Diario

Like I mentioned on an earlier entry, this week sees the first fill for Global Village- 106.7PBSFM @ 5 - 7.00pm Sundays.
I'll be interviewingZulya and/or Children of the Underground accordianist Anthony Schulz and we'll hear music from - Zulya and the Children of the Underground, Muyngarnbi - Music From Walking With Spirits, Ibimeni, Johnny Handle,Lau, Adjagas, Susanne Lundeng and a whole lot of others. I'll post a link to the playlist and audio archive after the show.

Fr., 2. Jul. – tff Rudolstadt 2010

Der Black mit Ennulat & Spatz:

Eigentlich hatte ich vor gehabt um 11 Uhr ins Theater zupilgern. Aber in Anbetracht der Menschenschlange, die schon sehr lang war, verzichtete ich auf ein Konzert im Theater und begab mich mit meinem Kumpel zum Neumarkt, dem ich Der Black ans Herz gelegt hatte. Am heutigen Morgen, waren die Ansagen nicht ganz so von Giftpfeilen getränkt, aber dieses Konzert ließ den Wunsch nach einem Tonträger größer werden, den ich dann auf dem Markt erwarb. Wie es meinem Kumpel gefallen hat? Er fand es ganz okay. Ja Ja, die Geschmäcker sind verschieden...

Thüringer Folkloretanzensemble Rudolstadt e.V.:

Beinahe wäre es dieses Jahr passiert und ich hätte die Tänzer aus Rudolstadt nicht gesehen (Das wäre das erste mal in meiner tff-Laufbahn). Auch wenn es nicht mein Geschmack ist, was diese Gruppe macht, so gehören sie, wie die Bratwurst auch, zur Tradition dieses Festival und wenn es nur ein Tanz ist den man sieht. Und so war es dann auch. …

Folk Awards Winners 2010


LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS WENT TO:
Nanci Griffith and Dick Gaughan

i like nanci so not going to critisise her, just not totally sure why the bbc folk awards would honour her .
Dick - his contiibution to the uk folk scene isn't desputable, a great folk artist deserving of the award

GOOD TRADITION AWARD:
Transatlantic Sessions

no arguement from me on ths one

FOLK SINGER OF THE YEAR:
And the winner was:Jon Boden
Other nominees were:
Cara Dillon
Jackie Oates
Martin Simpson

as a short list of nominees i really can't argue with this list (ok if it were me id have a longer list of nominations as there are a good number of artists deserving to stand alongside these], Boden is prob my least fav of the artists on this list but thats more down to personal taste than anything else.

BEST DUO:
The winner was: Show of Hands{/artist]
Other nominees were:
Belshazzar's Feast
Damien Barber & Mike Wilson
Megson

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Inexplicably deleted, let's have another go.

I'm always hopelessly late with these things and have to rack my brains for stuff I've heard that was actually new in 2009, but here goes. Split up arbitrarily according to genre-y notions:

SND: Atavism
Nite Jewel: Good Evening (Spotify)
2562: Unbalance
Mike Slott: Lucky 9teen (Spotify)
Alva Noto: UTP_ (Spotify)
Mika Vainio: Black Telephone of Matter
The Clientele: Bonfires on the Heath (Spotify)
Mapstation: The Africa Chamber
Marissa Nadler: Little Hells (Spotify)
James Blackshaw: The Glass Bead Game (Spotify)

Jon Boden: Songs from the Floodplain
Mawkin:Causley: The Awkward Recruit (Spotify)
Lau: Arc Light (Spotify)

Murray Perahia: Bach, Partitas 1, 5 & 6 (Spotify)
Bernarda Fink, Petra Mullejans, Freiburger Barockorchester: JS Bach: Cantatas for Alto
Marc-André Hamelin: Chopin Piano Sonatas 2 & 3, etc
Fretwork: Purcell Complete Fantazias (Spotify)
Philippe Herrweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent: Bach Cantatas, Jesu, deine Passion
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Wed 21 Oct – Bellowhead

This gig was awesome. Well. Two of the bands were anyway. The first band on where rubbish. They were trying (and failing) to be clever and funny which really didn't do it for me.

I didn't know Lau were on the line up, so when I saw them setting up I got rather excited. They were nothing like as good as they had been last time I saw them over the summer. They did however still manage to be the only band I've ever seen to play what can be described as an energetic set whilst sitting down!

Bellowhead were as always fantastic. Despite a few favourites missing, they played a great set with a nice balance of tunes and songs and I bounced lots and lots. I think there may have been a few sound problems as the Melodeon was often far to far down in the mix to be heard at all, which was a shame. From a professional point of view the new tuba player wasn't as good as the old one.

Great night :D

Sun 26 Jul – Folk by the Oak

I've written (and ranted) about my feelings about this event as an event elsewhere in the universe so I'll stick with my thoughts about the music. I'll start by saying, everyone was absolutely fantastic and all played brilliantly, there wasn't a dud act on the line up and the setting was great.

First up were The Shee, they're a scottish group who were nice and bouncy! I've been listening to them a lot ever since a friend of mine (who was in university with one of them) recommended them to me, so I was really looking forward. They really didn't disappoint! Very tight and bouncy and they used the low strings on the harp to provide a really weird (but very cool sounding) bass line. They could have done with a more interactive audience but were excellent none the less.

Chris Wood was up next, he was a much more mellow affair. Very good story songs. His guitaring was very repetitive, but not in a bad way, almost hypnotic and very chilled out.

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