Bengal's Corner

Hello, everyone!

This is a quick note to inform about the Grand Isle Lake House concert, sponsored by Island Arts, that will happen this coming Wednesday, September 26, 2007: Michèle Choinière, Sabin Jacques, Rachel Aucoin, and Benoît Bourque - Contra and quadrille dances called by Benoît will follow the concert.

For more information, check the following:

www.michelechoiniere.com
www.grandislelakehouse.com

Bengal.

Sibiel - "Cirque Sibiel"
Anna Stafford - "Today's Saturday"
Colin Greenlaw - "Pistachio Ranger"
Parham Nassehpoor - improvisation in Dastgah Bayat Esfahan

Bowed Radio - episode 41

Hello everyone,

Sibiel is a Paris-based trio featuring the cello of Jean-Philippe Feiss. They are a wonderful mixture of early jazz ala Django Reinhardt and Eastern European gypsy music. The group takes its name from a Romnanian town where they claim "the adventure began." These guys are wonderful.

Anna Stafford is a violinist out of Pasadena. Unlike many rock violinists, she does not simply solo over a bass-and-drums rhythm section - these rhythm duties are handled by cellist John Krovoza. Aggressive, melodic, and full of that arco scratch I love so well. We'll be hearing much more from her in the future, I'm certain.

Colin Greenlaw is a jazz violinist currently based in Boston. I had a difficult time picking which tune of his to use - his stylings are so disparate, it's harder with him than most to capture "what he does" in just one tune. This piece "Pistachio Ranger" has an exotic feel that I enjoy very much, though other tunes incorporate distortion and electronica. A demo of his work will be made available very soon.

And finishing off the show is Parham Nassehpoor, an Iranian national currently living in Germany. Parham is a performer on the Kamanche, a traditional fiddle out of the Persian tradition. I actually ran across Parham in the Yahoo Fiddle-Crazy forum. YOu can read about this instrument and see videos from some of the Kamanche masters of the early 20th century
at this URL. A fascinating tradition.

Thanks for listening!

Mark Allender, producer-host
Bowed Radio
email: string@...
phone: 330-781-4387
skype: mark.allender

*Wednesday, September 26, 2007*

Grand Isle Lake House concert, sponsored by Island Arts.

*Michèle Choinière, Sabin Jacques, Rachel Aucoin, and Benoît Bourque*

Contra and quadrille dances called by Benoît will follow the concert.

www.michelechoiniere.com

www.grandislelakehouse.com

Saturday, Sept. 22, 2007 @ 5h30 P.M.

Soirée Canadienne with Boréal Tordu

The Franco-American Heritage Center is preparing for another Soirée Canadienne with music, food, and good fun on September 22nd at 5:30 PM. This month, patrons will feast to another traditional meal which will include minestrone soup, Canadian baked beans, American chop suey, cole slaw and beverages. For music, Maine Acadians have been harboring a rich
musical culture underground for generations, and now, a new generation of Acadian-Maineiacs are showing their joie de vivre. Voilà, Boréal Tordu!

For Reservations: 207-689-2000

Saturday, Sept. 29, 2007 @ 7h30 P.M.

Frank Glazer and Duncan Cumming in Concert (Frank Glazer and Duncan Cumming)

Duncan Cumming, now an established concert pianist and educator, will join his former teacher, Frank Glazer, in an unusual program of piano music for four hands, to open the Piano Series season at Lewiston's Franco-American Heritage Center, Saturday, September 29, at 7:30 p.m. They will perform works by Mozart, Schubert, and Gabriel Fauré, and end their recital with three Slavonic dances by Dvorak, arranged for one piano, four hands.

For Reservations: 207-689-2000

Richard Martin
Program Director / Event Manager
Franco-American Heritage Center
Office: 207-783-1585
Mobile: 207-754-9828

Bengal and Yann Falquet.

Hello, everyone!

I'm back from Canada, more precisely from Québec. I love Montreal! My friend Courtney and I were visiting Québec to meet with other friends and also to go to the festival Chants de Vielles - a fest on musique traditionnelle quebecoise that was held in Calixa-Lavallée, QC, from Sept. 7th till 9th. Since 2005, when I've met Benoit Bourque and the Quebecois band Le Vent du Nord, I'm in love with the infectious dance rhythm of this style of music! Exciting, danceable, exquisitely music composed about 200 years ago or more, that get a brand new interpretation in the hands of these talented modern musicians.

Everybody participating in the festival was a musician or someone that appreciates the Quebecois Traditional Music (QueTrad). The festival Chef Jocelyn Thouin (photo) is a poet that already published his works many times, and participated in many shows of poetry, improvisation and music. The accessibility of the artists is a common fact when it's about QueTrad, and the sense of collaboration and team-work helps create a family-friendly environment where friendship and the love for the music prevail.

I didn't attend all the shows and I didn't camp in the site of the festival, but I had a lot of fun during this trip. The talents that surprised and impressed me out there are Canadian artist Tobie Miller (voice and vielle à roue) and French artist Baptiste Romain (fiddle, bagpipes, vièle à archet). And I'm not a big fan of bagpipes, mind you. Tobie has a very well-trained voice and no mistakes were made in any of the shows. One of the songs she did that reminded me of my singing times back 10 years ago is Tumbalalaika that you can hear in her MySpace. I added the lyrics below in an earlier entry. This morning, I managed to get the parts of the song and work on the arrangement. I did the singing but am trying to play it in the violin. Singing and playing the violin at the same time don't seem to work quite well... :-D

Also, during the festival, I had the opportunity to meet with Yann Falquet from the Quebecois band Genticorum. Yann is one of the coolest guys I've met in this medium. We did an interview months ago for my other blog. It was nice to see him around although he wasn't performing. He introduced me to Marc Benoît that was a member of the former band Éritage, famous during the 70's to the point of having their own TV show. It was nice to meet him since I'm after some rare albums of that decade and he gave many interesting tips of where to get them, besides new references to other Quebecois artists.

Bernard Simard, former La Boutine Souriante and Le Vent du Nord, also performed this past weekend. In my opinion, Simard knows a lot about playing the guitar and I had the chance to listen to him playing some different tunes. His last work, Spectacle Solo, is a very interesting work - worth to check it.

In resume, I had a lot of fun during this fest and a nice rest away from all the stress of the work... I couldn't ask for anything else. Well, maybe a week more...

Bengal.

Hello, everyone!

I just returned from Québec and I'm already planning the next trip... How about the International Festival of Traditional Arts from Québec? The information here is in French but the link will take you to their web where very soon all texts will be also presented in English. Some of the performers listed I just saw over this past weekend, others I know for years and make this event worth the trip!

See you all soon!
Bengal.

Le FIAT existe depuis 1991. Il est le seul événement de la région de Québec à présenter un contenu entièrement axé sur la culture traditionnelle d’ici et d’ailleurs. Au fil des ans, la formule du festival a changé, mais on peut toujours danser, assister à des spectacles, participer à des ateliers, «jammer», etc., et ce dans une atmosphère conviviale.

L’événement se tient cette année du 5 au 8 octobre, sous la thématique Le son des violons. Nous accueillerons des artistes de Bretagne, des Etats-Unis et du Québec. Le son des violons pour présenter l’âme des traditions d’ici et d’ailleurs.

Vendredi 5 octobre

Spectacle d'ouverture avec Soïg Sibéril, Christian Lemaître et Les Gens d’plaisir.
Heure: 20h00
Lieu : Théâtre Petit Champlain
Admission : Générale 16$ membre Ès Trad et étudiants 12$

Spectacle acoustique avec Jean-François Bélanger
Heure: 23h00
Lieu : Voûtes de la maison Chevalier
Admission : Gratuit

Samedi 6 octobre

Animations musicales
Heure: de 14h00 à 20h00
Lieu : Parc Félix- Leclerc
Admission : Gratuit

Les animaux-totems avec Jef Tremblay
Heure: 14h
Lieu : Bibliothèque Gabrielle-Roy
Admission : Laissez-passer disponible 30 minutes avant le début

Atelier de violon avec Christian Lemaître, Lisa Ornstein, Lissa Schneckenburger
Heure: 15h30
Lieu : Voûtes maison Fornel
Admission : Générale 6$ membre Ès Trad et étudiants 4$

Atelier de guitare avec Soïg Sibéril
Heure: 15h30
Lieu : Voûtes maison Chevalier
Admission : Générale 6$ membre Ès Trad et étudiants 4$

Bal Famille Verret et Benoît Bourque
Avec la Famille Verret et Benoît Bourque
Heure: 20h00
Lieu : Morrin Centre
Admission : Générale 12$ membre Ès Trad et étudiants 10$

Spectacle Les 2 Lisa avec Lisa Ornstein et Lissa Schneckenburger
Heure: 20h30
Lieu : Théâtre Petit Champlain
Admission : Générale 16$ membre Ès Trad et étudiants 12$

Spectacle acoustique avec Soïg Sibéril et Christian Lemaître.
Heure: 23h00
Lieu : Voûtes Maison Chevalier
Admission : Gratuit

Dimanche 7 octobre

L’héritage autochtone avec Jef Tremblay
Heure: 14h00
Lieu : Bibliothèque Gabrielle-Roy
Admission : Laissez-passer disponible 30 minutes avant le début

Les Passeurs d’airs avec Liette Remon
Heure: 14h00
Lieu : Audito 1 Musée Civilisation
Admission : Gratuit

Animations musicales
Heure: de 14h00 à 20h00
Lieu : Parc Félix- Leclerc
Admission : Gratuit

La Joute chantée
Heure: 15h00
Lieu : Théâtre Petit Champlain
Admission : Générale 12$ membre Ès Trad et étudiants 10$

Le Spectacle de clôture avec :
• Soïg Sibéril
• Christian Lemaître
• Lisa Ornstein
• Lisa Schneckenburger
Heure: 20h00
Lieu : Théâtre Petit Champlain
Admission : Générale 16$ membre Ès Trad et étudiants 12$

Spectacle acoustique avec Gabrielle Bouthillier et Simon Elmaleh
Heure: 23h00
Lieu : Voûtes Maison Chevalier
Admission : Gratuit

Lundi 8 octobre

Le premier printemps du monde avec Félicité, la fée du conte
Heure: 14h00
Lieu : Bibliothèque Gabrielle-Roy, petite scène
Admission :Laissez-passer disponible 30 minutes avant le début

“Some can sing opera, Luciano Pavarotti was an opera.

No one could inhabit those acrobatic melodies and words like him. He lived the songs, his opera was a great mash of joy and sadness; surreal and earthy at the same time; a great volcano of a man who sang fire but spilled over with a love of life in all its complexity, a great and generous friend.

Great, great fun, The Pavlova we used to call him. An emotional arm twister if he wanted you to do something for him he was impossible to turn down. A great flatterer.

(...)

Intellectually curious, couldn’t stick to his own generation - loved new ideas, new people, new song forms.

A sexy man whose life lit up again when he fell in love with Nicoletta and as he watched Alice play in the yard. He loved all his daughters so much. The sadness of losing his only boy his only silence.

I spoke to him last week... the voice that was louder than any rock band was a whisper. Still he communicated his love. Full of love.

That's what people don't understand about Luciano Pavarotti. Even when the voice was dimmed in power, his interpretive skills left him a giant among a few tall men.”


Bono