From Studio To Stage — Molly Bauckham Explains It All
Over the past few months, Molly Bauckham put together a beautiful debut solo album at Empty Sea entitled Maid On The Shore. Featuring lever harp, cittern, guitar, percussion, flute, and a few other surprises, it’s a great disc, notable for having been done start-to-finish at Empty Sea (including tracking, mixing, mastering, and graphic design.)
Kirby Lindsay over at The Fremocentrist has written a great article on the recording process for Molly’s album! Click here to check it out.
Seattle Harp Duo: Beth Kollé & Harper Tasche
This show is completely sold out! Sorry, no tickets will be available at the door.
The Seattle Harp Duo started when internationally known soloists Harper Tasche and Beth Kollé met at a harp festival in 1996. They began performing together for corporate and individual clients in 2001, and that became the best possible excuse for them to explore making music with two harps, harp and flute, harp and bowed psaltery, and harp and voice.
Beth Kollé and Harper Tasche are multi-instrumentalists, arrangers, and high-level improvisers whose musicianship is informed by classical music training with honors. But it is the passion they hold for traditional Nordic and Celtic music which has shaped their solo careers, as well as their work as the Seattle Harp Duo. These two outstanding artists are splendid as soloists, and performing together their sound is richly woven and breathtakingly expressive.
Whether they are setting your feet a-tapping with traditional dance music, or creating an exquisite moment of timelessness with a haunting medieval ballad, the Seattle Harp Duo will make you smile, delight your mind, move your soul, and warm your heart.
Beth Kollé started arranging music for her toy piano at age four. Lessons on piano were followed by flute and voice, leading to a B.A. in music in 1976. Beth spent a year living in Norway, becoming fluent in the language, immersed in the music, and developing an enduring expertise in Norwegian folk dance. After years of performing Celtic, Nordic, and classical music with numerous other musicians, Beth was captivated by the beauty of the harp. She has shared her sensitive arrangements for “regular” and double-strung harp at folk harp festivals across the USA. Beth’s credits also include nine books of harp music and a critically-acclaimed debut solo harp CD; performances and recordings playing flute, whistle, harp, and singing with the groups Crookshank, Stone Circle, and Greensleeves; and leading two amazing folk harp concert tours to Scandinavia. Learn more about Beth at www.BethKolle.com.
Harper Tasche launched his composing and performing career by creating a video soundtrack for the US Forest Service in Alaska at age fourteen. After earning a B.Mus. degree in 1982, and composing works for a variety of instruments and voices, Harper unexpectedly met a small harp at an Early Music rehearsal and was completely smitten. Harper now holds a unique and prominent place in the folk harp world for his ground-breaking work with the small harp, cross-strung harp, and the buzzy bray harp. His credits include headline appearances at major folk harp events in the USA, Canada, and Ireland; over twenty recording projects and nine music books; international radio, television and feature film work; and the title “Millennium Harper of Washington State” from the Harping for Harmony Foundation. Learn more about Harper at www.HarpCrossing.com, and watch Harper’s videos (courtesy of International Artists) on YouTube.
Duo Controverso
Tickets: $13 advance, $15 door .
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Duo Controverso
Annette Bjorling (Harp)
Kurt Bjorling (Clarinet & Basset Horn)
With sensual, lively, poetic & ecstatic melodies, this ensemble of clarinet & harp takes the listener to a world beyond everyday experience.
Two extraordinary musicians acclaimed for their depth and diversity present a program including New Roots Music, from Klezmer to Turko-Greek, works from late Renaissance Masters to Contemporary Composers, and Jazz - interweaving timeless music and modern thoughts.
As there is hardly any music composed specifically for harp with either clarinet or basset horn, all of the repertoire has been adapted or composed by the performers themselves.
Annette Bjorling (Harp)
”World’s First & Only Klezmer Harpist”: beyond merely adapting Jewish tunes to the harp, Annette creates an unique voice that fits naturally within the idiom of Yiddish music. Annette is a member of several performing groups such as Chicago based ensemble J.F.F., and international ensemble Myridián. Annette was musical co-director of the Klezmer Orchester (Germany). She has performed and taught at international harp conferences and music festivals in Europe and North America. Annette is a private teacher for harp in Evanston.
Kurt Bjorling (Clarinet, Basset Horn)
The musical director of the Chicago Klezmer Ensemble and, a member of Brave Old World, Kurt has also toured and recorded with the Klezmatics (New York) and violinist Itzhak Perlman. He has taught klezmer music style and techniques at numerous festivals and workshops in Europe and North America, and he has composed symphonic pieces based on klezmer music. In addition to his Yiddish music, he has been active playing jazz, chamber music and various styles of ethnic music, as well as performing music for theater. Kurt studied clarinet with Lloyd Scott & Larry Combs.
Workshop
Annette and Kurt will be presenting a workshop at Dusty Strings earlier in the day on Sunday, November 29th. Click here for more information.
Sin Fronteras
Tickets: $13.00 advance, $15.00 at the door
Click here to buy advance tickets.
Sin Fronteras performs Latin American traditional and Nueva Cancion Music throughout Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. Inmerse yourself in vibrant rhythms, soulful melodies, and breathtaking harmonies, weaving throughout the uncommon poetry of Latin America’s common people — songs of life, humanity, equality, justice, and hope.
Since 2002, the group has shared their music and commitment to promoting an understanding of the complexities of Latin America’s pueblos. Their music draws on the Canto Nuevo (New Song) tradition originating in the social movements of the southern cone. The New Song of Latin America is defined by lyrics which speak to the everyday experiences of the working class and the dispossessed. The form focuses its energy on the struggle against oppression.
Sin Fronteras blends original arrangements with the harmony of folkloric rhythms found in the music of Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina and Chile. Following in the steps of Violeta Parra, one of the originators of the Canto Nuevo, Sin Fronteras is reconstructing the collective memory of Latin American musical traditions. To that end, they also weave Andean and classical musical styles with the folkloric traditions of Mexico and Chile, rejuvenating and reinventing the rich musical history of Latin America.
Their members hail from the US, Colombia, Mexico and Chile.
Correo Aereo
Tickets: $13 advance, $15 at the door.
Click here to purchase advance tickets.
Correo Aereo (Air Mail) is an award winning multi-instrumental and vocal Latin/World Music trio performing traditional and original music of Latin America; primarily of Venezuela, Mexico and Argentina.
Together, Abel Rocha and Madeleine Sosin along with Evan Flory Barnes combine a stunning array of string and percussive instruments with silken vocal harmonies described as “locked in carnal embrace” by the Austin Chronicle. Abel plays harp, guitar, cuatro and quinta huapanguera. Madeleine plays violin, maracas, bombo and jarana. Evan Flory Barnes adds hot stand up bass. Their music is richly polyrhythmic, soulfully melodic; fiery, haunting, joyful!
Correo Aereo has performed at festivals, theaters and music venues throughout the U.S. and abroad, including Holland’s prestigious Moondive; an international media project/concert produced by VPRO Television-Radio Amsterdam, the Winnipeg Folk Festival, the Austin Music Hall, the EMP in Seattle and the Knitting Factory in NYC. Their music has been featured on NPR Radio programs Latino USA, All Things Considered and on Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now.
The critics speak:
“Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo has often stated that to play harp extremely well you most often cannot play other instruments. Abel Rocha calls that wisdom into question since his considerable skill on the harp is matched by his flying fingers on quinta huapanguera, guitar and cuatro. His high, affecting vocal attack often soars above Madeleine’s lower register, singing in a startling and affecting reversal of traditional male female harmony…the musical skill of this couple complements the impressive reach of their pan-hispanic musical repetoire and marks Correo Aereo as one of the most exciting acoustic ensembles to appear in many years.”
DIRTY LINEN MAGAZINE
“I loved the Provinces recording. I had it in my car and when I played it, I was blown away by it; it was really good. I liked (their) arrangements and the way they know what to leave out and what are the bare essentials to make the song, in whatever style they are playing, work. Abel, who plays the harp and the huapanguera as well as sings, is amazing.”
DAVID HIDALGO / LOS LOBOS
“I won’t even try to catalog the styles and instruments that Abel Rocha and Madeleine Sosin bring to the stage – does it mean anything to you that Rocha’s a master of the huapanguera? – but these South by Southwest darlings have a pan-ethnic, global gypsy sound that’s stirring, passionate, and bittersweet. Trading off an assortment of stringed and percussive tools, they create world music with true heart and intelligence.”
SEATTLE WEEKLY
