MaMuse
Tickets: $14 advance, $18 at the door
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
MaMuse: (Ma as in Mamma; Muse as in the one who inspires) “Beautiful Harmonies woven into a tapestry of strings and stillness.”
The songs of MaMuse are love poems to the Earth. They also speak to the depths of one’s own inner terrain. MaMusic stirs the heart through deep soul felt lyrics and sparse supportive instrumentation. Sarah and Karisha together create original music that breathes. Tight vocal harmonies ring out a Capella or blend with upright bass, mandolin, guitar, flute, light percussion and finger snaps to deliver the gift of joyful truth telling.
The encouragement and support of their hometown Chico, California community (MaMuse has received awards two years in a row from local voting music enthusiasts for Best New Act, Best Folk Act and Best Local Act) has provided the strength for the “rootsy female wonder duo” of MaMuse to make her way out into the world, touring regions across the country as well as establishing a strong presence through the Bay Area and Northern California.
Celebrating her second year of Being and sharing, MaMuse delights in this year’s 2010 Spring and Summer invitations: Chico Bicycle Music Festival, Davis Whole Earth Festival, California World Music Festival, Esalen International Arts Festival, Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival, Mystic Family Garden Party and the American River Music Festival.
Beginning July 31st, MaMuse will set out with the support of friends to promote their second full-length album Strange and Wonderful. The tour will begin in Shasta, CA and meander northward through Oregon and Washington. In Seattle, MaMuse will continue their adventurous Northwest tour by bicycle, ferrying across the Puget Sound and sharing their music through the San Juan Islands. Bicylces support the journey for MaMuse whenever possible, as they have pedaled their bodies and instruments from their homes in Chico to the World Music Festival (Grass Valley, CA), the Whole Earth Festival (Davis, CA) and the Bicycle Music Festival (San Francisco, CA).
The essence of MaMuse is rooted in the transparency of a journey shared by two women who feel a lot and dare to express their experiences through song and story. ”As a community we are all strengthened when even one of us discovers his or her voice and dares to share. We dare you to sing with us. We dare you to discover your own song.” (Karisha)
“Mamuse is what a meadow would sound like if it could sing.”
Kings of Mongrel Folk
Tickets $12 advance, $16 at the door
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Mark Graham and Orville Johnson love the magic when they play together as much as their audiences do. “People comment on that all the time,” says Orville. “They can tell we’re having a good time up there. We play on a lot of different emotions.”
Wry humor, virtuoso harmonica, soulful blues, hot pickin’ and sweet country vocals – that’s what you get when Orville and Mark combine forces as the Kings of Mongrel Folk.
Graham’s harmonica virtuosity on Irish and American fiddle tunes and his rich, woody sound on clarinet are well-known to fans of Kevin Burke’s Open House. Graham’s sardonic skewering of contemporary life, in such songs as “I Can See Your Aura and It’s Ugly” and “Zen Gospel Singing” have been cult classics for years. His songs have been recorded by many, including the Austin Lounge Lizards, Bryan Bowers, and the Limelighters.
Orville Johnson, an instrumental gunslinger whom the Seattle Times describes as “player’s player,” has a gift of finding the “secret ingredient” that makes a song sound letter-perfect, whether it’s an R & B tune from New Orleans, a country blues or a jazzy ballad. Orville’s guitar, dobro, and quavering, honeyed vocals have seasoned more than two hundred recordings, soundtracks and countless TV and radio commercials. He also produces records and teaches at events like the International Guitar Seminar and Pt. Townsend Country Blues Workshop. He has shared the stage with artists such as Doc Watson, Bonnie Raitt and John Lee Hooker.
Between the two of them, they have played many of the most coveted gigs in North America and Europe: the Newport Folk Festival and Caffe Lena, out East; South by Southwest, in Texas; the Bay area’s Freight and Salvage and Kuumbwa; London’s Festival Hall and Glasgow’s Celtic Connections Festival, in Europe;and on their home turf, Bumbershoot and the NW Folklife Festival. Though they were longtime acquaintances on the Northwest folk scene, it was at a Folklife Festival jam session in 1991 that they hatched their plan to expand their kingdom of mongrel folk nationwide and, yes, even worldwide. Wherever they go, their performances and recordings have inspired raves:
“Performed with taste and skill and boosted by the nuttiness of Graham’s songs” - Sing Out
“Great songwriting, singing and playing” - Dirty Linen
Len Graham & Brian Hart
Tickets: $12 advance, $16 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
The Ulster Ballad Tradition with Len Graham
Len Graham is of the older generation of traditional singers from Ulster–the northern province of Ireland. His longstanding friendship with Joe Holmes and Eddie Butcher in particular impacted on Len’s repertoire and understanding of songs he had gained from singers within his own family while growing up in the Glens of Antrim. In 1971 Len won the senior All-Ireland competition in traditional singing and went on to sing with the band Skylark and collaborate with the likes of Cathal McConnell, Garry Ó Briain and Pádraigín Ní Ullacháin. He has recorded many albums and received many awards for his dedication to and academic work on the singing tradition of Ireland. Dublin’s Four Court Press has recently published Len’s work on Joe Holmes entitled Here I Are Amongst You.
The Gaelic Song Traditions of Ireland and Scotland with Brian Hart
Brian Hart is of the younger generation of singers of the sean-nós style—a singing style indicative of the Irish Gaelic speaking regions of western Ireland. His musical friendship with sean-nós singers in the States encouraged Brian to become a fluent speaker of the language by living in the Gaeltacht of western County Galway. In 2002, Brian won the senior All-Ireland competition in traditional singing and went on to earn an MA in Irish Traditional Music Performance from the University of Limerick where he was introduced to Scots Gaelic singing, becoming adept with that tradition as well. He currently tours with his band, Bua and collaborates with percussive dancers and musicians throughout North America creating new platforms to perform traditional music.
