Traditional music and young musicians

Subject: Traditional music and young musicians
From: CET
Date: 22 May 01 - 09:14 PM

In the "Line Dancers Damned" thread InObu wrote about going to Quebec some years ago and listening to traditional Quebecois fiddle music at dances, and returning later to find that the young people had not picked up the old music and that people were listening to American country music instead.

That got me thinking about a young traditional group that I heard at the Ottawa Tulip Festival about the weekend before last, called La Volee de Castors. None of them looked over twenty-five and they play traditional music breathtakingly well. Although the repertoire was different, their power reminded me of the Tannahill Weavers. Unlike a lot of traditional groups, they are very fine singers too.

It also got me thinking about a brilliant young female fiddle player who was busking in the Byward Market in Ottawa this past weekend. She seemed to be somewhere between 15 and 17.

So, the tradition is alive, although it may have faded away from community dances such as InObu remembers. There are other examples of young groups making traditional music their own (Hyn, from Wales, springs to mind).

What other young musicians are carrying on the tradition? Any thoughts?

Edmund

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 22 May 01 - 09:18 PM

My only thought is that I hope that young traditionalists don't become so myopic as to think that 'traditional' is the only way to play...

The world needs more Oliver Schroers!!!!

;-)

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: InOBU
Date: 22 May 01 - 09:20 PM

Ah Edmund! I'm happy as a pig in shi... well, happy. I hope in Canada, someday, there is some public condemnation of requirements for licencing for busking, as I always found that was a great trying grounds for young musicians. Cheers, and thanks for the good news. Larry

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: InOBU
Date: 22 May 01 - 09:22 PM

Hi Clinton: Tradition is not the only way to play, but it is a good grounding to spring off from. Once traditions are gone, they can't be retrieved, but part of tradition is that it is not static, it grows and changes with each generation. - Larry

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 22 May 01 - 09:28 PM

"part of tradition is that it is not static"

That's my favorite part of tradition... And that's exacrtily what I'm saying... not much bugs me more than to hear from some bink in the crowd shout, "Yer playin' that song wrong!"

Now, badly? Sure... I'll grant that... Wrong? No such thing... To allow yourself to get boxed in by traditions, be they musical or otherwise is to stop growing and learning... so you may as well box yourself in pine as well...

Keep learing, keep expanding the borders...

;-)

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: InOBU
Date: 22 May 01 - 09:35 PM

I know what you mean. I spent a good bit of effort to bring something different to our version of Newry Highwayman, and in some crowds, each time we play it... some ... (explitive deleted) comes up and says, you didn't play the break the way it is on Karin Casey's CD can I lend it to you? Oooohhhhhhhhhhh.... Cheers, Larry

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: InOBU
Date: 22 May 01 - 09:40 PM

PS a little post jumping... SERRIOUSLY great web page old man! Larry

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 22 May 01 - 09:40 PM

Which way do you play the Newry Highwayman, anyway, Larry?

I sing it like Sean Cannon does it do you do it to the other tune (minor mode)?

Murray

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: InOBU
Date: 22 May 01 - 09:46 PM

THe Karin Casey tune, which I supose is the minor mode you refer to (to which you refer?) Well, anyway, what lable is the Sean Cannon verson on, I am a great conoseur of highwayman songs, well our Eve, in the band would correct me highwayperson songs, as we do Sovay the female highwayman, I mean highwayperson, Highwaybeing? Highwayentity, I'm getting old Murray or everyone else is getting too young!
Cheers - Larry

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Sorcha
Date: 22 May 01 - 09:47 PM

Check out Nickel Creek

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 22 May 01 - 09:52 PM

I would have to check back with a phone call to Britain, larry. I know there are two entirely different tunes, and I suspect you do one and I do the other. Someone will no doubt post the information regarding the Sean Cannon version, and save me a transatlantic call.

Murray

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: InOBU
Date: 22 May 01 - 09:53 PM

Hi Sorcha, couldn't get the music to work, good band, eh? I will have to catch them at Tower or someplace... or by a radio... Larry

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 22 May 01 - 10:00 PM

Did a bit of searching Larry, the album is :

Sean Cannon Erin the Green Oghah BLB 5004

Murray

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: InOBU
Date: 22 May 01 - 10:02 PM

Hope so, no rush... If you are calling home for anything, keep it in mind, but no need for a special call, espcially any crowd that can translage "tain her by the middle jimp" can come up with any tune! Cheers, Larry

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Scabby Douglas
Date: 23 May 01 - 05:01 AM

Heading back to the thread topic... I can testify that the Traditional tradition is alive and well in young Scots musicians here in Glasgow, and by God they know plenty of fast tunes. There are a couple of courses in trad music at various colleges and University in Glasgow.. These are turning out young musicians aplenty. They still have a lot to learn - tho' they don't know that yet.. ( but they'll find out).

It'll be interesting in a couple of years - one of two things will happen - Either when they all graduate, they'll find out that there isn't enough demand for professional folk/traditional musicians for them all to make a living, and a lot of them will graduate to teaching in schools - which will be good...

OR

The supply will generate the demand and we'll see a mssive explosion of traditional music from Scotland.. I have no idea which of these ideas may happen - but check bacjk with me in a couple of years, and we'll see....

SD

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Firecat
Date: 23 May 01 - 06:36 AM

Well, I play traditional music! AND I was in a folk group at school! AND I'm young (I'm 17)!

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: sian, west wales
Date: 23 May 01 - 06:39 AM

In Wales, it seems to be a bit quiet in terms of new groups recording, but the musicians and groups are certainly there. CET, do you mean the group "Carreg Ateb"? "Hyn" is the title of one of their albums. There are others like the Kilbride Brothers (fiddle/guitar) and Rag Foundation (English language). Can't think of the group's name, but Cass Meurig plays crwth with a group in North Wales.

There's a relatively new organisation - the Welsh Traditional Instruments Society - which runs workshops around Wales - I think they're having pretty good success at drawing in new talent. A lot of WTIS organisers are also involved with TRAC (Music Traditions Wales) which is aiming to become an umbrella body for all the folk (performance) traditions. It's still finding it's feet but should do a lot to help promote the talent, at home and internationally.

sian

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Marion
Date: 23 May 01 - 02:46 PM

CET, do you live in Ottawa? I have recently moved to Perth and hope to be somewhat active in the Ottawa music scene this summer - especially busking with my fiddle. That wasn't me you saw, though.

In Cape Breton I found that interest in traditional music and dance was quite mainstream, including the children and teenagers I often saw dancing and playing instruments and even singing Gaelic.

What particularly struck me was once at a ceilidh - there was a big porch outside the door, and you could hear the music through the windows. I saw about a dozen kids aged 7-11 or so dancing a square without any adult influence. You'd never see that in, say, Ontario.

Marion

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: JeZeBeL
Date: 23 May 01 - 02:56 PM

Well, I'm 20 nearly 21, malhereusement. I love playing traditional music. I'm not only learning irish stuff but world music. Some of my favourite bands have to be Barrachois, Manau and lots of others that I can't remember as my brain is not working.

I'm going away to Hexham at the weekend for a folk gathering and I think it's supposed to be young talent. You only have to take a look on mudcat to find a couple of people who are in some bands that play trad folk music. IAN STEPHENSON AND SAM PIRT of course!! They are in 422, The Pack, Bridging the Gap(with Bill Sables), Sam's in AAAAGGH. Some of my friends are in a band called Ola, then there's Bedlam the celidh band, Kelta from newcastle.....the list is endless. It is still definately thriving in this country, and so many young people are getting back into it. It's great. I'm only new to it all. I've been playing bodhran 8 months and whistle 6 months and erm piano accordion 7 days!!

Emma

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: InOBU
Date: 23 May 01 - 04:52 PM

Emma!Barrachois rules... especially when the lead singer plays the audiences heads! Cheers. Larry

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: CET
Date: 23 May 01 - 05:53 PM

Sian from Wales: yes, I did get the album's name confused with the group. I thought the group was Careg Lafar, though. They played at the Celtic Roots festival in Goderich, Ontario last August (the only "Celtic" festival I've ever heard of in Canada that acknowledge that there are Celts outside of Scotland and Ireland.)

As for Oliver Schroer, I've heard him a few times which is more than enough. He's a fine fiddle player, but self indulgent and dull. It isn't that he's playing traditional music wrong - it seemed to me that he'd stopped playing traditional Earth music in favour of something from his own planet.

Marion: I do live in Ottawa. I'll make a point of dropping a few bucks in the fiddle cases of anybody I hear playing Cape Breton tunes, in case it might be you.

Edmund

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Marion
Date: 23 May 01 - 05:57 PM

CET, you'll know me by the strip of Cape Breton tartan (mostly green plaid) that I have tied around my fiddle's head.

Marion

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: GUEST
Date: 23 May 01 - 06:48 PM

Sam's in AAAAG (An Accordion And A Guitar)

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: hesperis
Date: 23 May 01 - 07:04 PM

Yeah, count me in as another (somewhat) young person who plays (some) trad stuff...

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 23 May 01 - 07:09 PM

Yeah, and count me in as another.

Murray

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: sian, west wales
Date: 24 May 01 - 04:37 AM

CET, you're right! Carreg Ateb is something else! Good group ... although personally I think they tend to try to make Welsh folk music sound Breton-ish. Which is fine, as long as you don't create a pseudo-history so that audiences believe that this is the 'traditional' sound in Wales. (Also, a native Welsh speaker/friend of mine thought that their pronuciation was odd at times.) Anyway ... nit-picking here! Generally, I think we need a lot more of that kinda stuff. There was a boom in the 70s, but it's been a bit quiet since the mid-80s.

sian

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: GeorgeH
Date: 24 May 01 - 05:29 AM

OK, let's ask the $64K question (that marks me out as "not young", doesn't it??)

Why do so few of the young performers sing traditional song? Or even song of "social concerns" which have long sat alongside the folk tradition?

Just curious . . .

George

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: gnu
Date: 24 May 01 - 05:53 AM

CET said... They played at the Celtic Roots festival in Goderich, Ontario last August (the only "Celtic" festival I've ever heard of in Canada that acknowledge that there are Celts outside of Scotland and Ireland.)

Miramichi Irish Festival is a start. As well, Miramichi Folk Song Festival is dominated by Celtic Trad. "The Most Irish City in North America", Saint John, New Brunswick has Celtic dominated events. Lots of stuff in Cape Breton and I'm going to search for one in Southern NS that I can't recall the name of right now.

I'm sure there are a few more around the country.

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: gnu
Date: 24 May 01 - 06:14 AM

CET... http://www.mibc.nb.ca/folksong/default.htm Miramichi, NB

http://www.capitol.on.ca/celticfest/ Windsor, ONT

Still looking fot the 2001 site for the Miramichi Irish Festival.

Heck, there's too many listings to go through, so try this link, which lists festivals by state and province. http://www.dirtynelson.com/linen/special/by-state.html

There's also an international listing at Dirty Linen.

http://www.dirtynelson.com/linen/74toc.html

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: hesperis
Date: 24 May 01 - 10:45 AM

GeorgeH - "Why do so few of the young performers sing traditional song? Or even song of "social concerns" which have long sat alongside the folk tradition?"

We don't?

Check out "Skylark" by Between the Worlds. Not really a protest song, but she just found out recently that skylarks are in trouble in the UK due to non-sustainable farming practices. The song itself is from a poem by either CG Rosetti or PB Shelley. Check out the song at www.musicbuilder.com/Between_the_Worlds and check out the link given in the song description.

And I sing trad stuff sometimes!!!

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: GUEST,Louisa
Date: 24 May 01 - 11:10 AM

Hi

I'm another young musician - playing mainly in the Coventry area and in festival sessions. There are some young musicians around but I do seem to find myself in sessions with lots of middle-aged - old men.

I sing traditional songs and agree there is definitely less going on there than on the tune side of things. But there are some very good young trad singers around and its shame that with a few exceptions they don't get the recognition they deserve.

Louisa

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Ruthie A
Date: 24 May 01 - 07:19 PM

I'm 13, much as I hate to admit it! I play silver flute (mainly Irish music with some jazz impro), whistle WITHOUT the jazz impro, Shetland style fiddle and I sing. I sing old songs and I sing new songs, but it's all with jazz piano because I like it like that. Funfun. I'm in the school ceilidh band, we play mainly Northumbrian stuff as we are currently very much under the influence of Alistair Anderson.

I know Ola, too, Jezebel - Michael Jary (concertina, rather amazing) is my best friend Kat's older brother. The two of us form a duo called Ceol Na Mantra - we do spots in folk clubs together. Kat plays fiddle.

Ruthie

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Art Thieme
Date: 25 May 01 - 01:54 AM

If you love traditional music, want to play, sing, present and preserve it---and then you are not true to your expressed intentions --- it might be lickened to putting up a museum or a classic antique store and sticking plastic furniture in your front window hoping to draw the multitudes inside. If you choose to invent, extemporize, modernize, create anew and improvise, you would do better becoming a jazz empresario. If you choose to do the former, you shouldn't be shocked when serious buyers of your carefully collected stock take a glance at the modern/pop stuff in your showcase window and then, confused, decide to walk on down the street.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: English Jon
Date: 25 May 01 - 03:57 AM

At the ripe old age of 26, I'm not really "Bratpack of Britfolk" any more. However, I do pretty much exclusively trad. English. So do my mates Mike (25), John (22), Laurel (22), Steve (27) etc etc. I could go on.

Theres a lot of it about.

EJ

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Wavestar
Date: 25 May 01 - 07:07 AM

I'm young. I love the music, and I sing it, though I don't play :(.

Speaking of other young (and extremely talented) musicians - I saw Newfoundland's Great Big Sea last night in Dundee, and they were FABULOUS! Excellent vocal harmony, really tight group, talented musicians, clearly LOVE what they do. I recommend them to anyone who likes the music. And I got a signed CD :)

-J

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Naemanson
Date: 25 May 01 - 08:09 AM

I haven't read through the thread but I did skim through the list of people posting to it. None of them go to the Press Room nor do they come to the two coffeehouses here in the Bath-Brunswick area.

Young folks are definitely into traditional music here.

At the Press Room sessions there is a young man (17?) who plays various squeeze boxes, a young woman (16?) who is dynamite with the fiddle, the members of Awen, a Celtic duo, who look to be in their 20's, and a number of hangers-on who range from their teens to the 20's. Plus all of us oldies but goodies.

Coffeehouse attracts the whole age range. We get all kinds of acts. But there are some kids who show up and do traditional music.

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: CET
Date: 28 May 01 - 10:46 PM

Well, I'm learning a lot.

To all the young musicians - more power to your elbows.

Gnu: I didn't express myself clearly enough. I would dearly love to go to the Miramichi Irish Festival and the other happenings. My point, though, wasn't that there was no Irish or Scottish music to be heard at Canadian festivals - there is, although I'd like to hear more. My criticism of Canadian festivals was more to the effect that they don't recognize that Celtic culture and music does not begin and end with Ireland and Scotland. The Goderich festival last year was the first time I have ever heard any Welsh music at a Canadian folk festival. (I believe that Ar Log played at Summerfolk years ago, but that was before I started going to folk festivals).

Naemanson: I'm looking forward to joining in some of your sessions at the Press Room.

Edmund

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: gnu
Date: 29 May 01 - 06:13 AM

Oh. Anyway, I found this, if anyone's interested.

Irish Festival Inc. PO Box 415, Miramichi, NB E1N 3A8 Our New Irish festival website address is : www.canadasirishfest.com Our Festival phone number is 506- 778-8810

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Dorrie
Date: 29 May 01 - 01:43 PM

I know i've said this before butt hee is loads of young talent and i dont think theres any worries about keeping the trad alive*I've said this before aswell but young folkies pass on the word with me and my kate rusby love many more ppl have brought sleepless love dorrie

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 29 May 01 - 06:20 PM

And in English??

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Matt_R
Date: 29 May 01 - 06:23 PM

I prefer making my OWN traditions, that way I can avoid all the crap.

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: GUEST,Sam Pirt
Date: 29 May 01 - 06:58 PM

JeZaBeL - AAAAG!! I don't PACKing believe it, Fo-422-lk music is really Rocking in England, I'll drink & play to that!!!

Cheers, Sam

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: Dorrie
Date: 29 May 01 - 07:17 PM

Oops sorry that msg didn't make any sense. i was half way through writing it when my mum started tell me stuff about my brother coming home and i got distracted and sent by mistake and then i couldn't be bothered to re-type

sorry i didn't make any sense-especially to u Mrs Duck

Dorrie xxx

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: JeZeBeL
Date: 29 May 01 - 07:50 PM

Wow, that is fan-422-dabitastic sam. Wanna drink 2 THE PACK tomora afternoon.

We'll have a rocking time!!

Emma xxx

P.S - Grand!!

Subject: RE: Traditional music and young musicians
From: JeZeBeL
Date: 29 May 01 - 08:15 PM

wow that's cool ruthie. I've just been playin in york with michael 2nite. He stole my bodhran screwdriver. I was must upset!!

I'll probs c u round at sum point then. Dint no mike had a lickle sis!!

Jez xxx