Fiddles on Friday XX

Today we have no fiddler but a beautiful cellist avant cellist named Zoë Keating

photo by Jeffrey Rusch

Zoë Keating is a Canadian-born cellist and composer based in San Francisco, California. Zoë is a one-woman orchestra. She uses a cello and a foot-controlled laptop to record layer upon layer of cello, creating intricate, haunting and compelling music. She's the Andrew Bird or Kishi Bashi on cello. First let's take a look at a stunning performance she did for Wired, this song is called "The Escape Artist". It's a perfect performance. In her shoes I would be affraid technology would fail or let me down... like computers sometimes do, but probably the loopstation is not Windows based ;-) I think she writes great compositions and never a dull moment no endles repeating but nice variations of rhythm, sounds, sphere, richness. It's not a surprise that her songs are often used as soundtracks (Breaking Bad, Elementary, The secret life of bees etc.). Here she's playing her song Lost from the album Into the Trees The next song she felt almost too embarrassed to play because she found it too simple, extremely simple even.....sigh Here's a more dark and rough-edged song she made in collaboration with the also møpkemuziek worthy artist Jane Woodman here's Tango. And here's a soundcloud link to a selection of her own favorites. 45 minutes of joy. Have a nice weekend!!!        

Fiddles on Friday XIX

Today we have a winner, Oene van Geel just won the Boy Edgar Prize, a prestigious Dutch award for improvised- and jazz music
  Violist /composer Oene van Geel (1973) is a true adventurer in music. Influenced by jazz, Indian music, chamber music and free improvisation, he has applied his virtuoso improvising skills and his compositional talents to a wide range of musical activities. He has toured in Europe, India, Japan, the US and Canada. First let's take a look at Oene playing a solo piece at the opening of the Spoken Beat night You can hear several influences in his music, after his classical music education he went to study South-Indian music theory and as a child he was intrigued by his father playing Balkan music. He's playing in several projects and bands, like: Zapp 4 (stringquartet), in Estafest (jazz band), The Nordanians (A Shakti like power trio), multimedia project OOOO and Windstreken Here he's playing with "Windstreken" And then there's Zapp 4 and this is their version of the itchy Radiohead song "We Suck Young Blood" here's the original And here's the ZAPP 4 version, enjoy your weekend.

Fiddles on Friday XVIII

Finally a new Fiddles on Friday and today it's up to Mack Jonsson

photo by owlblake

Mack Jonsson is born and raised in Quesnel Canada, he started busking there to buy a new skatboard :). But let's first take a look at Mack and his fiddle skills while he's busking in Victoria back in 2011 this is the song "Reubens Train". Yeehaa, and a nice voice too, Mack is also fiddler in the alternative country band "The Wicks" and in "Ain't Dead yet" "Cats in Distress" and on the moment he's also touring with "The Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra" because their fiddler Patrick M’Gonigle has left the band. Busy guy! Let's take a look at busking band "Cats in Distress" Here's the latest album "Clouds" from his band The Wicks they are releasing a new album in April. And to end with, here is the latest album of "The Mockingbird Orchestra" Follow My Lead, Lead me to Follow. This is not played by Mack himself on the album but he's touring with this band right now, enjoy

Fiddles on Friday XVII

Today we have Norwegian Fiddler Ragnhild Furebotten

Ragnhild Furebotten is a familiar fiddling figure on the Norwegian traditional music scene, coming to the fore as part of the internationally renowned band Majorstuen and going on to further acclaim with various collaborations and solo projects. Her elegant tone, lightness of touch and palpable pleasure in performing has won her appreciative audiences and a number of awards. Her current project "Never on a sunday" is an innovative meeting with six horn players, exploring the music of her native north Norway region, with traditional tunes and her original compositions arranged by two of Norway's most celebrated jazz composers. The project was premiered at the Kalottspel Festival in August 2010 and taken on a successful tour before being recorded. The album has just been released and no doubt she can expect some more awards soon Here's footage of the first concert on Kalottspel with the brass ensemble: Helge Sunde, Geir Lysne, Frode Nymo, Anders Eriksson, Marius Haltli, Lars Andreas Haug. Action (music) start at 2.00 Sorry that there is no grooveshark, soundcloud or bandcamp stream so it's all youtube today. Here's the song Drevja

Fiddles on Friday XVI

Today we have a Swedish folk band with a nykelharpe (keyfiddle) it is Nordic

I found them on youtube and think they are amazing. The nykelharpe is played by Erik Rydvall, Mandolin by Magnus Zetterlund and cello by Anders Löfberg: This is the song Skatan played at Huset in Aalborg Denmark. Nordic is one of Sweden's best and most booked folk music band. With roots in as well as a great knowledge of folk music, the trio experiment freely in a quest for new expression. The result includes film-like compositions filled with soundscapes, rhythms, groove, reggae and improvisation. The unusual setting of cello, nyckelharpa and mandolin gives the group its own unique sound and contributes to Nordic's experimental expression. Sorry i don't have any streaming links for you but a nice youtube link will do, this is the song 3 or it is the third song :) let me know if you have more info or music streams of Nordic And we end with Bruce, nice weekend hope to see you back on monday

Fiddles on Friday XV

Yesterday I saw a stunning documentary by Werner Herzog, called "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" about the Chauvet Cave in southern France. I was impressed by the beautiful soundtrack by the Dutch Cellist Ernst Reijseger.

photo by Krijn van Noordwijk

I hear you think...thats not a fiddler that's a cellist! Right but sometimes I like to think BIG and with a little imagination the cello could be a giant fiddle :) Reijseger creates enchanting music for choir, organ, piano, flute and cello. All adaptions and arrangements of the music by Ernst Reijseger were especially made for the film. All titles of the compositions are named in close connection with the movie. For these special compositions the warmth and depth of low cello sounds are most important. Ernst Reijseger's new five string cello (a dream he had for a long time) was finished just in time for the sound configuration and sound design of this music. The extra low string of the cello offers him the possibility to create deep sounds and to express a mysterious flair. It's amazing what sounds he can produce with his cello. Just take a look at this video where he is playing the song "Shadows" with Harmen Fraanje on the church organ.. it's a masterpiece!

Here are some grooveshark links

"Childs Footprint" Deep Cave And here's the song "Forgotten Dreams #4"

Best 2012s Fiddles on Friday

The most looked at fiddler on this blog last year was Kishi Bashi, folowed by Kevin Burke. Here's the Kishi Bashi item, for me also a nice discovery.

And again a loopminded fiddleplayer like my hero Andrew Bird, and this time its artist Kishi Bashi

photo by Monica McGivern

Kishi Bashi is the pseudonym of singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter K (Kaoru) Ishibashi (born November 4, 1975). Born in Seattle, Washington, but growing up predominantly on the east coast in Norfolk, Virginia. Ishibashi has recorded with and toured internationally as a violinist with diverse artists such as Regina Spektor, Sondre Lerche, and most recently, the Athens, Georgia based indie rock group of Montreal. Ishibashi is also the singer and founding member of the New York synth rock outfit, Jupiter One. In 2011, he started to record and perform as a solo artist. In that year he also released his debut EP "Room For dream" and in april this year he released his 9 track album "151A" with 2 old songs from his EP (Manchester + Bright Whites) But first let's take a look at his live performance for the Tiny Desk Sessions on NPR radio where he demonstrates his loopstation & fiddle skills. Here's the soundcloud link to 3 tracks from 151a, enjoy your weekend and see you back on Misty monday.

Fiddles of Friday XIII

No ordinary Fiddles on Friday today but a preview of a heartwarming film. This film shows how trash and recycled materials can be transformed into beautiful sounding musical instruments, but more importantly, it brings witness to the transformation of precious human beings Landfill Harmonic is an upcoming feature-length documentary about a remarkable musical orchestra in Paraguay, where the musicians play instruments made from trash Cateura, Paraguay is a town essentially built on top of a landfill. Garbage collectors browse the trash for sellable goods, and children are often at risk of getting involved with drugs and gangs. When orchestra director Szaran and music teacher Fabio set up a music program for the kids of Cateura, they soon have more students than they have instruments. That changed when Szaran and Fabio were brought something they had never seen before: a violin made out of garbage. Today, there's an entire orchestra of assembled instruments, now called The Recycled Orchestra. Check and follow this great initiative on http://landfillharmonicmovie.wordpress.com/

Landfill Harmonic movie teaser from Landfill Harmonic on Vimeo.

Fiddles on Friday XII

Is there a cajun fiddler in the house? Yes there is, today it's up to Michael Doucet

Michael Doucet is a Cajun fiddler, singer and songwriter who founded the Cajun band BeauSoleil from Lafayette, Louisiana. He learned the banjo by age six, the guitar by his eighth year, and was researching Cajun music as a college student. In his youth he performed as part of a duo at a music festival in France. At the festival he was exposed to centuries-old French music, which he identified with the Cajun music of French Louisiana. Doucet's individual style incorporated elements of Western swing, 1930’s string band and Creole music, into traditional Cajun music. Doucet learned late 19th century and 20th century tunes passed on by McGee. He revived many the old Cajun songs that had not been recorded and whose musicians of that era were gone. Let's take a look at a gig with David Doucet and Mitchell Reed, at the 2007 Smithsonian Folklife Festival In 1977, Doucet started educating public school children about Cajun music. Later as an adjunct professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, he designed and taught the first university course on Cajun music. Doucet was originally a member of the mid-1970s Cajun/rock band called Coteau. During that same time some of his friends and he formed his current band, BeauSoleil, which was purer to Cajun musical tradition. He also performs with the bands Fiddlers 4 and The Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band (with Marc Savoy). But it's not only Cajun. I have found this beautiful song "Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky" from his album "From now on" And to end with, here are some tracks "Chanson pour Ezra" and as Christmas is approaching some tracks from "a Cajun Christmas" have a merry Michael :)

Fiddles on Friday XI

Todays fiddler is awardwinning Jeremy Kittel

Kittel was born in Michigan, where he grew up alternating between classical training and various fiddle camps and music festivals, experiences he sees as more than just inspirational. “There’s such an honesty in those places,” he says, “an honesty in everyone’s love for music. And there’s a real lack of ego, more than I’ve experienced in any environment I’ve been in. It’s an amazing scene to be a part of.” Those fiddle festivals influenced his music style of course and the proof is in the pudding so let's listen to "Remember Blake" from his latest album "Chasing Sparks"

As you can hear, Jeremy is one of the foremost among a new breed of fiddlers and violinists who easily navigate a multitude of musical styles and traditions. Some of his recent exploits include: performing as a world-class jazz improviser in the Grammy-winning Turtle Island Quartet; leading his namesake group, the Jeremy Kittel Band, co-arranging and recording strings for rock band My Morning Jacket‘s latest record, performing at Bonnaroo & Telluride Bluegrass Festival with singer-songwriter Abigail Washburn; and teaching internationally as one of the world’s leading Scots-Irish fiddlers. Here we can see him at work with his own band

And here's the song "Disconnect" also from his album "Chasing sparks", enjoy and have a nice weekend!

Fiddles on Friday X

Our fiddler of today is Bertrand Déraspe

Bertrand is a fiddler from the Magdalan Islands (part of the Canadian province of Quebec), he was born in Point-aux-Loups and works as a lobster fisherman when not busy fiddling. He inherited a large répertoire of Acadian and "madelinots" tunes from his father, Arnold Deraspe and other Acadian fiddlers. First lets take a look at a video found on youtube. Here you see Bertrand playing some old tunes with his father on the kitchen table, I love it. He demonstrates how Madelinots fiddlers have a different bow stroke than Cape Breton fiddlers. The Madelinot fiddlers, who were mostly fishermen with calloused hands and sometimes missing fingers, would tend to play with less notes and more rhythm :) Bertrand started playing fiddle when he was 4 years old and was already playing for weddings when he was 6. He has been a member of various music groups, including Suroit, Les Clapotis, and Vent'arrière. He recorded a solo album called "Mes Racines" (my roots). From that Album the title track "Mes Racines" Here you can see him at work with a young fiddler Whilst searching for Bertrand videos and music files I also found the brothers Deraspe, or Les Frères Dèraspe, I have got a hunch that they are relatives or even the sons of Bertrand, but my French is "miserable" so it's a wild guess and please correct me if I'm wrong or if you got more info. And finally here's a compilation of songs by Bertrand and relatives, enjoy and have a nice weekend!

Fiddles on Friday IX

And again a loopminded fiddleplayer like my hero Andrew Bird, and this time its artist Kishi Bashi

photo by Monica McGivern

Kishi Bashi is the pseudonym of singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter K (Kaoru) Ishibashi (born November 4, 1975). Born in Seattle, Washington, but growing up predominantly on the east coast in Norfolk, Virginia. Ishibashi has recorded with and toured internationally as a violinist with diverse artists such as Regina Spektor, Sondre Lerche, and most recently, the Athens, Georgia based indie rock group of Montreal. Ishibashi is also the singer and founding member of the New York synth rock outfit, Jupiter One. In 2011, he started to record and perform as a solo artist. In that year he also released his debut EP "Room For dream" and in april this year he released his 9 track album "151A" with 2 old songs from his EP (Manchester + Bright Whites) But first let's take a look at his live performance for the Tiny Desk Sessions on NPR radio where he demonstrates his loopstation & fiddle skills. Here's the soundcloud link to 3 tracks from 151a, enjoy your weekend and see you back on Misty monday.

Fiddles on Friday VIII

Today it's up to Wim Baeck to give us some shivers.

Wim Baeck from Belgium started playing the violin at the age of 7. Later on he went to study the art of painting at St-Lukas in Brussels, Belgium. And he became familiar with sculpting and goldsmith's art. Eventually he found a way to bring together his several passions: becoming a violin maker. He followed classes and internships in Belgium and Norway. Besides building violins he is still very active in the music scene. He teaches violin at the Muziekpublique Academy and is a part of the music group Balacordes together with Tristan Driessens. In this video where he plays the song "Joot" on a self made hardanger fiddle (Norwegian violin) with gut strings which at the end of the tune suffered from the heat of the spots :) Here he is playing with his band Sourdine. which unfortunately ceases to exist. Its a compilation of songs. Enjoy and have a nice weekend.

Fiddles on Friday VII

Timewarp! We go back to the 70's and we're going to Ireland, land of the master fiddlers. And Kevin Burke is a master.

Kevin Burke is an Irish fiddler considered one of the top living Irish fiddlers. Born in London in 1950, moved to Ireland in 1974 where, two years later, he became a member of the The Bothy Band. In 1979 Burke moved to the United States and there he formed a duo with guitarist and former Bothy Band member Mícheál Ó Domhnaill. First lets start with a song he played in 1980 together with Mícheál Ó Domhnaill This is the song "Glen of Aherlow".... by the way, doesn't he look a little bit like that other Kevin..Kevin Costner in this video? When he started in the Bothy Band he was a follow up for the allso legendary Tommy Peoples, that was a hard task but he did it with great admirability. First take a look and a listen to Kevin with The Bothy Band back in 1976 with the song Green Groves of Erin And here another couple of great songs with the Bothy Band...nice way to start the weekend...don't try to sit still because you can't. And discover what a timeless structure some songs have. If you put a hard beat under it and play the lines with synthesizers you could call it Dance / Trance / House whatever, it still rocks. Just enjoy your weekend and I hope to see you back on misty monday :)

Fiddles on Friday VI

Todays FOF is for Master fiddler and singer Marques Toliver

You might have encountered his name if you've listened to Bat for Lashes, or Grizzly Bear. I saw him at Later with Jools Holland on the BBC. And someone else could have spot him busking in New York or London. That's how he learned his skills, by performing on street and again and again trying to catch the audience attention with his music. Darwin could have wrote a book about this. But he got the attention of Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio)Kyp invited him in the studio and I bet the rest is history. And when you hear his music on cd (studiowork) you hear some very nice arrangements He sometimes sounds a bit like Stevie Wonder or John Legend. Enjoy " White Sails" and the more uptempo song "Deep in my Heart" have a nice weekend and I hope to see you back on monday!

Fiddles on Friday V

Today we have Hooverphonic in our Fiddles on Friday theme.

Hooverphonic is a Belgian band. Normally their music is very produced if you know what I mean. It's studio music with lots of synth-strings / horns and effected guitars. I love their music (most songs are arranged and produced by Alex Callier) songs as "Mad About You" "Jackie Cane" or "Sometimes" are classics and I follow this group since the late nineties. They had a few changes in their cast and since a year or so they have a new singer Noémie Wolfs. But now, now they made an orchestral cd with their own songs and some covers in a classic orchestrated arrangement. Just enjoy this and have a nice weekend This is such a beautiful version of the Massive Attack song "Unfinished Sympathie". Here you can hear Sometimes And to end with some violins here's "Mad About You"

Fiddles on Friday IV

We've probably all heard a song of this musician (he made the music of the movie "Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain". And if you have not seen that movie you probably heard the music elsewhere in a tv serie or commercial.) But what I didn't knew was that Yann Tiersen is also a very talented fiddler. Yann Tiersen

His musical career is split between studio albums, collaborations and film soundtracks with a distinctive sound that is always involved. It can be recognized by its use of a large variety of instruments; primarily the guitar, synthesizer or violin together with instruments like the melodica, xylophone, toy piano, harpsichord, accordion and typewriter. Tiersen is often mistaken for a composer of soundtracks, himself saying "I'm not a composer and I really don't have a classical background", but his real focus is on touring and studio albums which just happen to often be suitable for film. His most famous soundtrack for the film Amélie was primarily made up of tracks taken from his first two studio albums. I didn't knew he is also a very talented fiddler until I saw him on the tinydesk sessions. So I went searching on youtube for more evidence with this nice song as a result. Sur le Fil And here you can enjoy the tiny desk session that triggered me. Enjoy and have a nice weekend Here you can hear his album Dust Lane (2010)that he made with particiaption of Matt Elliot and Syd Matters.

Fiddles on Friday III

One of my favourite string ensembles is The Kronos Quartet. I discovered them via Steve Reich. Here some wiki info about them. The Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers (from 1978 to 1999) had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan Jeanrenaud on cello. In 1999, Joan Jeanrenaud left Kronos because she was "eager for something new"; she was replaced by Jennifer Culp who, in turn, left in 2005 and was replaced by Jeffrey Zeigler. With almost forty studio albums to their credit and having performed worldwide, they were called "probably the most famous 'new music' group in the world" and were praised in philosophical studies of music for the inclusiveness of their repertoire. By the time the quartet celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary, in 1999, they had a repertoire of over 600 works, which included 400 string quartets written for them, more than 3,000 performances, seven first-prize ASCAP awards, Edison Awards in classical and popular music, and had sold more than 1.5 million records. Kronos specializes in new music/contemporary classical music and has a long history of commissioning new works. Over 750 works have been created for the Kronos Quartet. They have worked with many minimalist composers including John Adams, Arvo Pärt, George Crumb, Henryk Górecki, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, and Kevin Volans; collaborators hail from a diversity of countries--Kaija Saariaho from Finland, Pēteris Vasks from Latvia, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh from Azerbaijan, and Osvaldo Golijov from Argentina. Some of Kronos' string-quartet arrangements were published in 2007

Fiddles on Friday II

The second Fiddles on Friday is for the Irish band The Divine Comedy. I followed them over the years (since the mid-nineties)and i'm often surprised by the diversity of this group songs. Having said that I realise that the voice of Neil Hannon is one of the characteristics of their music. His warm voice makes the sound this band produces. By the way,I often like to compare voices with materials and Neil Hannon is in my opinion in the same category as Jonathan Jeremiah he's got an oak voice... hope you can follow me :). Neil Hannon is the only constant member of the group and thats a long while because they were formed back in 1989!

Okay back then to the song for Fiddles on friday. Divine Comedy made songs that are very poppy, uptempo with humourous lyrics etc. Songs like: Becoming more like Alfie" with lyrics such as : Everybody knows that No means Yes Just like glasses come free on the N.H.S, But the more I look through them the more I see, I'm becoming more like Alfie" (it's a song about Alfie, a movie (with Michael Caine) about an unrepentant ladies' man who gradually begins to understand the consequences of his lifestyle). Or what about the song Mother Dear: If I ever get arrested by the C.I.A., Because they take me for a foreign spy, They won't need no lie-detector, all they'll have to do Is make me look into my mothers eyes" :) But Divine comedy is known for their orchestrated, melancholic songs, (btw books are a returning subject, the bands name is after Dante's Divine Comedy but also this song for Fiddles on Friday "Our Mutual Friend" is a booktitle by Charles Dickens. It's not a song about that book but a song about a night with a new love, introduced by a mutual friend. He thinks she's the one, they had a good talk, kissed and shared the night but the next day he woke up he found her sleeping with that (not so mutual anymore) friend. Enjoy! Live on the Ronan Collins Show from studio 1 in the RTE radio centre And a more uplifting song to end with, HAVE A NICE WEEKEND!

Fiddles on Friday 1

Welcome, this is my first post on this blog, congrats if you read this, you've made it. In this virtual world stacked with classy or useless blogs about music you ended up on this one...if you like it or not. I'm honoured. My aim is to post a daily song (weekdays) on this blog. Every weekday has a theme and I start with FIDDLES ON FRIDAY. Songs with nice violin or string parts. And when I think about violins I think ANDREW BIRD, one of my favourite musicians, He comes from Chicago and he's a phenomenon on the violin. He often uses a loopstation to place layer upon layer, sometimes pizzicato like a banjo sometimes different long strikes so it seems like a whole string orchestra is playing. Oh yeah did I mention he's a fantastic whistler too?

For Dark Sounds, Bird collaborated with sculptor, inventor, and luthier Ian Schneller to present Sonic Arboretum, a site-specific performance involving violin, looped passages, and a landscape of speaker horns. Here is the video of this wonderful gig in the Guggenheim museum in New York. ANDREW BIRD - SECTION 8 CITY And here you can hear the song "Lull ".