'Shut up and dance.' -- common contradance saying
Ah, you made it here. Nasty weather outside, isn't it? Give me a few minutes to finish this broadsheet for an upcoming dance and I'll be with you... Just put your wet coat and boots in the cloak room.
So sit back in one of those comfortable overstuffed chairs by the fireplace while I snag us a couple of Avalon Applejacks from the kitchen, and some nibbles including a most excellent Quebec cheddar, and then we'll settle in to talk about fiddlers, dance music, and other cool stuff. Comfy now? Good...
Yes, a fellow fiddler once said to me, 'You've only been in nine bands and you call yourself a musician?' My reply was that any musician who knew how many bleedin' bands he had been hadn't consumed enough of his or her favourite brew as his or her memory was obviously still working far too well! I have no idea how many bands I've been in over my time as a musician as I've sat in with more bands than I'll ever be able to recall. And Celtic bands in particular can be as ephemeral as the fey on Midsummer's Night, so who can say if that band was the one you played with? But the bands that I'll be discussing here have proven to be capable of lasting more that a dance season or two. And I don't care what you call a dance -- Barn Dance, Ceilidh, Hooley, Contra... All are just names for a good stompin' time!
Just consider the matter of a delightfully eclectic CD from a group called Wake the Neighbors. Their website says:
'A tight quartet forms the Wake the Neighbors! sound. Edward Howe's ecstatic, pulsing fiddle shares sonic space with the airy, trickling voice of Jim DiCarlo's Irish flute and whistles. John Côté's jazzy, versatile guitar work and foot percussion, and Anthony Shostak's clawed banjo and barking, grunting didgeridoo push the band's sound beyond the politely traditional. Howe, DiCarlo and Shostak each play double-duty on percussion, adding drive to the arrangements...'
Now while this is a contradance group -- and a bloody fine one at that -- they are not your usual traditional dance musicians. The first hint of that is in the name of the tunes on their CD. You have such interesting names as 'The Changeling' and 'Growling and Grumbling' as well as me favourite, 'Ed's Sobriety Test'. Eh? What gives? In an email message in which I asked 'bout this tune, Anthony Shostak explained the odd names for tune that are all trad:
'Ed, who brought the tunes to our repertoire, never knows the names of tunes. I think it is the 'Shetland Isles Orchestra's Welcome to the Cape Breton Fiddlers' or something like that. So, in the tradition of multiple names for the same tune, we dubbed the whole set 'Edward's Sobriety Test' to commemorate a hilarious (to us) bit of Ed's driving history in which he twice failed the roadside sobriety test despite the fact the he was uninebriated.'
If you want a CD of lively, fact paced, and intelligently played dance music, this is a must for you! I've heard more dance CDs than I care to think about, but this is one of the best I've ever heard. And I hope you enjoy the Bobby MacFerrin inspired 'The Congress of Africa Set' as much as I did, as it reminded me strongly of the work done by the now defunct Beatroots, a quirky band that mixed Central European, Caribbean, and African beats into a delightful melange. Wake the Neighbors is one of those local bands that is as truly unique as the Beatroots were! Any dancer who's lucky 'nough to have them as their band is a dancer that I envy!
Speaking of letting the good times roll, a group named Carnival Knowledge sent Green Man a CD they call A Little Knowledge Is A Dangerous Thing. Now a title like this is in itself an invitation for trouble, but Carnival Knowledge knows its music very, very well. This quintet of Jeff Hersk - upright bass, guitar, Mike Baugh - guitar, mandolin , Gretchen Priest - fiddle , Al Goll - dobro, and Brian Christianson -mandolin and fiddle, rejoined by Jim Roberts, a percussionist best known for work with Ancient Hand and with the Chuck Davis African-American Dance Ensemble. Carnival Knowledge comes from Nashville, Tennessee, an area known for having a long history of producing superb contradance groups such as the Cantrells, Nashville Weather, and many other fine groups.
Now I must say what most impresses me 'bout this group is the breadth of their music -- their site says they know Contras which, according to them, includes Reels, Rags, Jigs, and Swing tunes (!), Waltzes, and Circles & Squares! Not too shabby. There're two fiddlers, Gretchen and Brian. in the band, always a good thing from me viewpoint. Tunes on A Little Knowledge Is A Dangerous Thing include such Celtic standards as 'Road to Lisdoonvarna', 'Tam Lin', and 'Red Wing'. Even more impressive are the original tunes! 'Cockapoo in the Cornfield', which Jeff Hersk wrote, is a lively, toe tapping tune as is 'Normandy Jig' and ' The 4th of July Waltz', both of which he also penned. Nice to see a bass player who can also compose!
There's not a bad cut here -- even the silly named 'Song for My Father/It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing' is quite superb. There are, not surprisingly, samples of their music on their website.
Some more Applejack? Have you sampled the heather smoked salmon yet? And do toss another oak log or two on the fire -- It's bleedin' chilly today!
Normally I pretty much ignore the artwork on CDs as it's the music that interests me, not the art. But the barn owl on the cover of the Barn Owl Dance Band's CD, Dance Owl Night, is such a lovely creature that it caught me eye right off. And the CD inside the jewel case is, for the most part, quite exquisite too. The Barn Owl Band is the 'house band' for the Central Iowa Barn Dance. As the mission of the organization is to promote American country dancing in order to bring enjoyment, delight and sociability to the Central Iowan community, one would guess that the house band for such an organization better be a very good band. And if Dance Owl Night is indeed a fair representation of their live shows, the dancers of Central Iowa are very, very fortunate to have them performing on a regular basis!
At seven musicians (Jon Duvick, guitar, upright bass , Bettie Swarts, fiddle, Merle Hall, 5-string banjo, Roger Alexander, piano, accordion, whistle, feet, Mike Bell, guitar, mandolin, tenor banjo, octalute, strum stick , Marty Miller, upright bass, percussion , and Jason Huntley, fiddle). this is one of the largest contradance bands I've ever heard of! And one of the best too! How good are they? Barb Kirchner, a legendary caller said of them that 'Although I have known the members of the Barn Owls individually, I first saw them together as a band a few years ago, playing at a local dance in Iowa. I was immediately caught up in the rhythm of their music. I have been privileged to attend their dances fairly regularly over the past few years. Their creativity and energy always produce the desired results - I start to smile, my toes begin to tap, I look around for a dance partner to share the joy with. This is the music to dance to, to sing to, to live to. Enjoy.' And I wholeheartedly agree!
From the crowd pleasing 'Valse des Petites Jeunes Filles (Waltz of the Little Girls)' to an incredibly cool set of 'Speed the Plow / Cold Frosty Morning / Salt Creek ', Dance Owl Night is one lively outing. My only minor, and it is minor, complaint is 'Iowa', the song that ends Dance Owl Night, doesn't work at all for me. Now I don't like most songs of a singer-songwriter nature, so it's not surprising that I prefer the tunes on the CD.
You can check out how they sound at their website here.
The next band is not from the States, but rather is an English ceilidh band, playing English and French dance tunes. Nothing unusual in that, as bands ranging from Blowzabella to Shave the Money play that combination, but that doesn't mean that it's not worth hearing. And I know you're not one of those bloody fools who thinks the only good music is new music. GIG CB (also known as George Inn Giant Ceilidh Band) has a CD entitled GIANT! which is the result of two great bands, Tosbif and Gas Mark 5, along with a few other musicians, creating a new band. Webfeet gives this as part of their history:
'The George Inn, at Southwark. An historic pub dating from 17th century. We have had a music session there for at least 10 or 15 years. The accent is on French music but doesn't necessarily stay there. We have also had Swedish, Italian, Belgian, German, oh and English and a little Irish. We have had occasional songs including Bulgarian and Serbo-Croat. We had one of the Kodo drummers there once. Sadly, he couldn't get his own drum on the bus so we borrowed a bodhran from one of the many that were there at that time (though very polite players - generally only one at a time!). His style was very interesting - more like the karate method of killing a goatskin. He was of course cheered on. GIG CB! started life in this session. I was involved in running dances at C# House with Krazy Feet Ceilidhs and we needed a band in a hurry. Cock and Bull were playing to a packed house but we couldn't find a band for the following month. So I advertised The George Inn Giant Ceilidh Band (members of Rosbif, Florida, Late Night Band, etc) and told the musicians the following Monday. They didn't seem at all fazed! We practiced for 4 weeks, had a final practice at the House on the Saturday afternoon and fielded 15 musicians, including Stefan Hannigan and Fiona who turned up halfway through having already done two gigs that day but determined not to miss out on this extravaganza. There was such a party atmosphere on stage and it was picked up by the dancers who were probably several pounds lighter at the end of the evening.'
And a bloody big band it is as it consists of Chris Shaw (Melodeon, fiddle, caller), Clive Williams (Melodeon), John Offord (fiddle), Mark Prescott (fiddle), Richard Spong (fiddle), Lucy Sadler (Flute), Mark Treasure (Electric Bass), Mike Gulston (Octave Mandola), Alan Day (Anglo-concertina), Bruce Cooper (Saxophone), Trevor Upham (Saxophone), and Trevor Bennett (Trombone, tuba). Yes, it's a wall of sound approach that's strongly similar to what Blowzabella achieved on Pingha Frenzy, their live CD that was recorded in Brazil. Now y'all know that I love dance music played FHL (Faster Harder Louder) style and GIANT! certainly is loud! If you like bands such as Cock & Bull, Blowzabella, and Prego, you'll definately want this CD. Nice dance music, and if you like a little French influence in our music, it's quite nice dance music as there are superb recordings here of such tunes as 'La Fluer de Bruyère' by J.F.Dutetre, and a trad tune that's very lovely that I think is Breton which they call 'Laridés à Six' which sounds akin to 'The Ride' that Blowzabella covers.
Their website is thisaway.
Ahhh, I see that I see that the kitchen crew has decided that's a fine day to make Irish coffee. Let's get a cuppa each as it's fine in here, but getting more bitter out there. And I hear that they're making a whole roast lamb over the kitchen fire pit for supper!
Staying with English dance bands brings us to random deviation? Eh? Wot's that? Well, the band's named random and the album's named deviation. Cute, too bleedin cute if you ask me. Lucky for them that are very, very good! Not that anything that comes from Wild Goose would be anything but superb. Check out our reviews of Bursledon Village Band's Straight from the Fingers, Belshazzar's Feast's Drop The Reed, or Chris Bartram and Keith Holloway's Four Red Feet which are but a few of the many fine Wild Goose recordings that we've reviewed. Bliss! The Wild Goose website notes:
'Saul Rose, who has toured world-wide with Waterson-Carthy, now joins up with Paul Nye to bring two very exciting melodeon-playing talents together. Add the bass guitar of Keith Holloway, the guitar rhythms of Ian Woledge , the bass trombone harmonies of Glynn Burch, and the rock-solid drumming of Roger Smith...'
Lively, upbeat music that's tastefully done -- What more could you want? Ok, it's slightly more traditional sounding than some of the other bands in this group, but that's not a bad thing.
The Hosepipe Band consists of a quartet of sterling musicians that I'd be proud to play with anywhere, anytime: Simon Haines (melodeons, hurdy-gurdy), Val Woollard (recorders, flute, saxophone, bagpipes, bombarde, hammered dulcimer, chalumeau), Geoff Coombs (mandolin, mandola), and Nick Sadler (bass guitar). Ahhh, you ask what a chalumeau is... A Textbook of European Musical Instruments defines it thusly:
'Throughout the Middle Ages the single-beating reed appears to have been chiefly confined to peasant folk. It is still commonly found on the hornpipes and bagpipe "chanters" of the Greek islands. ... In Italy it appears in the popular "trumpets" made at Florentine fairs, and in France it was known as the Chalumeau, a word derived from the Latin calamellus, "a little reed", or from the Greek calamaulos, "a pipe of reed". As a folk instrument it has been confused with the Chalemie, a conical pipe with a double-beating reed. ...'
Ok, so I thought a carnyx, the boar-headed war pipe, was a strange instrument, but this is certainly also an unique drone! Val certainly creates the textural feel of the Hosepipe Band with her assortment of instruments that members of either Celtarabia or Villeux Du Bournonnai would approve of! Val and Simon have played together in English dance bands for well over a decade now inckuding Bass Instincts and Harkelees. Geoff has played in several bands including The Churchfitters and Vivando, and with Nick in The Schmucks. What we have in hand here is their fourth CD, Hell's Bells, with all but one of the tracks having been composed by members of the band. And Hell's Bells is by far one of the sweetest CDs that I've ever had the pleasure to hear! I particularly was pleased by two sets, 'Hell's Bells / Asdaboudicca Haines' and 'Rond a Francois Lefeuvre / Darjeeling Darling / Un Petit tour de Vielle', both of which are irresistable dance music. Of all the CDs I've discussed with you here over bottles of Avalon Applejack, this is the one that impressed me the most. I'm very much looking forward to hearing their other recordings! Go visit their website to hear samples of their fantastic music.
But do understand that every CD we've conversed about is well-worth your time to acquire -- and I know that you will listen to all of 'em over and over again. All of these bands use a variety of source material , mostly English/Irish/Scottish/French. There are a number of other European musicial influence, including but not limited to, Breton, Balkan, Greek, and Nordic. This is not your gran's ever-so-traditional dance, but rather for both the English and American bands, a full reflection of the current musical diversity of the current dance music. If you think that only strictly trad tunes will do for your listening pleasure, go away as you're in the wrong zine. But if you like music that challenges you to consider innovation as a positive force, all of these CDs will be to your liking.
That's all we have time to discuss right now as the smell of the roast lamb suggests that it's time for some hearty eating, washed down with Dragons Breath stout. So let's head off to join the others in the Dining Hall.
