decided to include an Argentine
tango lesson as an annive rsary treat. So, on the Sunday we were in San
Francisco, we took an early evening bus down Polk Street from our hotel, got
off south of Market and walked a couple of blocks to Heron Street.
Heron is really an
alley, as we had seen on the map, but when we arrived at dusk to find ourselves
in a short cul-de-sac occupied by car repair shops and decorated with some vivid
graffiti, we began to get nervous. And
we couldn’t immediately find number 19, Studio Garcia. Curiosity won out, as we
stuck our heads in an open doorway where we could see past a cluttered
vestibule into a lime green
|
|
Read more...
|
|
January-February 2007
An Interview with Jorge Mijangos
Son Jarocho Musician and Luthier
By Sonia Kroth
Son
- Literally a sound that is
agreeable to the ear, it is a Mexican regional song/dance style, usually in 6/8
rhythm.
Jarocho
- "of Veracruz"
Applied to the people and music of Veracruz, the term
originally meant "irreverent," but the jarocho people have turned it into an
assertion of pride.
Born and raised in
Chiapas,
México, Jorge Mijangos is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist and
luthier. He began performing as a soloist in local theaters and radio stations
at the age of five. During his formative years, he played guitar and sang in
the traditional estudiantina. He has been in numerous groups, playing such
varied musical styles as salsa, rock, Andean
music, canto nuevo, and son jarocho, and has recorded and performed throughout
Mexico and the US.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
January-February 2007
Supergrass
Festival Offers World-Class Luthiery
By Yvonne Tatar
Did you know that
80% of the guitars sold are in the lower-end of the market price range ($1,000
or less) and sold to
beginners? And,
of that 80%, half of those buyers never progress past the beginning stage of
proficiency. So, in guitar sales, the biggest market share is for entry-level
instruments.
Players beyond the
beginner stage usually desire a higher quality instrument with better tonal
resonance, ease of playing, and ornamentation. This 20% creates the market for
the higher-end instruments.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
September-October 2006
Digeridoos and Don'ts
A Talkabout with Didgeridude Jay Atwood
By Joel Okida
The mysterious drones and grunts emanating from the didgeridoo bring to mind the sound one would get if it were possible to goose a humpback whale. Or perhaps the snorted mantra of a yak meditating. In reality, the variety of tones can’t really be described in a metaphor. This speaks to the mystical, native Australian origins of the long, tubular instrument called the didgeridoo. There are references, in some northern Aboriginal lore, to its tone being the cumulative sound the creatures in the animal kingdom would make if all were in chorus.
Recently, Jay Atwood, solo artist, and didgeridoo player for Celtic band, The Wicked Tinkers, came up for air, and we asked him about the story behind this unique instrument and to find out why being long-winded can be a good thing.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
September-October 2006
The Stairwell Sisters
Old-Time String Band Breaks Out
By Steve Goldfield
The Stairwell Sisters, from the San Francisco Bay Area, have bee n honing their traditional sound through six years and two widely acclaimed CDs, with a third on t he way soon. Since their appearance at the International Bluegrass Music Association, they have been touring nationally on the festival circuit. The Stairwells will make their Los Angeles debut on Saturday, September 9, at the Coffee Gallery Backstage and at the Peter Strauss Ranch on Sunday, September 10.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
September-October 2006
A Hawaiian Musical Treasure: Genoa Keawe
By Audrey Coleman
It was a few minutes before six on a tropical December evening in 2001 when Michael and I strolled on to the Moana Terrace of the Marriott Waikiki. We managed to claim one of the few remaining tables clustered near the performance platform. As we ordered our Mai Tai’s, I noticed a white-haired lady dressed in a floor-length pink and white flowered mumu, moving gracefully among the tables, greeting people. Two flower leis bedecked her shoulders and another floral cluster adorned her hair on one side, setting off a beaming smile and bright eyes. Michael grinned. “That’s her.”
On business trips to Honolulu, my husband had discovered Auntie Genoa’s Thursday night show. I was about to be initiated to a Waikiki institution.
|
|
Read more...
|
| |
|
|
Support FolkWorks Advertisers
|
|
|
|