The 2009 Festival of American Fiddle Tunes is underway!
If you are part of the week, you can help share your experience with others by using the following tags on Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and the like:
Twitter: #fiddletunes09
Flickr: fiddletunes09
YouTube: fiddletunes09
We'll be showcasing members' contributions here on the main site, as well as on our community site - centrumfiddle.ning.com.
Enjoy!
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:
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...
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.
We've had an unprecedented demand for Fiddle Tunes registration, so we reworked our facilities bookings at Fort Worden and have now reopened workshop registration. We have room for 40 more participants, so please move quickly if you'd like to come.
We apologize for any confusion that this might cause. If you need to talk to anyone, call Peter McCracken at 360-385-3102, x127.
With great regret we inform you all that James Cheechoo and his family, due to circumstances beyond his control, will not make it to Fiddle Tunes this year. We're actively working to see that he makes it in 2010.
However, in his stead come two different styles of music. Jose Moreno, one of the last Tex-Mex string players from Texas, will visit with Chuy Castillo, who will accompany him on bajo sexto. Those of you who remember Mr. Moreno's first visit to Fiddle Tunes will recall that he also plays the button accordion. Here's a short bio:
http://www.markrubin.com/josemoreno/#2
In addition to the Mexican string tradition, we'll also have a style that has never before been represented in Port Townsend - fiddling from the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland: Scottish music with Scandinavian underpinnings. Who is this fiddler? Not telling, this is a Centrum surprise for Fiddle Tuners, but you'll meet this player when we get going on June 28.
It may be the beginning of summer and the temperature may indeed by heating up--but we would like to help you really heat things up later this year.
This November, we are going to host a serious Cajun House Party here at Fort Worden. We're calling it Le Bal De Maison: A Cajun House Party at Fort Worden.
November 12-15, we want you and your friends to spend a long weekend with us soaking up Cajun culture, music, food and dance with some of the most interesting people currently making noise in Southwest Louisiana.
The Lafayette region boasts THE most vibrant musical scene in the United States right now, with old music, new music, and seriously talented musicians, young and old, playing both. The region in recent years has produced young bands such as Feufollet, the Red Stick Ramblers, Hungry Hungry, the Pine Leaf Boys, Cedric Watson and Bijoux Creole, and The Lafayette Rhythm Devils.
In the heart of it is BonSoir, Catin, and this terrific band - along with guest Courtney Granger - will be your hosts and inspiration for the House Party.
We'll be teaching music, of course, but we'll also be spending serious time on Cajun dancing, cooking, and singing. To learn more and to register, visit our Cajun House Party page.
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.
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.
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.
The post-Highwoods String Band era in upstate New York spawned many young, excited, and passionate old time musicians who formed bands such as the Henrie Brothers, the Swamp Root String Band, and later the Horseflies and Donna the Buffalo.
One outfit that left a serious mark was the Correctone String Band, led by the primal fiddler John Specker. Although Specker has lived in Vermont for decades, his influence can still be heard and felt in this region. His contributions to old time fiddling – blood red bow-driven backbeat, and playing chordally and in tune on three strings simultaneously - reverberate today in the music of many upstate players today.
The tunes he plays are simple and generally not rare, but he strips them down, chews them up, internalizes their essence, and then presents them “with an intensity that has to be seen to be believed.” You’ll never hear “Little Rabbit” in the same way after hearing John sing and play it. He comes from a state of complete abandon, which helps to create his highly individualized style.
So, we’re wicked happy that John has accepted an invitation to Fiddle Tunes this summer. It’s not something that he generally does – it’ll be his first time on a plane – and the richness of his music and his spirit will surely elevate the gathering.
You can listen to him with his daughters on his Myspace page, although recordings of John pale in comparison to hearing him in person.
