Issue 13 03/2000

Europe's Best of 1999 - The Reader's Choice
FolkWorld. In the last issue, FolkWorld presented the FolkWorld Editor's Top 10 featuring some of the best CD releases of the last year. Now FolkWorld has asked its readers what their best CD was - and here is the FolkWorld Reader's Choice CD Top 10 - very tasteful actually!

1. Niamh Parsons, "Blackbirds & Thrushes"
great trad singer from Ireland; the CD is reviewed in FolkWorld No. 12

2. Carlos Núñez, "Os amores libres"
famous piper from Galicia/Spain, the CD is reviewed in FolkWorld No. 11

3. Flook!, "Flatfish"
Flutes and more from this exciting band from the British Isles; CD is reviewed in FolkWorld No. 11

4./5. Garmarna, "Vedergallningen"
Swedish folk hard rock, as reviewed in FolkWorld No. 10

4./5. June Tabor, "A Quiet Eye"
old established English singer

6. Susana Seivane, "Susana Seivane"
a young and very good female piper from Galicia/Spain; CD is reviewed in FolkWorld No. 10)

7. Triakel, "Triakel"
traditional Swedish trio; CD is reviewed in German language in FolkWorld No. 10)

8. Kate Rusby, "Sleepless"
young, pretty and successful English folk singer

9./10. Dervish,"Midsummernight"
the popular traditional band from Ireland

9./10. Hevia, "Tierra de Nadie"
extremely successful piper from Asturies/Spain, combing Asturian gaita and rock music

Pictures: (1) Cover of Niamh Parsons' CD; (2) Carlos Núñez, photo by The Mollis; (3) Flook, Press pic

The search engine...
New in FolkWorld: The FolkWorld Search Engine, offering the possibility to search the whole FolkWorld Archive. To the Search Engine.

FolkWorld proudly presents:
Folkwoods Festival Eindhoven 2000 - first announcement
The Netherlands. This summer, Eindhoven will become for one weekend the centre of folk & world in Europe, when the first Folkwoods Festival takes place from the 11th to the 13th August 2000. The outdoorfestival will have 3 stages in tents, with a goal of 2500 entrance paying visitors a day. The festival will be a five-star festival, in one of the most beautyful parks of Eindhoven,with outstanding camping facilities, good food and sit-in restaurants (incl vegetarian), playgrounds for children, child-animation (festival-entrance for under 14 is free!!!), telephone- and paycard/creditcard facilities, and overall accessable for wheelchairs.
A line up of appx. 35 bands, workshops, sessions, market (even a little supermarket!!) etc. Some first names: Ambrozijn (Belgium), Dereelium (Irish Folk at its best from Germany), Hoven Droven (Sweden, photo), Ray Wylie Hubbard (USA), Andy Irvine (Ireland), LAIS (Belgium), Pigmeat (Friesland), The Transylvanians (Germany), Triakel (Sweden).
Up-to-date infos at

Mark Donnelly (ex-Craobh Rua) died
Ireland. Mark Donnelly died on December 28th 1999 due to a heart attack, at the age of only 33 years. Mark was for long time uilleann piper and flutist of the popular Irish band Craobh Rua and recorded with them three albums. Two years ago he left the band to settle down from touring and found a family. He is leaving behind his wife and a one year old child.
With Mark, we have lost a lovely person and a great musician.

Photo: Mark Donnelly (left) with Craobh Rua in 1995, by The Mollis

John Morris Rankin died in car crash
Canada/Nova Scotia. John Morris Rankin, 40, died on Sunday January the 16th 2000 when the truck he was driving ran off the road and into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Rankin's teenage son, Michael, and two other teenage passengers managed to escape and swim to shore, while John Morris was unable to free himself. Reports suggest Rankin swerved to avoid a pile of salt on the road.
John Morris, playing keyboards and fiddle, was see as the leader of the band The Rankins, formerly known as The Rankin Family, one of Canada's most famous groups through the late 1980s and '90s, having carried the Cape Breton Celtic music flag internationally. Last year the Rankins decided the band had run its course. They disbanded so they could pursue their own careers.
Nova scotia's Prime Minister Jean Chretien expressed that he was "stunned by the news" and that "Cape Breton had lost one of her finest sons, and Canada one of its finest musicians."
Besides his son Michael, John Morris is survived by his wife, Sally, and his daughter Molly, 13. He will be missed by many many people around the world.

Dutch & Belgian revival
Netherlands/Belgium. The Dutch folk scenes find itself concert- and festival wise healthier than ever, with two huge new festivals and many new folkclubs in the Netherlands. In Belgium meanwhile, there are lots of new great bands coming onto the scene. An exciting reason to look at the scene of Holland and Belgium. FolkWorld has found out all the facts.

Photo: Laïs - stars of the New Flemisch Flak Wave, by The Mollis

5 years The Craic Festival in Holland
The Netherlands. The year 2000 is the 5th anniversary of The Craic Celtic Music Festival, which is why they have set up a special 3-day programme . Friday night will be used to warm up a little with Bangers & Mash (NL) (21:00-24:00). On Saturday and Sunday there will be a full programme, featuring Brian McNeill (Sco), Kieran Halpin (Irl), Sherbart (Irl; Best FolkWorld Live Act 1998), Here Be Dragons (Wal), Alan Burke (Irl), Darran Byrne (Irl), Chris While & Julie Matthews (Eng), Noel Shannon (Irl). They are currently busy trying to get permission to have a temporary campsite on the field next to Azotod. Infos at The Craic Festival Homepage.

...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

Derroll Adams died
Antwerpen/Belgium. Derroll Adams died on Feb. 6th, 2000 in Antwerpen, Belgium where he has lived since leaving the US in the late '50s. He was one of the important singer/songwriters of the folk revival, best known for having written songs like "Portland Town". During the 1950s he toured with Ramblin' Jack Elliott throughout Europe. A documentary film about him is just now nearing completion. Derroll was a great friend of Tønder Festival where he will be missed by all. Last year he took part in the 25th anniversay festival, and it was one of the most moving moments when Derrol in his wheelchair was carried up on stage during the big birthday gala concert and received standing ovations lasting for several minutes.

Anam in new line-up skiing in Norway
Scotland/Norway. Anam have just come back from a winter tour in Norway, co-ordindinated by Kjetil Haugbro (the same Ketil who co-composed "Kjetil's Song" with Brian, heard on Riptide). This Norwegian tour has marked the departure of Anam's long time member Treasa Harkin (accordion), who has decided to go back to Dublin to do a "real job". A new musician has therefore joined Anam: Tim Edey, a twenty year old multi instrumentalist from Kent in England. He is not only a great box player but also an accomplished nylon string guitarist, keyboardist, bass player (among other instruments).
The band (especially Brian), had for their Norway tour the plan to do as much skiing as possible in-between concerts. Fiona and Anna-Wendy haven't been as enthusiastic in the sport as their fellow band member but have been assured that there is great Cross Country Skiing in Norway which is considered less "dangerous" than the down hill skiing. We do not have yet the news if they have safely arrived back home...

Photo: Fiona & Brian of Anam; photo by The Mollis

New Scottish Labels
Scotland. Sleepytown Records is a new Scottish label from the North-East, it was launched on November 8th 1999, with an emphasis on the traditions of Scotland's North East. While releasing a lot of albums traditional north east Scotland songs, the label has also already published a high profile Scottish music sampler and the debut CD of young fiddler Carmen Higgins.
Further info from Ronnie Cairns of Sleepytown Records.
Another new label from Scotland is Scotfolk. This label launched the first album - Elspeth Cowie's first ever solo album - on 24th of January at Celtic Connections in Glasgow.
More information on the Scotfolk webpage.

Dylan, Heaney, Neeson support Irish song
Ireland/South Armagh. Bob Dylan, Seamus Heaney and Liam Neeson, but also the likes of Pete Seeger and Dolores Keane, are among the international stars who have given their patronage to the first Tommy Makem International School of Song scheduled for next June in the Ring Of Gullion area of South Armagh, a place full of natural beauty. Named in honour of the legendary folk singer who is a native of the district, the School is working to gather song people from all over the world for a week of lectures, debates, singing, storytelling and music. It invites all to enjoy the culture and hospitality of the local people and experience the living inheritance of the song tradition in the area, perhaps the strongest of any part of Ireland.
Says Tommy Makem- "South Armagh has been denigrated and darkened for the past thirty years. True to the ancient wisdom, the deeper the darkness, the brighter the light. South Armagh’s cultural brightness is dazzlingly brilliant. Being at the heart’s core of Irish mythology, it is filled with ancient sites and monuments and has an unsurpassed song tradition and musical heritage. It has produced some of the finest native speaking poets in any Western European culture. The light has already started to dissipate the shadows."
The Tommy Makem International School of Song is working to help restore this great South Armagh inheritance to its former centrality and reopen its riches for the benefit of the wider world. It will merge lectures and learning with sightseeing and evenings of singing, music, storytelling and dance in this most historic of all Irish places.
Further infos from Peter Makem.

Both Sides The Tweed
Scotland. The date of the new big folk festival in the Scottish Borders region (as reported in FolkWorld 12) has been changed because of events outwith our control and is now re-set for 13th to 15th October 2000. The festival now has also an official name "Both sides of the Tweed",which does not just derive from the physical position of the town of Kelso which has the River Tweed running through it,but from the sentiments expressed in the Dick Gaughan song of the same name. Not just Scottish artistes are involved. Because of financial backing from the British Millenium Commission, the festival is able to sell tickets at a lower rate than most other festivals - 20 Pound will get people a full weekend ticket to what will be a pretty classy festival; that price will include free camping some of which will be indoors for those who don't own camper vans etc.
So just get out your calendar to mark this weekend as festival weekend! Infos from Hector Christie

Photo: Neidpath Castle near Peebles in the Borders (which acts also as logo for the festival - although the festival is in Kelso, not in Peebles) ; Photo by The Mollis

10 Years No Masters
England. In March and April 2000, No Masters, will reach its tenth birthday. Founded by John Tams and Jim Boyes to encourage songwriting and recording that grows out of traditional roots, over ten years No Masters membership expanded to include Mike Waterson, Barry Coope and Lester Simpson, Fi Fraser, Jo Freya, Ray Hearne and the late Lal Waterson. No Masters has so far released sixteen critically acclaimed albums, including debut CDs by Coope Boyes & Simpson, The Fraser Sisters and Token Women.
The birthday of the songwriting-and-recording co-operative is celebrated with the issuing of two debut solo albums by outstanding song-makers Lester Simpson and Ray Hearne and launching a Coope Boyes & Simpson collection featuring new and existing tracks from their first five albums.
FolkWorld wishes all at No Masters good luck for the next 10 years! No Masters can be contacted be e-mail.

Scotland: new label - new baby
Scotland. Karen Matheson and Donald Shaw of Capercaillie have a new baby: Hector James Shaw was born on Sunday 13 February 2000. All are well.
Just recently, Donald Shaw has stared a new record company, Vertical Records. Michael McGoldrick's new solo album Fused was the first CD to be released on Vertical Records. Ceol Tacsi - a compilation CD was released last month, featuring Martyn Bennet, Tommy Smith, Liam O'Maonlai, Karen Matheson among another 50 musicians. To the website of Vertical Records

Photo: Michael McGoldrick; photo by The Mollis

Folk Free and Open Air in Brussels
Belgium/Brussels. You do not find often big folk festivals which are free - so the BROSELLA Folk & Jazz Open Air Festival in Brussels is worth a special announcement. Happening on the second weekend of July, 8th & 9th 2000, in the Théatre de Verdure/Groentheater (= green theatre) near the Atomium in Brussels. Infos at www.brosella.be

Irish Folk Festival Tour sold
Germany. Germany's most prestigious festival tour for Irish Music, the Irish Folk Festival, has been sold to Petr Pandula's Magnetic Music agency. For the first 25 years, it was organised by folk guru Carsten Linde, since 1988 with the enthusaistic help of Irish Folk expert Axel Schuldes. Carsten Linde decided now, after 25 years doing the festival besides his job, to quit the festival, and to sell it.
Magnetic Music will not have an easy job to keep up the high standard of the tour - the Irish Folk Festival was highly popular among both festival artists and audiences; with their love and knowledge of the Irish scene, the organisers always provided a balanced kind of micro cosmos of the Irish scene.
Magnetic Music is the biggest agency for Irish Music in Germany, and organises already three similar Celtic Festival tours, two of them around St. Patrick's Day focussing on Irish Music, another one around Halloween featuring Celtic Music from Irland, Scotland and France. It is an important task for Magnetic Music, having now quite a monolpoly of Irish festival tours in Germany, not to mix up the different tours.
Magnetic Music acts also internationally as a record label, with its headquarter in Ireland.

Gael Fest 2000 near Frankfurt
Germany. A festival of Irish culture, music, song & dance in Sachsenhausen near Frankfurt/Main that will happen from the 12th to the 14th of May 2000. Organised by Frankfurt's Rhine-Main German-Irish Association, highlights will include a Gala Concert (Friday 12th) & a Monster Céilí (Saturday 13th) with The Templehouse Céilí Band (Dublin), An Tor (Mainz) & Special Guests, plus workshops led by well-known Irish musicians & dancers. Overnight youth hostel accommodation in Sachsenhausen will be reserved on "first come, first served" basis. Workshops, subject to demand, include fiddle, flute & tin whistle, uilleann pipes, banjo, bodhrán, singing, set & step dancing, Irish language, Celtic mythology & archaeology. "Discover for yourself the impact of Irish music, dance & culture on mainland Europe!".
Infos: E-Mail, Homepage

Easter Eggs & Folk Music in Gosport
England. One of England's undoubtedly best folk festivals, being at the same time also the biggest English indoor Folk Festival, takes place in Hampshire in Southern England from Thursday, April 20 to Monday, April 24, 2000 (well Easter - you might have guessed it!).
Once again, instead of Easter Eggs, the organisers are serving a delicious menu of high quality music. Guests include Rolf Harris and his band; Oysterband; Tom Robinson; Martin Carthy; Martyn Joseph; Lunasa; Show of Hands; Tarras; Blue Horses; Fiddler's Bid and many, many more. And of course there is that most friendly atmosphere that the Easter Festival is famous for!
Infos: Box Office Phone: 01329 231942; e-mail festival director Peter Chegwyn.

Iain MacKintosh stops touring
Scotland. Iain MacKintosh, now 68 years old, finishes his roving days 'on the road'. The year 2000 will be his last year on stage. During his solo career in the last 30 years he has built up a firm and loyal followship, especially in Germany and Denmark, but also in other European countries and the United States.He has the reputation of being a 'songwriters' singer', and his skill to find unusual songs and give them his very own stamp without neglecting their peculiarity ist nearly legendary. His performances were also beloved because of his unique Glaswegian sense of humour and his great bit of humanity.

Info by Susanne Kalweit/LAG Folk News
Photo: Iain MacKintosh in Tønder 99; photo by The Mollis

9. German Concertina Weekend 2000
Germany. On the second May weekend, from 12. - 14.5.2000. With courses for the Irish Concertina with Tim Collins (IRL), English Concertina with Robbi Pich and German Konzertina with Jürgen Leo. Contact and infos: Mario Kliemann, Am Bach 17, D-33602 Bielefeld, email

Representing the Natives
USA/Italy. Bronitsky and Associates are a firm assisting American Indians (US, Canada, Mexico) in bringing to the world Indian America traditional and contemporary art, music, dance; fashion; film/video; photography; theater; speakers and writers (Native languages and English); food products; and Indian-owned tourism. They are thinking now about expanding the concept: "Within the last six months, we have received inquiries from Vanutau and Mongolia and Papua New Guinea, from Siberian indigenous people, Saami people, Thai hill tribes and others. They have been interested in bringing our artists there and in cultural exchanges but they have also asked for our assistance in promoting their talent internationally as we have done for American Indians. Accordingly, we are considering expanding the scope of our work, perhaps under the name of From Tribal Worlds, to include indigenous people from around the world.
Anybody interested in either the firm or Native cultures can contact Gordon Bronitsky in the USA or the firm's European base: Horst Eilers, Italy.

Record Label celebrates Folk Day
England. The English label HTD Records holds a folk day on June 17th, featuring The Albion Band, The Amazing Blondel and Tir na Nog in the evening. In the afternoon will be Paul Downes, Judy Dunlop and Sonny Condell. Plus a workshops with the Amazing Blondel, a talk with Ashley Hutchings (Fairport/Steeleye Span). The event will take place at the Inn on the Lake Hotel, Gravesend in Kent (just off the A2).
Further details are available on the news section at HTD.

Snapshot - the Fun Photo Competition
This photo shows 1/2 of 2/3 of an English band - which band is it?
Name us the name of the band these four legs belong two, and WIN 3 CDS at once (of your choice out of a selection of six folk music (promotional) CDs)!!!!
Answers until 19th of May 2000 to FolkWorld.
Click here to read the conditions of FolkWorld competitions.

In the German news you can find as additional news:

• Austro-Popper keep distance to "Reinheitsgebot" (FPÖ wants more austrian music)in the radio
• Two jubilees: Kurt Weill (1900-1950)
• Folklorum 2000 searches for bands, Folklorum is a festival in the most eastern part of Germany
• Carlos Nunez win the 'Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik'
• Another folk mag less, the Hamburger Folk Magazine stop appearing
• Kemnade International festival one year later, politicians don't want to let it happen this year
• BEV's Germany debut, the great Italian band is coming to Rudolstadt festival
• New bands/musicians in Germany on tour: Last Night's Fun, Solan, Jim Malcolm,...

To the (older) FolkWorld News of Nr. 12
To the (newer) FolkWorld News of Nr. 14

To the content of FolkWorld online magazine Nr. 13

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