Perpetual e-Motion House Concert Sunday May 1st 2011

Time: 3:00-5:30 pm 2 sets with an intermission
Location: Canaan Institute Music Workshop
Donation: $15-
RSVP: Please RSVP to Mike for directions and to reserve a seat michael@canaaninstitute.org
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=126493207428137

After concert activities will be a potluck dinner and a music jam with the musicians, Ed and John!

Band Website: http://www.perpetuale-motion.com/
Band Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PerpetualeMotion
Videos: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Perpetual+e-Motion

Captivating, passionate, propulsive and progressive
are what best define the music of this power duo, perched at the
convergence of traditional and electronic dance music. Perpetual
e-Motion integrates technical and sonic innovations with old school
traditions to create a enormous sound full momentum and groove. Lauded
as a two man orchestra, this duo continues to innovate the art of
traditional dance music through their use of sound sculpting and
multitasking, captivating listeners and dancers with their infectious
and unique sound. [ SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE ]

Perpetual e-Motion begins with the simple statement of traditional,
often recognizable dance tunes from Europe and Americas, and proceed to
notch it up into a thrilling composition of complex poly-rhythms,
melody and counter melody scaffolding exotic and lush chord structures
into an amazingly satisfying musical performance drawing from Celtic,
bluegrass, jazz and electronic influences. The duo is highly regarded
throughout New England for their ability to provide hours of driving,
pulsating music for contra dances, which rely on traditional dance tunes
as a backdrop.

Born into a musical family, Ed Howe started
playing fiddle at the age of 4, learning Suzuki method. His musical
interests cover a wide spectrum from Bluegrass to Celtic and beyond and
he has been a regular instructor for Maine Fiddle Camp since 2003. Howe
has an extensive electronics background, and took an interest in the
electric violin. He plays a 5-string NS Design electronic violin and is a
featured artist on the NS design artist page. Ed makes extensive use of
the BOSS RC-50 loop station to layer and orchestrate a variety of
sounds from his instrument and watching him play bare footed and
operating complex electronic equipment with his feet is a sight to
behold. Check out a video of him playing solo by clicking here

John Coté is a well-known accompanist for
many Maine and New England fiddlers and is very active as a private
teacher and at Maine Fiddle Camp. Coté attended the Berklee College of
music both for a five week music program in high school and for two
years after high school to study film scoring. He later transferred to
the University of Maine at Augusta’s jazz program and earned a bachelors
degree in jazz performance. At 22 he took an interest in traditional
dance music teaching himself the mandolin and fiddle and helped found
the Celtic/world band Wake the Neighbors that has endured to this day.
In this duo, Coté plays a Godin acoustic electric guitar connected into
synthesizer module adding a wide palette of sounds to the music. Aside
from his duties on guitar, Coté simultaneously plays the didgeridoo (an
Australian aboriginal instrument) and foot percussion.

The result is a very lush and complex orchestration of music that defies what one would expect from just two people.

Saturday, 30 April, 7 pm at CSMA, 330 E. State St.

Late-breaking news! Rebecca Lomnicky, an outstanding traditional Scottish fiddler (and Cornell freshman), will perform from around 7-8 pm before Jean Redpath takes the stage at 8 pm. Arrive early to get a good seat and to hear Rebecca, who plays with wonderful soul as well as technique. Those of you fortunate enough to hear her at the Moira Smiley & VOCO concert will know you’re in for a rare treat. Rebecca (who is also a composer, singer, classical violinist, pianist, and concert master of the Cornell Chamber Orchestra) has won many prestigious awards: the U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Competition (2005, with Bonnie Rideout as one of the judges), the Corvallis Folklore Society Music Award  (2007, 2008, 2010), Oregon All-State Honors Orchestra, Oregon Music Hall of Fame, Northwest Folklife Festival Fiddlers’ Showcase, and the 2009 Glenfiddich International Scottish Fiddle Championship at Blair Castle, Scotland (an invitation-only competition, equivalent in the world of traditional Scottish fiddling to the Grammys). She has performed with many of the greats, including Alasdair Fraser, Brenda Stubbert, Calum MacKinnon, and David Brewer. In addition to U.S. and BBC radio programs, festivals, and concerts, Rebecca plays at farmers’ markets, senior centers, and schools, spreading music to a wider community. She has two CDs, including the recent “Inspired” – a fitting description of her style. To learn more, visit http://rebeccalomnicky.com/. And get to CSMA by 7 pm. You won’t want to miss a minute!

– Margaret Shepard

Cornell Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Ensemble CMEMME – Spring Concert, Sunday April 24th, Willard Straight Hall Memorial Room, 3pm. Admission free. Harold Hagopian, Maestro, will lead the ensemble in a program of Turkish, Arabic, Greek, Armenian, Roma, and Israeli music. This is a large room, so this time there is room to dance! Sponsored by the Mediterranean Studies Initiative of CIES, Music Department, Near Eastern Studies. http://www.arts.cornell.edu/cmeme/ Facebook event  https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=191163217593706

Cornell Folk Song Society Concert

Saturday, 30 April, 8 pm

Community School of Music and Arts,

330 E. State St., downtown Ithaca

Edinburgh-born, but at home on both sides of the Atlantic, Jean Redpath is the foremost interpreter of the songs of Robert Burns, and for more than 50 years has sung traditional and contemporary Scottish songs and ballads like no other. Her voice has depth, tenderness, grit, and no small measure of wit: she sings and laughs as easily as breathing. “To call Jean Redpath a Scottish folk singer is a bit like calling Michelangelo an Italian interior decorator,”declares the Edinburgh Evening News. The Cornell Folk Song Society is honored that she has agreed to return to Ithaca; her concert is truly a “Don’t miss!” event.

Raised in Fife, Ms. Redpath found her life’s focus while studying oral tradition at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Scottish Studies. In 1961, she made her way to the United States; arriving with $11 to her name, she fell in with Rambling Jack Elliot, Bob Dylan, and others of the Greenwich Village folk revival. She was quickly “discovered,” with raves from the NY Times and recording offers. Since then, she’s toured world-round, from coffeehouses and festivals to the Sydney Opera House and Avery Fisher Hall, and has made over 40 superb recordings, including definitive collections of Robert Burns. For years, she has been a dedicated teacher of Scottish folklore and music at all levels, from elementary school to universities (artist-in-residence at both Wesleyan in Connecticut and Stirling in Scotland), summer programs, and workshops. Her honors are numerous: four honorary doctorates, command performances for Queen Elizabeth, M.B.E. (Member of the British Empire), Kentucky Colonel, Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame, and a portrait in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Although she’s considered a living legend, Jean Redpath has remained unpretentious: direct, spontaneous, and funny. In performance, she is a stand-up comic and ethnomusicologist, as well as a sublime singer. Her voice is “a mezzo soprano that classically trained art singers might envy; no one interprets the Scottish tradition more beautifully or with more affection” (New York Times). She sings with operatic resonance, yet is down-to-earth: a rare gift. “Her deep, sandy voice is a marvelous ballad instrument, its naturalness concealing awesome control,” writes a Boston Globe reviewer. “When she takes a breath, she blows beauty into the very soul” (The Scotsman). Because she brings passion and understanding to traditional Scottish songs, they are not musty fossils, but very much alive and with full meaning today.

At the Chelsea House in Brattleboro, Vermont, where she made numerous fine recordings for Philo, I first heard Jean Redpath live in 1975. When she performed Song of the Seals, she held us as fully spellbound as the seals. I have never heard anything finer.

Jean Redpath is familiar to radio listeners of the late Robert J. Lurtsema’s Morning Pro Musica program out of Boston, and has been a regular on Prairie Home Companion, where Garrison Keillor said of her, “She has a fierce devotion to the music, as a Scot and as an artist. Everything she most deeply feels and believes in–about death and love and country and womanhood–comes out in these songs. The songs aren’t pictures. They’re rocks. They are the mountain itself.” Get yourself to the mountain: Jean Redpath was last in Ithaca in 1986!

Concert tickets are available at Ludgate Farms, Ithaca Guitar Works, GreenStar, Autumn Leaves Bookstore, and online at www.cornellfolksong.org/. $15 advance/$17 door; $3 rebate for members, seniors, teens; children 12 & under free. Students $10/$12. Info: 607-279-2027 or website.

Jean Redpath Vocal Workshop

Sunday, May 1, 1:00-3:00 pm

Hollis Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall,

Cornell Arts Quad on East Ave.

In this master class, Jean Redpath is likely to cover traditional Scottish song (from lullabies and child’s play songs to love songs, ballads, and laments), Robert Burns, and perhaps a bit of gospel. She’ll help with pronunciation and translation of Scottish dialect (“essentially a foreign language”) and with conveying the essence of a song. Whatever the material, Jean Redpath is bound to be wise and funny, and will encourage participants to shed self-consciousness for love of singing. All levels of singers are welcome.

Please pre-register (so we’ll know how many to expect) by contacting Margaret Shepard (mbs19@cornell.edu). Cost is $15, payable at the door.

–Margaret Shepard

Saturday, April 16, noon to 11 pm
Boynton Middle School, 1601 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca

As fern fiddleheads push their way through winter-squashed litter and tardy snow, dancers and musicians will also unfurl in 11 hours of nonstop contra, English country, squares, waltzes, instrumental workshops, and jamming. Fabulous New England-based band Elixir, with Ethan Hazzard-Watkins on fiddle, Anna Patton on clarinet and vocals, Jesse Hazzard-Watkins on trumpet and flugelhorn, Owen Morrison on guitar and foot percussion, and multi-talented caller-trombonist-vocalist Nils Fredland, will ignite the crowd with the brassiest contra dances around. It’s a happy fusion–with finesse–of big-band, traditional Celtic and French Canadian, Dixieland jazz, swing, reggae, and rock. The tone ranges from raucous to serene; always creative and impossible for dancers to resist! Nils Fredland is an inventive, wildly popular and gifted caller who wowed the crowd at the 2007 Fiddlehead Frolic with fun, interwoven dances never before seen in Ithaca. Nils and Elixir will also do some singing squares learned from grand master Ralph Sweet, will provide flowing tunes for English country dances taught by Pamela Goddard, and will lead an instrumental workshop. Energy to spare!

Ithaca’s own O’Shanigans (in high demand throughout the region), with Tim Ball on soulful fiddle, Michael Ludgate on mandolin, and Phil Robinson on guitar, will offer more contras (called by Katy Heine), waltz sessions, and a contra medley. http://canaaninstitute.org/oshanigans.html

Mad Goat String Band (Peter Fraissinet on fiddle and banjo, Joe Hayward on banjo, Tom Ruscitti on mandolin and hammered dulcimer, Marianne Marsh and Nancy Spero on [double] bass) will play for an old-time square dance with Nancy Spero calling. Informal jam marathons will occur afternoon and evening (no charge for those who come just to jam).

If high spirits and sublime, hot music are not fuel enough, there will be sandwiches/light lunch and a waltz jam at noon and a community potluck supper at 6:15 pm. There’s also a silent auction (with wonderful donated goods and services). Whether it’s your fingers or feet that are flying, you’ll find hours of delight in spring-celebratory company at the Fiddlehead Frolic, hosted by Hands Four Dancers of Ithaca.

Prices vary by session (afternoon, evening, all-day); discount for HFDI members. Full schedule and details at http://www.hands4dancers.org/frolic/2011/index.html or call 607-539-3174. Out-of-towners who need a place to stay should contact Susan Arnsten-Russell at 607-277-0770 or sarnsten@gmail.com. Newcomers are welcome; each dance is taught, there a just a few basic steps, and the dance community is friendly and happy to help beginners. You don’t need to bring a partner, but you will need clean, soft-soled shoes (to protect the floor). Hands Four Dancers is a community-run, all-volunteer nonprofit dedicated to promoting great dances in the region, and the Frolic is our home-grown festival, guaranteed to induce euphoria!

RSVP ON FACEBOOK! See who else is coming!! https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140384776025805

—Margaret Shepard

Fri APR 15 — PINE LAKE CAMPUS Hartwick College — O’Shanigans contra dance band from Ithaca NY will be visiting the Pine Lake Campus for a spring contra dance party! This band is awesome! O’Shanigans will be playing high energy dance tunes with Peter Blue calling the dances from 8-11 pm at 1894 Charlotte Creek Road in Davenport NY in the Vaudevillian Building. Don’t miss this celebration of the roots of New England folk dance! This is an authentic Old New England style venue! Bring clean shoes, a water bottle and YOUR FRIENDS! All dances taught, No partner needed. Admission: This event is FREE for Hartwick students, all others a donation of $5-10 dollars would be terrific to support future events like this. PARKING: Please park in the parking lot by Robertson Lodge, The Vaudevillian is down the hill towards the lake.

O’Shanigans is Tim Ball (fiddle), Mike Ludgate (mandolin) and Phil Robinson (guitar)
BAND WEBSITE http://www.canaaninstitute.org/oshanigans.html

VENUE WEBSITE for HISTORY http://www.hartwick.edu/pinelake.xml
BAND’S EVENT POSTER http://canaaninstitute.org/docs/Oshanigans_current_poster.pdf
FACEBOOK EVENT http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=137162693021595

DIRECTIONS to this DANCE …..

GOOGLE MAPS — Pine Lake Environmental Campus, Davenport NY — http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Pine+Lake+Environmental+Campus,+Davenport+NY&aq=&sll=42.448506,-74.92914&sspn=0.002327,0.004823&ie=UTF8&hq=Pine+Lake+Environmental+Campus,&hnear=Davenport,+Delaware,+New+York&ll=42.450885,-74.929762&spn=0.037238,0.077162&z=14

Written DIRECTIONS from HARTWICK COLLEGE — http://www.hartwick.edu/about-us/centers-and-institutes/the-pine-lake-institute-for-environmental-and-sustainability-studies/pine-lake-environmental-campus/about-us-pine-lake/directions-to-pine-lake

GPS UNITS: On most GPS systems the correct location is found using ONEONTA (the zip code for the address is 13820 ) Use the link to the google address and in your text say “1894 Charlotte Creek Road Oneonta: 2 miles east of West Davenport”

More about Contra Dancing:

WHAT TO EXPECT AT YOUR FIRST DANCE — Contra dancing is easy to learn. It’s so easy to learn that you don’t take lessons. Just show up at a dance and by the end of the first night you’ll have learned all the dance moves and you will be able to enjoy the next dance even more. People are friendly and welcoming to beginners. The age range is from kids to folks that have been around for a while. Both singles and doubles come to contra dances and women as well as men ask people to dance. It is usual that you change partners after every dance. You will meet people in a relaxed, pleasant, smoke and alcohol free atmosphere. The patterns of the dance can be a tad confusing at first but remember everyone had a first time and that other dancers will help you. Listen to the caller and the music and go with the flow of the dance. Some people find they get dizzy at first. Looking directly at the person you are dancing with eliminates this sensation. For many, the music is what keeps them coming back as it is exciting and lively. People come to dance, hear the music, socialize and have a good time.

WHAT TO WEAR? — Wear smooth soled shoes and comfortable light weight clothing. Some halls require non-street shoes so make sure the soles of shoes aren’t bringing grit onto the dance floor. Most people bring a bottle of drinking water. Contra dancing is joyous so it’s important that you bring a smile. Adapted from http://www.greatmeadowmusic.com/music.html

NPR: Youth Flock To Contra Dancing — Contra dancing has been around since the 1700s. If you don’t know it — it’s kind of like square dancing but with long lines of dancers. The dance is having a renaissance around the country thanks to a thriving youth scene and incredibly lively acoustic music. Article by Marika Partridge on All Things Considered NPR July 2nd 2010 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128273050

Additional information about contra dancing:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=31552309563
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra_dance
http://tedcrane.com/DanceDB/DisplayDance.com/US_NY_ITH_TCCD
http://tedcrane.com/DanceDB/DisplayBand.com?key=OSHANIGANS
http://hands4dancers.org/
http://www.syracusecountrydancers.org/
http://contra.binghamtondance.org/contra_calendar.htm
http://www.thedancegypsy.com/
http://www.thedancegypsy.com/performerList.php?band=Oshanigans