Fiddle Tunes at Centrum

Fiddle Tunes Faculty at the Olympics

We were pretty thrilled to see the amazing fiddler André Brunet, of De Temps Antan on the main stage at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. André and the lads were on faculty at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in 2008 and 09, and led our recent Québécois fiddle intensive.

You can view a video of the performance at NBC's Olympic website.

 

2009 Festival of American Fiddle Tunes Photos Online

A hearty thank you goes out to Al McCleese, who followed you fiddlers around the Fort on our behalf, and captured your beauty and passion.

We've posted Al's photos from the 2009 Festival of American Fiddle Tunes on Centrum's Flickr site. You can also see photos from other programs.

Don't forget, you can post on Flickr too...just be sure to tag them "fiddletunes09." We'll post a slideshow soon. And as always, we want to see your photos, hear your tunes, and learn more at our fiddle tunes community site--many of you are already busy sharing there.

Cajun Cooking HOWTO + Recap of Fiddle Tunes Cajun Dance

The 2009 Festival of American Fiddle Tunes had a special cajun cooking workshop track, and the public got a chance to sample the goods at the Friday night Cajun Swing Dance held outside McCurdy Pavilion at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend.

Jack Olmsted recorded a brief interview with Robin Miller detailing the essential ingredients of a good gumbo, and he also captured a bit of the scene from the evening. One could hear the music a mile away!

There are plenty more videos from the week over at our community site: http://centrumfiddle.ning.com. Hop on over and join the fun.

Preview of July 4 Afternoon Fiddle Tunes Show

On Saturday, July 4, the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes welcomes you to two shows - an afternoon set at 1:30pm, and a pre-fireworks bash at 7:30pm. (If you also come to the Friday night Cajun dance, we will give you an amazing discount- the whole festival for just $33!)

Let's talk about the Saturday afternoon show: Fiddle Tunes From Across North America. If the weather is good (and it usually is!) we'll open the big balloon hangar doors at McCurdy Pavilion, which lets you enjoy the performances from your reserved seat inside, as well as on the lawn outside.

While the atmosphere is fun and relaxed, the music is truly top notch. Here's what you can expect:

• Patti and Joel Lamoureux – 3-time Canadian Grand Champion
  Patti was the first woman in the history of Canada to ever win the prestigious Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship.
  
• Kirk Sutphin and Riley Baugus – Old time music from North Carolina
  Kirk and Riley live on the same road in Surry County, North Carolina, and are the stewards of a two-hundred year tradition of Round Peak music.
  
• Jose Moreno and Jesus "Chuy" Castillo – Tex-Mex
  Don José, born in 1930, is one of the true interpreters of traditional Tejano music from the Texas-Mexico border.
• Greg and Jere Canote – Old time tunes and song
  With fiddle, banjo, ukuleles and genetically matched voices, Greg and Jere Canote bring back fun, vintage American music.
• Nightingale – Exceptional New England dance band
  Nightingale is a highly sought after New England dance and concert band. Jeremiah McLane - accordion, Keith Murphy - guitar, and Becky Tracy – fiddle.
• Special guest from the Orkney Islands

Purchase tickets online, or on the phone at 800-838-3006.

We've posted videos from many of this year's performers over on our Fiddle Tunes community site. Check it out. Here's a video of Patti Lamoureux to get you started...

Get Ready for Cajun Friday

Friday, July 3, at 7:30pm we're hosting a grand ole Cajun and Swing Dance outside McCurdy Pavilion here at Fort Worden. (We'll move it inside if it rains).

The evening will feature some of the finest Cajun musicians in America - Jesse Lege, Joel Savoy, and The Red Stick Ramblers - onstage, and YOU dancing on Littlefield Green. (Purchase tickets online.)

The Red Stick Ramblers first emerged from Baton Rouge around 1999. Even early on, their live shows were inspired and infectious, equal parts unbridled, ramshackle energy and thrilling musical precision. Up and down the Gulf Coast, the Red Stick Ramblers quickly earned a reputation as a thrilling band as appealing to elderly Cajuns as they were to college kids out for a good time. Four albums later, the Ramblers are nationally sought-after, and we're happy that they are choosing to spend the week with us.

Updates to Fiddle Tunes Faculty and Performers

We've just finished posting a complete faculty listing for the 2009 Festival of American Fiddle Tunes workshops. The listing includes our terrific tutorial staff. For those of you purchasing tickets to the Festival's performances, we've added biographical information and photos for the performers, which you can find on the performances page.

Performances at '09 Fiddle Tunes

We just posted the public performance schedule for the 2009 Festival of American Fiddle Tunes over on our performance page. The shows will take place on Friday July 3, and Saturday, July 4. They feature some spectacular artists, including 3-time Canadian Grand Champion Patti Lamoureux. Ticket sales begin on May 1.

We'll be telling you more about the artists in the weeks to come, but we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that while hearing these folks in concert is great--spending a week living and learning with them is sublime. To learn more, and to register for the weeklong Festival of American Fiddle Tunes workshop, visit our workshop page.

Full Body Music

As we get closer to De Temps Antan's dance on March 5, I'm getting asked "What does Québecois music sound like?" I'm sure there are very elegant descriptions throughout the internets (feel free to post in the comments section), but I like to think of it as full-body music. When they are in the groove, De Temps Antan uses their whole body to inhabit the music they are playing. Interestingly, the audience response is the same. Everyone moves and grooves.

Now I know this doesn't really tell you anything about the music. So here's a video that gives you a taste.

You can view more videos, and hear samples of De Temps Antan on their myspace page. Highly recommended.

...and if you care to join us, you can purchase tickets online today.

Tickets Now On Sale: De Temps Antan

Tickets are now on sale for our March 5 Quebecois dance here at Fort Worden. After seeing the audience response that De Temps Antan received during their short set at a 2008 Festival of American Fiddle Tunes concert, we are sure that the JFK Building will be nearly levitating with energy and musicianship at this performance--this is a band that knows how to get people moving. 

Please join us for this celebration of Quebecois fiddle tunes.

Purchase tickets online right now, or take your chances at the door!

Concert and Dance
Thursday, March 5, 2009
7:30pm JFK Building
$12 (general admission)
18 and under FREE

Showtime at Fiddle Tunes

Happy Independence Day! The next two days--July 4 and July 5 (2008) are filled with public performances at Fort Worden State Park.

We hope you can join us for amazing performances featuring musicians and music from across the continent and beyond.

Complete program schedules and ticket information are available on our 2008 performance page.