Issue 12 12/99

FolkWorld News

A Festival month?!
Strange strange - normally you thought that January would be darkest time of the year, without any Folk Festivals in sight. But times are changing - FolkWorld gives more festival advices for the next two months than usually - and that in January! So why not leave out the Millennium Celebrations, and keep your money and freshness for one of the brilliant January festivals?!


Tilburg Festival Logo FolkWorld proudly presents:
Tilburg International Folk Festival 2000

The Netherlands. Good news for all folk music fans from the continent: From the 19th to the 13rd January 2000, there is a new big Folk Festival in Tilburg, Netherlands, featuring in its five days some of the best European folk music talents. Six different venues plus pubs and about forty acts including the likes of La Bottine Souriante, Shantalla, Kepa Junkera, Ambrozijn, Lais, Dervish, Celtic Feet, Tarras, and and and. La Bottine Souriante; photo by The Mollis

To be part of this new feast, contact: International Folk Festival, Telefoonstraat 16, 5038 DM Tilburg, The Netherlands. Tel NL-013-5801424; Homepage

The full Programme can be found in this issue of FolkWorld!!

Photo: La Bottine Souriante; by The Mollis


CD Fundraiser for Pat Finucane Centre
Northern Ireland. The New York based Devil's Advocates and The United 32s have released an eighteen-song CD of traditional Irish music, punk rock, hip-hop, ska and jazz titled Snipers In Derelict Houses, dealing with the "troubles" in the North of Ireland. The album's title is a line from its lead track, a song about the
Bloody Sunday shootings in 1972. The album is a fundraiser for the Pat Finucane Centre for Human Rights and Social Change in (London)Derry. The Centre - named in memory of Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane assassinated in 1989 - organises the annual Bloody Sunday commemoration and is involved in promoting a range of human, political, cultural and economic rights issues.
Snipers In Derelict Houses is available from Triage Records (US) or the Pat Finucane Centre (Europe).


6th Scoil Gheimhridh Frankie Kennedy
Mount Errigal; photo by Marcus Metz Ireland. The 6th Scoil Gheimhridh Frankie Kennedy (Frankie Kennedy Winter School) will take place in Gaoth Dobhair, Co. Donegal, Ireland, from the 28th of December 1999 to the 2nd of January 2000.
The Scoil Gheimhridh remembers Belfast flute player and "Altan" co-founder Frankie Kennedy who died of cancer in September 1994. As usual, there'll be classes for flute, fiddle, uileann pipes, box, whistle, accompaniment(guitar, bouzouki etc.) and bodhrán. All classes are held in Ionad Cois Locha, Dunlewey, while some concerts are in Óstán Ghaothdobhair as well.
Dermot Diamond; photo by Marcus Metz

Concerts include Seán Smyth, Alan Kelly, Arty McGlynn & Friends (Ionad Cois Locha, Dunlewey), Tim O'Brien (Ionad Cois Locha, Dunlewey), Na hAmhráin (Óstán Ghaothdobhair), Tommy Peoples and Guests, Altan (Ionad Cois Locha, Dunlewey), Providence (Ionad Cois Locha, Dunlewey) and North Cregg (Óstán Ghaothdobhair) and Ciaran Tourish & Friends (Ionad Cois Locha, Dunlewey).
On the 30th of December there'll be a céilí in the GAA clubhouse at Magheragallon, Derrybeg, and a great night of "Ceol, Céilí agus Craic" in Óstan Ghaothdobhair after that. Due to many other millenium events there'll be no central New Year's Eve celebration this year.
The registration starts on the 28th in Ionad Cois Locha (1.00 pm) followed by the offical opening (4.30 pm).
More information from
Gearóid Mooney.

Feature & photos by Marcus Metz; Photos: Mount Errigal - Dermot Diamond


Celtic Connections
Scotland. One of the mightiest Celtic festival on this planet is Celtic Connections, always held for several weeks in January. 2000 is no exception, and once again, from the 12th to the 30th of January 2000, the whole creme of the worldwide Celtic music scene will gather in Glasgow.
There will be the various concert styles from a big clubby gig over a philharmonic concert hall to the cosy Piping Centre; and of course additionally every day Danny Kyle's famous Open Stage and the superb Festival Club which starts every night around 11 and goes on until 3 and sometimes even 5 in the morning. Some names? La Bottine Souriante, Deaf Shepherd, Shooglenifty, Carlos Núñez, Barachois, Altan, Berrogüetto, Alasdair Fraser & Tony McManus, Fred Morrison, Anne Martin, Xosé Manuel Budino and many many more.
The full impressive programme can be found at
the homepage of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (go to Celtic Connections). To get an impression of Celtic Connections, you can read FolkWorld's selection of reviews from last year's CC.


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HARLEKIN RECORDS
HARLEKIN RECORDS - Your source for FOLK MUSIC (North America, Ireland, Great Britain), COUNTRY, BLUEGRASS and related music. Always more than 10.000 different compact discs, LP-records and video tapes in stock!
Ask for our catalog (please indicate what you collect).
E-mail:
Harlekin-Records@t-online.de; Jürgen Feuß, Postfach 110142-FW, 28081 Bremen / GERMANY. Phone: +49 421 7 49 10, FAX: +49 421 70 0051


Tradfest 2000 in Cork - in January!
Ireland. The UCC Trad Society organises in Cork a highest profile Irish festival from 20th to 23rd January 2000, the TRADFEST 2000. In various venues throughout Cork city they will have Seán Maguire, Brendan McGlinchey, John Carty, The Mike McGoldrick Experience (Mike, Dezi Donnelly, Alan Kelly, Karan Casey, Ed Boyd, John Joe Kelly, Donald Shaw & more), Derek Hickey, Aogán Lynch, Gavin Ralston and Michelle O'Brien, Tiernán Dinkin, Fionnán DeBarra, Deirdre Scanlon, Michael Rooney, Oisín MacDiarmada, Brian Fitzgerald. There are also Céilís, a Festival Club, Intervarsity Comp.
Infos from
Aoife Granville at UCC.


Xose Manuel Budino; photo by The Mollis

FolkWorld's Top 10 1999
FolkWorld. Another year has passed, so once again FolkWorld's editors had to choose the best 10 CDs and best 10 Live Acts of the year. These are good advices for the reader to discover new music.
The first three CDs are from BEV (Italy), from Camereita Meiga (Spain) and Niamh Parsons (Ireland); the first three Live Acts are Anam (Scotland/Ireland/Cornwall), Xosé Manuel Budino & Banda (Spain) and Serras (Denmark).
Read the full FolkWorld Top 10 listings!

Photo: Xosé Manuel Budino; by The Mollis


Shantalla
Belgium. Shantalla has been the band who started FolkWorld's series
Continental Celts. Since the release of their debut album in November 1998, the Irish/Scottish band from Belgium has been much sought-after on the folk scene. The band is currently producing a full-length concert video, directed by Paul Clarke and filmed in April 1999 during the prestigious Volkswagen Spring Sessions in Brussels, when Shantalla performed in the Ancienne Belgique. A 15-minute promotional version of the video is now available. Agents, promoters, journalists who wish to obtain a copy should contact Shantalla (contact addresses are at Shantalla's homepage).
For those readers with access to the internet Shantalla has also made available downloadable MP3 files of some tracks from its debut album.


Millenium Euro Folk Festival in the Scottish borders
Neidpath Castle; Photo by The Mollis Scotland. There will be a new great folk music festival in the Scottish Borders in August 2000 (18 to 20th). Hector Christie has been appointed as festival organiser, being a man with a lot of experience in the organisation in folk music festivals, having run the Melrose Music Festival for 10 years and a club for another 10 before. As he himself says, "it is not just a new job to me but a new opportunity to work at something that has been a lifelong interest".
For FolkWorld this new festival becomes even more interesting because it might get a bit of a European flavour. Says Hector: "That piece of water that seperates U.K. from other parts of Europe seems to me to be more of a barrier than it should be. It is early days but I hope to be able in some way to help bring the lowering of the barrier."
Hector is currently collecting infos and recommendations on Continental European bands and musicians. If there are any musicians among FolkWorld's readers who would welcome consideration for the festival, he asks them to write to his work address sending a CD (no tapes please) with their letter.
Address: Hector Christie, Millenium Projects Officer, Scottish Borders Tourist Board, Shepherds Mill, Selkirk, TD7 5DT, Scotland.
E-mail.

Photo: Neidpath Castle near Peebles in the Borders; by The Mollis


Fiddles on Fire
England. Watch out for this extraordinary tour in Great Britain, bringing in January/February 2000 five extraordinary young fiddlers together on tour: England's Eliza Carthy, Ireland's Dezi Donnelly, Shetland's Chris Stout, Norway's Susanne Ludeng and Hungary's Janos Lang. The whole thing is organised by
Folkworks.


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ERBSES BAUCHLADEN
Erbses Bauchladen ...been hunting for strings for a charango or a rubber ended bhodhrán beater? A low whistle or a rosewood flageolet?
"Erbses Bauchladen", running an online-Shop in the internet since June 1998, is dealing in musical instruments and accessories which are sometimes a little hard to come by. At
our online shop you will find:
Traditional and folk instruments: Giutars, mandolins, banjos, bouzoukis, charangos, bandurrias, ukuleles, fiddles, whistles, recorders, flutes, bodhráns, handheld percussion, castanets, concertinas, chalumeaus, bag-pipes, balaleikas, lutes and lots more from major instrument makers around the world.
Sheet Music, song books and tutors: We carry books, sheet music and tutors for almost all our instruments with many titles from England, Scotland or Ireland.
Strings and accessories: We carry strings and spare parts for all our instruments as well as a variety of accessories (reeds for bagpipes, practice chanters and the like, membranes, drum skins, stands for instruments etc.)
If you are looking for something we do not stock - we will try and get it for you. Make sure, you ask.
Have a look in - it may be worthwhile. http://www.erbses.de


Nyckelharpa Experts
Sweden/Belgium. FolkWorld asked in last issue's Orion competition for the roots of the Nyckelharpa. The editors thought of the most obvious answer: Sweden, the country where the Nyckelharpa is often found in trad music. But it seems to be not that simple.
Guitarist Philip Masure thinks that the original roots might be in Belgium in fact: "Even in Belgium (where I come from), there are old paintings and pictures of people playing the nyckelharpa. Some people even claim that the nyckelharpa was imported in Sweden by Walloon steel-workers. Still, the Swedish tradition is what made survive the nyckelharpa."
Interesting enough, another Belgian entry says that the oldest nyckelharpa is found in Gotland in Sweden from about 1350.
Any music historian out there who has proves? - For the competition, it seemed that we had to accept both Belgium and Sweden as answer...
The winners, by the way, came from Belgium and Denmark...


Niamh Parsons Band a success
The Irish Folk Festival Session with Cathy Ryan, Steve Dunford and Niamh Parsons; photo by The Mollis Ireland/Germany. On this year's Irish Folk Festival, Niamh Parsons presented a new band, created specially for this tour (she replaced Irish-American band Solas,
as reported). The audience went wild when seeing the refreshing performance of the lads in the band - fiddler Daire Bracken and accordeonist Dave Munelly duelled in the fast tunes, while Graham Dunne and Steve Dunford gave some superb backing. And Niamh herself was in good voice as well! Hopefully this band will be around for a longer time!!
The other participants of the Irish Folk Festival Tour were Beginish, Davey Arthur & Seamus Creagh and the Cathy Ryan Trio.

Photo: The Irish Folk Festival Session with Cathy Ryan, Steve Dunford and Niamh Parsons; photo by The Mollis


Recommended English festival
England. "Folk Beat" is a weekend festival of music and dance, taking place on the St. Paddy's weekend, 17th to 19th of March 2000, at the Lees Brook Community School in Chaddesden, Derby, England. There will be concerts plus instrumental, dance and song workshops. Confirmed acts include the creme of English music, with a little Scandinavian flavour: Blowzabella Dance Band, Coope Boyes & Simpson, Swåp (Ian Carr, Karen Tweed, Carina Normansson, Ola Bäckström), Chris Wood, Andy Cutting, Pete Cooper.
As you might have thought, there is some connection to the Cutting/Tweed camp. For more infos, send your name, address and telephone number to Chapel Lunch Productions, PO Box 5009, Derby, DE1 9FQ, UK; or - to make it easier - send it by e-mail to
fiona@cutting-tweed.demon.co.uk Please state from where you have heard about this event!


English - Belgian Colloration
England/Belgium. Carlene Anglim, All Ireland fiddle champion, winner of the BBC2 Young Tradition Award, whose album was selected last year as
3rd best album of 1998, has a new duo with the in Belgium based guitarist Philip Masure, who has played with likes of Orion, Lais and Helen Flaherty (of Shantalla).


Snapshot - Fun Photo Competition; photo by The Mollis Snapshot of Last Issue - who was it?
The question was: Who (or what?!) has Cathy Jordan here by her side? Difficult question, and onlyvery few correct answers. But we also allowed fun answer (in the end, this is a fun competition!). FolkWorld draw as winner a guy from Slovenia. He had sent a lovely fun answer: "This is a new Santa Claus for new age (after 2000)".
And this answer is already very close, as the correct answer would have been: It's Mike Katz of the Battlefield Band.


The 1999 FolkWorld Competition
What was your favourite Folk CD published in 1999?
This time no snapshot competition; anybody can enter. Just name us your favourite CD of 1999 (please give the name of the artist, of the CD and of the country where the artist is from), and WIN 3 CDS at once (of your choice out of a selection of six folk music (promotional) CDs)!!!!
Answers until 12/2/2000 to FolkWorld.
Click
here to read the conditions of FolkWorld competitions

Competition completed!


In the German news you can find as additional news:


To the (older) FolkWorld News of Nr. 11
To the (newer) FolkWorld News of Nr. 13

To the content of FolkWorld online magazine Nr. 12

© The Mollis - Editors of FolkWorld; Published 12/99

All material published in FolkWorld is © The Author via FolkWorld. Storage for private use is allowed and welcome. Reviews and extracts of up to 200 words may be freely quoted and reproduced, if source and author are acknowledged. For any other reproduction please ask the Editors for permission.


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