A Capella CDs???

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: bbelle
Date: 13 Jun 00 - 10:43 PM

Last Friday I received a tape, I had ordered from Folk Legacy, called SHARON MOUNTAIN HARMONY. It's wonderful ... I've listened to it at least a dozen times. Mostly acapella ... great harmonies ... spirituals ... what I would call "primitive" ...

moonchild

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: Barbara
Date: 14 Jun 00 - 03:26 AM

I love that tape too, moonchild. Played it and ones of the New Golden Ring for someone I know, and he later referred to it as "that practice tape you have".
Well, you can't please 'em all, and it's polished enough for me. The harmonies are wonderful.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Jun 00 - 07:42 AM

Not a folkie really, but Todd Rundgren put out an a cappella CD called (strangely enough) "A cappella." An eclectic mix representative of various styles of music,there are two cuts on there which would probably blend well into the folk genre, "Johnee Jingo," and "Honest Work," both of which I think, are in the DT.

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: GUEST,Atlanticarc
Date: 12 Jun 12 - 11:49 AM

Naked Voice by Elspeth Cowie, ex Seannachie and Chantan

mp3 album and trax from http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/elspethcowie

artist website htpp://www.elspethcowie.com

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: GUEST,John
Date: 12 Jun 12 - 01:31 PM

The Watersons in their day the Wilsons every time now for me.

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 12 Jun 12 - 02:02 PM

Thanks for reviving this thread, Atlanticarc.

The Futureheads' album Rant is all unaccompanied vocals, a lot of them in close harmony. The songs are partly the Futureheads' own, partly traditional and partly 'other' (e.g. Sparks' "Number one in Heaven"). I'm quite fond of their versions of "The Keeper" and Richard Thompson's "Beeswing".

My own 52 Folk Songs project started out mostly unaccompanied & is now mostly not. Harmony singing is something I've only really discovered recently; I've had fun with it, as you can hear on my "Christmas album". in particular.

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 12 Jun 12 - 02:32 PM

I counted on "Songs for Our Ancestors" and there are 9 out of 19 that are a capella..only one person singing though. mg

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 12 Jun 12 - 02:50 PM

Practically no one mentioned in this thread sings a capella, they sing unaccompanied, a capella means ' in the style of the church or chapel '

this hardly applies to sea shanty's and drinking songs.

Dave H

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 12 Jun 12 - 02:52 PM

The English folksong tradition is an ' unaccompanied ' tradition, not a capella.

Dave H

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 12 Jun 12 - 02:56 PM

A capella is not even an English term.

Dave H

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: Spongebrother
Date: 12 Jun 12 - 07:31 PM

Well spoken Dave Hansen. All this foreign rubbish. Bad enough to have to suffer the "world music" shyte, but why does simple unaccompanied singing of traditional folk songs have to be falsely labelled as some religious thingy. Rant over

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 13 Jun 12 - 03:29 AM

falsely labelled as some religious thingy

What about religious songs in choral settings - on your logic would it be OK to call them acapella?

I don't call unaccompanied singing acapella myself, but it doesn't bother me if other people want to use the word.

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 13 Jun 12 - 03:57 AM

It's pretentious.

Dave H

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: r.padgett
Date: 13 Jun 12 - 04:10 AM

O right I thought acapella was an accepted alternative term for unaccompanied singing

But then I just do the singing and record songs I have learnt to CD

Ray

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 13 Jun 12 - 07:58 AM

Ray, as I said earlier, the English tradition is ' unaccompanied ' A Capella is not an English term, so how can it apply to English traditional songs, except religious songs ?

A Capella, in the style of the church or chapel, get it ?

Dave H

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 13 Jun 12 - 09:53 AM

You might as well say that people shouldn't call unamplified instruments "acoustic" - acoustic, relating to audible sound, geddit?

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 13 Jun 12 - 11:24 AM

Not wishing to "rant" or anything, but would point out that the Irish singing tradition is, largely, unaccompanied by instruments too. I wonder if there's any distinction between "a capella" (chapel) and, say, "alla chiesa", in that a small side-chapel couldn't accommodate many participants although a whole church could. But then, isn't the Sistine Chapel fairly big?

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: Elmore
Date: 13 Jun 12 - 04:53 PM

Norman Kennedy, Elizabeth LaPrelle. (mostly A Capella)

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 13 Jun 12 - 07:53 PM

You might also do a web search for shape note recordings or sacred harp recordings and for Shaker recordings.

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: r.padgett
Date: 14 Jun 12 - 02:56 AM

Ah so really looking for unaccompanied harmony type singing such as Voice Squad and Watersons and Coupe Boyes and Simpson, and English Tapestry ~ do these qualify as A Capella

What about duos?

Ray

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: matt milton
Date: 14 Jun 12 - 03:49 AM

I'd love to hear more about contemporary, or new younger folk singers, that sing a capella. Stephanie Hladowski is the only one I can really think of.

I mean, obviously, lots of people sing unaccompanied when they're doing a floorspot or a show at a folk club.

But what I'm getting it is that it's not often you hear of a singer brave enough in this day and age to actually record an album, or even just a single or EP, wholly unaccompanied.

There's a good reason for that: it's not exactly a sound commercial move. I'm hoping Sam Lee's forthcoming album has at least one or two unaccompanied tracks.

The other night at Sharp's Folk Club, after the launch of the new Penguin book of English Folk Songs book, there was a huge amount of singers.

The Cecil Sharp House bar was the most packed I've ever seen it. And it made it a wonderful night: you got all the regulars at Sharp's, who it's fair to say are very old-school folk (in the best possible way), next to anyone who happened to have come along to the book launch.

So you got to hear a wide plethora of unaccompanied voices. From old men singing sean nos beautifully to young rather poseur-ish trendysomethings singing rather affectedly, and everything in between. Beautiful performances, bad performances, but all affecting and interesting. It was a real barometer of an evening.

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: r.padgett
Date: 14 Jun 12 - 09:13 AM

Yea the voice is an amazing musical instrument, combining basic tunes with lyrics expressed with tonal shade and feelings using the English language (or whatever language!)

Ray

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 14 Jun 12 - 09:27 AM

it's not often you hear of a singer brave enough in this day and age to actually record an album, or even just a single or EP, wholly unaccompanied.

This album by Tim Eriksen looks brilliant, although I haven't heard much of it.

To be fair, I think unaccompanied song to the length of an album has always been pretty rare, at least since the Revival kicked off. I can name Bellamy, Anne Briggs and er. It might have been the norm among source singers, but the Revival was accompanied pretty much from the off. There's also the awkward matter of natural endowment; some singers just have a beautiful voice (I could listen to Dave Burland all night, singing anything). The rest of us are more likely to be bashful about putting the voice front and centre.

My own current project started out entirely unaccompanied, but after a while I started to 'hear' arrangements - then I started messing around with multi-tracking and that was that. Even so, sometimes a song is so strong it seems to insist on being done unaccompanied; they're not always the popular ones, though.

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: GUEST,Henryp
Date: 14 Jun 12 - 10:31 AM

The Young'Uns from NE England will release their first CD in August; Man I Feel Like A Young'Un. See them at Cambridge Folk Festival.

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: matt milton
Date: 14 Jun 12 - 11:10 AM

Wow, that Tim Eriksen album sounds fantastic. Thanks very much for the link.

I must admit, I don't really like the other Eriksen-related stuff I've heard (Cordelia's Dad) et al. But that's great, very different.

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: Elmore
Date: 14 Jun 12 - 08:35 PM

Attn: Matt Milton. Elizabeth is 23 or 24. Is that young enough? She has recorded 3 albums, Rain and Snow, Lizard in the Spring, and Birds Advice' Many of the songs are done A Capella.

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: matt milton
Date: 15 Jun 12 - 08:10 AM

Yes, I've heard Elizabeth LaPrelle a few times. It's great that someone so young is doing old-time music with such commitment and lack of compromise.

But while I really want to like her, at the end of the day, I just don't like her voice. She's too nasal for me, and her old-time stylisation (vocal embellishments, catches in the voice, stridency) sounds studied; it grates on my ears. I wish she sounded more like "Elizabeth LaPrelle" as opposed to "Elizabeth LaPrelle emulating all the old singers Elizabeth LaPrelle likes".

I feel much the same way about Frank Fairfield - I really want to like him, he clearly loves all the music I love with a passion, and he does everything right, but the singing sounds too much of a contrivance.

I heard something similar on this side of the pond the other day at Cecil Sharp House. I think the singer was Alex Neilsen, from the band Trembling Bells. He sang unaccompanied in this very affected way, like a kind of Chinese Whisper of what a "folk singer" might once have sounded like. It sounded over-thought-out and buttoned-up; no spontaneity there. Ultimately like an odd cross between John Jacob Niles and Ewan McColl. Which, y'know, plenty of people might find an intriguing propect! But I'm not altogether sure that was really what he was going for.

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: Bettynh
Date: 15 Jun 12 - 02:00 PM

Have you heard the Short Sisters (not the ones from Australia)? I was actually surprised, when I re-listened to a few songs, to hear a banjo in the background sometimes, but their music is strongly vocal, modern, and sometimes beautiful.

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: radriano
Date: 15 Jun 12 - 02:08 PM

The term "A Capella", meaning "like a choir" really refers to religious music.

The phrase "unaccompanied singing" more accurately reflects what most of the groups mentioned in this thread do.

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 15 Jun 12 - 02:36 PM

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01d44d8

Here's a clip of Alex Neilson and Lavinia Blackwall of Trembling Bells singing with Katy Cooper and Harry Campbell of Muldoon's Picnic - it's halfway down the page.

They were singing together on Marc Riley's show on BBC Radio 6. Lavinia recently toured with The Lady; A Homage to Sandy Denny. She was, in fact, one of the stars.

Subject: RE: A Capella CDs???
From: Elmore
Date: 15 Jun 12 - 03:43 PM

Attn: Matt Milton. I know what you mean.I disagree about E. LaPrelle. but that's okay,I hope. As for the Short Sisters, mentioned above, I booked them for a concert in the eighties . They don't do many gigs now, but are always well received.