FolkWorld Issue 41 03/2010

News & Gossip

++ Accordion Stolen ++ Django Reinhardt ++ Angelo Branduardi ++ Robin Morton ++ Bill Keith ++ Barney McKenna ++ Alistair Hulett ++ Kate McGarrigle ++ Lhasa de Sela ++ Vic Chesnutt ++ Liam Clancy ++ Andrew Grene ++ Tin Whistle World Record ++ Radio Ballads ++ La Talvera ++ Alfred Williams Heritage Society ++ Cecil Sharp's Diaries ++ Comhaltas ++ Up and Coming: ... ++ Christy Moore ++

Matija Solce's Accordion Was Stolen in Göteborg!

Please help us getting it back! See www.tradivarium.at/files/images/matija_akkordeon_1.jpg for a big photo.

More details:

  • Beltrami "Stradella Professional" piano accordion
  • 3 Octaves melody with 9 registers.
  • 92 basses w 3 bass registers.
  • Black color... (bellows inside red).
  • Paper "teeth" over bellow
  • Little yellow star sticker behind word "Beltrami" (not on this photo)

    Django Reinhardt
    Django's Spirit - A Tribute to Django Reinhardt

    Please help by posting this info to friends and to music mailing lists! Use email to contact us, if you can help: stolen (dot) beltrami (at) gmail (dot) com



  • 100 Years of Django Reinhardt

    Gypsy musician Jean "Django" Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953) was one of the first prominent European jazz musicians and remains one of the most renowned jazz guitarists. With violinist Stéphane Grappelli, he cofounded the Quintette du Hot Club de France. Reinhardt's most popular compositions have become jazz standards.
    At the age of 18, Reinhardt was badly injured in a fire. With rehabilitation and practice he relearned guitar playing in a completely new way, even as his third and fourth fingers remained partially paralyzed. He played all of his guitar solos with only two fingers, and used the two injured digits only for chord work.


    Happy Birthday

    www.angelobranduardi.it
    Angelo Branduardi, *12.02.1950, Cuggiono, Italy. The Italian (folk) singer and composer, who scored relevant success in Europe, was educated as a classical violinist. Branduardi's albums "Alla fiera dell'Est" (1976) and "La Pulce d'Acqua" (1977) became hit records, exploiting themes and patterns from Renaissance and Baroque music. The arrangements owe much to multi-instrumentalist Maurizio Fabrizio, mixing dulcimer, pan flute, lute and clarinet with guitar, bass and drums. Subsequent albums showed Branduardi struggling with the minstrel image and an increasing desire towards experimentation and differentiation.

    www.templerecords.co.uk
    Robin Morton, *24.12.1939, Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Robin started to play cornet in a school band, from there moved on to blues and Appalachian folk songs, which he discovered had links to his homeland. During the 1960s Robin was researching, collecting and promoting folk music. He co-founded the Ulster Folk Music Society and formed the Boys of the Lough in 1967.

    Barney McKenna

    The Dubliners

    Through a series of line-ups, featuring Cathal McConnell, Aly Bain, Mike Whellans, Dick Gaughan and Dave Richardson, the Boys took traditional Irish and Scottish music to huge audiences worldwide. After ten years Robin left the group, produced a number of albums for Topic Records and eventually formed his own label, Temple Records, based in a converted church in the village of Temple, 12 miles south of Edinburgh. Robin also took on the management of the Battlefield Band.

    www.beaconbanjo.com
    Bill Keith, *20.12.1939, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. William Bradford Keith had great impact on modern five-string banjo playing. He developed his own unique style, a variation on the popular Scruggs style of banjo playing, which became known as the melodic or Keith picking style. In 1963 he became a member of Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys for nine months, afterwards joined the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, and performed and recorded with several other musicians over the years. Keith also designed a specialized type of banjo tuning peg that facilitates changing quickly from one tuning to another, while playing. He continues to manufacture them as the primary product of his own company, the Beacon Banjo Company.

    Barney McKenna, *16.12.1939, Donnycarney, County Dublin, Ireland. Bernard Noël 'Barney' McKenna is one of the most renowned Irish banjo players. He began playing the banjo at a very early age, tuning it like a mandolin (GDAE, one octave lower) and thus making the tenor banjo the standard banjo in Irish music. In 1962 he joined Paddy Moloney's new band The Chieftains but left after just a few rehearsals and teamed up with Luke Kelly, Ronnie Drew and Ciarán Bourke to form The Dubliners instead. Though mainly a ballad band, Barney's tenor banjo has a central role in their music. He still sings and plays with The Dubliners as the only original member. Barney's tendency to relate funny and unbelievable stories is legendary amongst fans and friends. These anecdotes have become known as Barneyisms, and former Dubliners bandmate Jim McCann has been collecting them for a book.


    Rest In Peace

    Alistair Hulett & Dave Swarbrick
    "Saturday Johnny & Jimmy The Rat"

    www.alistairhulett.com

    He Fades Away” is about an Australian miner dying young of asbestosis, from massive exposure to asbestos, a long-lasting, daily tragedy of massive proportions fueled by, well, greedy capitalists. It is surely more than a little ironic that Alistair was taken from us at such a young age by the industrial-world epidemic known as cancer, so much like the subject of his most well-known song. It is undoubtedly a privilege of someone like Alistair that he will be remembered passionately by people, young and old and on several continents, long after today – by friends, lovers, fellow activists, fellow musicians, and many times as many fans. And he will long be remembered also as one of the innumerable great people, including so many great musicians, who died too young. (David Rovics)

    Alistair Hulett (1951-2010). Born in Glasgow, Alistair Hulett was a folk singer with a distinctively political tone. Hulett discovered traditional music in his early teens. In 1968 he and his family moved to New Zealand where he established a reputation on the folk circuit with his large repertoire of songs and his interpretation of the big narrative ballads. In 1971 Alistair moved over to Australia. During this time he began to write his own songs and became a founding member of the punk folk outfit, Roaring Jack. The band were headlining in major Australian rock venues as well as opening for overseas acts. Hullett's first solo CD, "Dance of the Underclass", was released in 1991, with his song, "He Fades Away", being covered later on by singers Roy Bailey, June Tabor, Andy Irvine and Niamh Parsons. In addition to his solo albums, Hulett toured and recorded with ex Fairport Convention fiddler Dave Swarbrick. Based once again in Glasgow, he joined with several Yorkshire based musicians to form a semi-electric band called The Malkies. On 28th January 2010, Alistair Hulett suffered liver failure and subsequently died, failing to receive a transplant.

    Kate McGarrigle (1946-2010). The singer-songwriter passed away on January 18, 2010, at her home in Montreal. Kate wrote and performed as a duo with her sister Anna McGarrigle, born of mixed English- and French-Canadian background. In the 1960s, they became stars on the city’s folk music scene, and soon began to compose their own songs.

    www.mcgarrigles.com
    Their 1975 self-titled debut album was chosen by Melody Maker as Best Record of the Year. Their albums Matapedia (1997) and The McGarrigle Hour (1999) won Juno Awards. Their songs have been widely recorded by other artists, including Linda Ronstadt, Judy Collins, Kirsty MacColl, Billy Bragg, June Tabor, Emmylou Harris, and only recently a duet by Liam Clancy and Mary Black. In 1999 Kate and Anna received Women of Originality awards and in 2006 SOCAN Lifetime Achievement awards. She was the mother of Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright from her marriage to American singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III.

    Lhasa de Sela (1972-2010). The singer passed away in her Montreal home on January 1st. She was forced to cancel a long international tour scheduled for autumn 2009, a projected album of the songs of Victor Jara and Violeta Parra would also remain unrealized.

    lhasadesela.com
    Lhasa was an New York-born singer-songwriter of a Mexican father and a Jewish-American mother, who was raised in Mexico and the United States. Her three albums mixes traditional and original Latin American songs which were strongly influenced by Mexican music, but also Klezmer music, Eastern European gypsy music, Middle-Eastern music and alternative rock. Lhasa received the BBC World Music Award for Best Artist of the Americas in 2005.

    Liam Clancy

    Still Turning

    www.liamclancy.com

    I was fortunate to be able to attend Liam Clancy's funeral in Dungarvan. The church was packed with family and friends, neighbours and a number of musical notables, but reeling of names of celebs isn't our style. Suffice to say both the music and the mass befitted the man who was honoured that day. When he was finally laid to rest, in the hillside Cemetery that over looks Helvic Bay, the family sang two of his most famous songs, "Will Ye Go Lassie Go" and the "Parting Glass", as the final prayers began a perfect rainbow arched out to the east over the sea and the crowd gave a collective gasp of awe, Liam had left us with a spectacular curtain call. (Sean Laffey)

    Vic Chesnutt (1964-2009). An adoptee, US singer-songwriter James Victor Chesnutt was raised in Zebulon, Georgia. His first album was released in 1990, produced by Michael Stipe of R.E.M., but his breakthrough to commercial success didn't come until 1996 with the release of "Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation", a tribute album of mainstream artists covering his songs.

    "Skitter on Take-off"

    www.vicchesnutt.com
    Injuries from a 1983 car accident left him partially paralyzed; he used a wheelchair and had limited use of his hands. On December 25, 2009, Chesnutt died from an overdose of muscle relaxants that had left him in a coma.

    Liam Clancy (1935-2009). The family of Liam Clancy regret to announce the sad death of Liam who passed away at 4th December 2009 in Bon Secours Hospital, Cork, Ireland.
    Liam was the youngest member of performing group The Clancy Brothers. He was born in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, and began singing and recording with his brothers and Tommy Makem in the late 1950s. Liam played guitar in addition to singing. A record-breaking sixteen minute long performance on American TV's The Ed Sullivan Show on 17 March 1961 launched the group into stardom. There were international tours, which included performances at Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. The quartet recorded numerous albums and enjoyed great success during the 1960s folk revival. After The Clancy Brothers split, Liam embarked on a solo career and performed in a duo with Tommy Makem until 1988.
    Liam Clancy was the last surviving member of the original Clancy Brothers; Tom Clancy died on November 7, 1990, Patrick Clancy died on November 11, 1998 and Tommy Makem died on August 1, 2007. Liam's final album 'The Wheels of Life' was released in 2008. Director Alan Gilsenan released a full length biography of Liam Clancy, 'The Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy,' first screened at the 2009 Dublin Film Festival.

    Andrew Grene (+2009).

    Prodigals
    "Momentum"

    www.prodigals.com

    My twin brother Andrew, an extraordinary, funny, brilliant, charming and deeply kind man was working with the United Nations in Haiti when the quake struck. He, along with many of his colleagues, and many more of the Haitian people, lost his life in that tragedy. We will be taking him home to Ireland to lay him to rest in Belturbet with my father. The timeline is still being worked out amid the logistics of the disaster. I am struggling to get through this. The only consolation for the insane bitterness of the loss, is the extraordinary beauty and love with which he endowed my life, as he did every one of his family, every day. While I wrote songs, he created peace. I think there is no question which is the nobler, greater mission. He worked for that cause in some of the most dangerously precarious situations, in the Central African Republic, Ethiopia and Eritrea. He helped to broker the historic peaceful transition of power from Indonesia to an independent East Timor. In his final posting he worked passionately, lovingly, with unwavering courage and with an unshakeable belief in the country and the people of Haiti. Yet let him walk into Paddy Reilly's and he instantly became the fan of fans, grinning broadly and gazing up at me (may God bless his kindness!) as though I were a paragon that shone a light across the world. I will never feel the like of that gaze again, but please God may I carry it in my heart forever.

    I also want to mention that we have set up a charity in Andrew's name, dedicated to educating the children in Haiti, and to helping set up micro businesses that can mean the difference between providing for a family and a yawning poverty that is beyond our experience. It is called the Andrew Grene Foundation, and its website is www.andrewgrene.org.

    Gregory Grene (The Prodigals)



    www.scoilacla.com
    Tin Whistle World Record Attempt

    Scoil Acla, Ireland's longest-established summer school, aims in bringing together the most tin whistle players ever in one place to play the same tune. It will take place on Achill Island's 5 km long Keel Strand on 31st July 2010 as part of Scoil Acla's 1910-2010 centenary celebrations. To be involved in the Guinness Book of World Records tin whistle attempt, you will have to learn the tune of 'Fainne Geal an Lae' (Dawning of the Day). Scoil Acla was established in 1910 with the aim of protecting and teaching Irish language, music and culture. It ran for four years, and was revived in 1985 as an annual event.



    "Set Into Song -
    The Radio Ballads"

    "The Songs of the
    Radio Ballads"

    www.bbc.co.uk

    Radio Ballads

    A brand new Radio Ballad entitled 'The Ballad of the Miners' Strike' will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on 2nd March 2010, marking the 25th anniversary of the end of that bitter year-long dispute. To coincide with this transmission, Delphonic Records are proud to announce the digital reissue of all six Radio Ballads that made up the 2006 series:

  • THE SONG OF STEEL : the decline of Sheffield and Rotherham steel industries
  • THE ENEMY THAT LIVES WITHIN : modern stories of people living with HIV/AIDS
  • THE HORN OF THE HUNTER : both sides of the story of hunting with hounds
  • SWINGS AND ROUNDABOUTS : the travelling people who run Britain¹s fairgrounds
  • THIRTY YEARS OF CONFLICT : sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland
  • THE BALLAD OF THE BIG SHIPS : shipyards of Tyne & Wear and Clyde


  • La Talvera

    "Sopac & Patac"

    www.talvera.org

    La Talvera

    La Talvera has been celebrating its 30th anniversary of their formation on 18-20 December 2009 in venues in Castelnau de Montmiral, Le Garric and Saint-André-de-Najac. La Talvera originally was created as an organisation to finance research in traditional Occitan music. In the early 1990's, its members turned into a professional band. Today the band features Daniel Loddo (composer/lyricist, singer, accordion, bodega), Céline Ricard (singer, fife, occitan oboe), Fabrice Rougier (clarinets), Serge Cabau and Thierry Rougier (percussion), and Paul Goillot (Guimbri and keyboard), playing traditional Occitan music as well as venturing into other world music styles.


    Alfred Williams Heritage Society

    www.alfredwilliams.org.uk
    The Alfred Williams Heritage Society was founded in December, 2009. Alfred Williams is known because of the song collecting work that he did in the Thames Valley during the period 1914-1916 and from his book "Folk Songs of the Upper Thames". He wrote poetry and produced several beautifully written books about the Thames Valley. The Society’s web site contains a wealth of information about Williams, and includes the essay, "A Different Drummer - Alfred Williams and the Edwardian Folk-Song Revival", which explores Williams’ role as a collector. The Society will be holding a weekend conference about Williams later this year.


    Cecil Sharp's Diaries Online

    www.efdss.org
    The English Folk Dance and Song Society is putting Sharp's diaries online @ library.efdss.org/exhibitions. These are his only surviving personal diaries, written between 1915 - 1918, and they include descriptions of his collecting experiences in the Appalachian Mountains of North America, where he gathered some 1,600 songs and tunes.


    Comhaltas Traditional Music Archive online

    www.comhaltas.ie
    Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann is happy to announce the public availability of the Comhaltas Traditional Music Archive, online @ ComhaltasArchive.ie. The website is a unified window into the Comhaltas Archive, including audio, video, magazines, print and biographical data.


    Up and Coming ...

    21-25 April 2010 - folkBALTICA
    Flensburg & Sønderjylland-Schleswig (Germany/Denmark)
    www.folkbaltica.de

    29 April - 2 May 2010 - SHETLAND FOLK FESTIVAL
    Shetland Islands, Scotland
    www.shetlandfolkfestival.com

    28-30 May 2010 - OFF THE TRACKS SPRING FESTIVAL
    Donington Park Farmhouse (Derbyshire), England
    www.offthetracks.co.uk

    2-4 July 2010 - TFF.RUDOLSTADT
    Rudolstadt, Germany
    www.tff-rudolstadt.de

    12-18 July 2010 - KAUSTINEN FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL
    Kaustinen, Finland
    www.kaustinen.net

    21-25 July 2010 - EUROPEADE
    Bozen, Italy
    www.europeade2010.it

    22-25 July 2010 - VILJANDI FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL
    Viljandi, Estonia
    www.folk.ee

    6-15 August 2010 - FESTIVAL INTERCELTIQUE DE LORIENT
    Britanny, France
    www.festival-interceltique.com

    6-8 August 2010 - DRANOUTER FOLK FESTIVAL
    Dranouter, Belgium
    www.folkdranouter.be

    13-15 August 2010 - FOLKWOODS FESTIVAL
    Eindhoven, Netherlands
    www.folkwoods.nl

    26-29 August 2010 - TØNDER FESTIVAL
    Tønder, Denmark
    www.tf.dk



    Christy Moore; Photo by The Mollis
    www.christymoore.com
    Last but not least: Christy Moore

    I really worship the man. So sad I was therefore, to have to write such a lukewarm review of his latest album. But it had to be written. The sad fact is that too many CD reviewers try – I am sure it is usually a subconscious thing - to make friends of artistes by writing glowing (but essentially bland and unthinking) reviews. That’s why so many people skip reading album reviews these days. Reviewers have printed too many $100 bills. And they have themselves to blame. They have devalued the currency.

    www.icogitate.com/~celticfolkmusic/cr-ChristyMoore.htm

    Believe it or not, I really was leaning over backwards to find that Christy CD glass “half FULL rather than half empty”! And I always believe as a reviewer, that one should endeavour to see the GOOD in the product, rather than the bad. But that said, hyperbolic “thumbs-up” reviews, in the end do nobody any good. The potential purchasers waste their money and the artiste(s) start believing the puff-jobs. The world of British Folk has several reviewers who write very well indeed. One of the most ubiquitous of them, however, has made something of a name for himself with what has become his trademark review. Invariably it is a paean of praise. His is a world of non-stop sunshine. And the Truth dies of thirst in the drought. And I don’t read his reviews any more.

    David "Dai" Woosnam



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    © The Mollis - Editors of FolkWorld; Published 03/2010

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