Obituary: Liam Clancy, last of the Clancy Brothers

From the Irish Times (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/obituaries/2009/1205/1224260145986.html).

Last survivor of legendary Clancy Brothers with special voice for a ballad

Sat, Dec 05, 2009

LIAM CLANCY, who has died aged 74, was the last surviving member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, the band which revitalised Irish traditional music by blending showbusiness with the folk tradition. The group, described by Gay Byrne as the “most famous four Irishmen in the world”, recorded 55 albums which sold in their millions around the world.

Liam Clancy later played in other formations before enjoying a successful solo career.

Bob Dylan said: “I never heard a singer as good as him ever. He was just the best ballad singer I ever heard in my life, still is probably.”

Born in Carrick-on-Suir in 1935, he was one of the 11 children of Robert Joseph Clancy and Joanna McGrath. He was educated by the Christian Brothers.

Working in the insurance business in Dublin, he attended night classes at the National College of Art. He also enrolled in Brendan Smith’s acting school, and had a small part in a production of The Playboy of the Western World which starred Siobhán McKenna and Cyril Cusack.

At home in Carrick-on-Suir he met Diane Hamilton Guggenheim, who visited the town to record his mother’s singing. By now unemployed, he accompanied Hamilton on her travels through Ireland.

It was in 1955, when Hamilton visited Keady, that Clancy first met Tommy Makem son of the renowned singer Sarah Makem.

Clancy decided to try his luck as an actor in New York. His adventure began in Greenwich Village, where he stayed with his brother Paddy and his wife.

A small part in a stage production of The Countess Cathleen was followed by minor roles in short films and television dramas.

He began to frequent the White Horse Tavern in the Village, where Dylan Thomas famously had his last drink. There he rubbed shoulders with jazz and folk musicians, writers and aspiring actors like himself.

But it was difficult to make a living as an actor, and singing took over. Clancy was reunited with Makem in New York. Along with Makem, and his brothers Pat and Tom, in 1959 he recorded The Rising of the Moon , an album of republican ballads.

Now performing as a group, they built up a following through live performances in Boston, Chicago and New York. A 16-minute appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on St Patrick’s Day in 1961 brought them to national attention and they were signed to Columbia Records.

Under the shrewd management of Marty Erlichman and Lenny Rosenfeld, the Clancys went from strength to strength. Dressed in Aran sweaters and belting out songs with great gusto, they broke from the standard Irish-American repertoire, and introduced songs like Jug of Punch, Shoals of Herring and Leaving of Liverpool to young folk audiences.

They brought a new consciousness to Irish music and, in Clancy’s words, made it “respectable again for so-called respectable people to sing working-class songs”.

In 1973 he left the group to pursue a solo career. He moved to Calgary, Alberta, where he became an established television performer.

In 1974 Clancy and Makem were booked to perform separately in Cleveland, Ohio. Persuaded to do one set together, they soon afterwards became Makem and Clancy, recording touring as a duo until 1988. They made Eric Bogle’s song And the Band played Waltzing Matilda their own. In the mid-1980s they teamed up with the other Clancys for a reunion tour.

It was a mixed blessing for Clancy. “One of the great things I discovered about working solo,” he said in April 2007, “is that all my life I’d worked with other people, and I was looking over my shoulder. There had to be a certain amount of approval. There was always a pecking order, especially when you’re working with family. But they all died off, and I got to the top of the pecking order, with nobody looking over my shoulder. There’s a great sense of freedom about that.”

After his brother Tom’s death in 1990, he teamed up with his brothers Paddy and Bobby and nephew Robbie O’Connell, though he still performed shows with his Fayreweather Band as well as with the Phil Coulter Orchestra.

He almost stole the show in Martin Scorsese’s award-winning documentary on Bob Dylan No Direction Home , made in 2004. He went on to feature in Alan Gilsenans documentary The Legend of Liam Clancy which won an Ifta award in 2007.

In recent years he ran a recording studio in Ring, Co Waterford, where he lived. His most recent album The Wheels of Life , released this year, features duets with Mary Black and Gemma Hayes along with tracks by Tom Paxton and Donovan.

He is survived by his wife Kim, daughters Fiona and Siobhán and sons Eben and Dónal, as well as his daughter Anya from a previous relationship.

---

Liam Clancy: born September 2nd, 1935; died December 4th, 2009

© 2009 The Irish Times

Pete Seeger on BBC Radio 2, Dec 9, 8.30pm

If you miss the programme, or are outside UK, you can listen to it by going to bbc.co.uk/iplayer.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Joe Stead <banjostead@tiscali.co.uk>
Date: 2009/12/6
Subject: Pete Seeger
To: joe@joestead.com

Pete Seeger

 

"He shall overcome"

 

8.30pm Wednesday evening BBC Radio 2.

 

December 9th

 

 

 

Contrary to my earlier reference in the December Ramblings the Pete Seeger radio programme is being aired on BBC 2 Radio on Wednesday December 9^th at 8.30pm.

 

Apart from all the usual contenders (Tom Paxton Fred Hellerman etc) there should with any luck be a sequence featuring Salterhebble Junior School in Halifax with yours faithfully leading a singing session with them.

 

If you live outside the range of BBC2 radio you can still obtain the programme for a period of seven days after transmission by logging onto the BBC Radio web site.  If you are really clever you can also transfer it to a Compact Disc for future reference.  (But don't ask me!)

 

Pete Seeger song supports campaign against Israeli house demolitions

Rudy Sunde in New Zealand sends the following about Pete Seeger's role in ending Israeli house demolitions.

It is by Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent.

Anyone who owns a radio probably knows the song "Turn, Turn, Turn" (To everything there is a season) very well. A number of versions of this song have become permanent fixtures on the play lists of most popular music radio stations. Here's what the listeners don't know: every time this song is played, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions receives a few dollars, which accumulate to a "several thousand dollars every year," according to the committee's co-founder and coordinator.

The Israeli Committee against House Demolitions (ICAHD) is a non-profit organization that uses non-violent means to oppose Israeli demolition of homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Seeger has been donating some of the song's royalties to ICAHD for ten years.

The banjo-playing Seeger, 90, is considered one of the pioneers of American folk music. He is known for his political activism no less than for his musical achievements. In the 1930 and 1940’s he was involved in the establishment of worker unions and in the 1950s he was interrogated by Senator Joe McCarthy over suspicions of belonging to the Communist Party. In recent years Seeger has been involved in efforts to clean up the Hudson River in New York and performed at U.S. President Barack Obama's inauguration celebration.

The lyrics of the song "Turn, Turn, Turn" are the words of King Solomon from the book of Ecclesiastes. "All around the world, songs are being written that use old public domain material, and I think it's only fair that some of the money from the songs go to the country or place of origin, even though the composer may be long dead or unknown," Seeger said in an interview with Acoustic Guitar magazine in 2002.

"With 'Turn, Turn, Turn' I wanted to send 45 percent, because [in addition to the music] I did write six words and one more word repeated three times, so I figured I'd keep five percent of the royalties for the words. I was going to send it to London, where I am sure the committee that oversees the use of the King James version exists, and they probably could use a little cash. But then I realized, why not send it to where the words were originally written?"

ICAHD's Halper met with Seeger in New York and remarked that "he said he thought it was appropriate that the biblical part of the song make its way to Israel ? He doesn't want to take credit for it."

Halper brought another message from Seeger to the Israelis: "He said that artists and cooks - it was important for him to include cooks - must stand up and demand a just peace. That is the duty of artists and cooks.

Thanks to Joe Stead for this item

DMcF Band Christmas Special & more...

The Duncan McFarlane Band plays its annual Christmas 'special' for Otley Folk Club on

FRIDAY 11^th December, in Korks on Bondgate, Otley, starting at 8.45pm

The DMcF Acoustic Band will open with a 45min 'support' set, followed by the

DMcF Electric Band, which will play two hours plus of their fine folk-rock!
This same evening sees Otley having its annual Victorian Street Fair with much to see and partake of earlier in the evening,

winding down by 8.30pm just in time for a stroll along to see us in the big music room at the back of Korks Bar & Restaurant on Bondgate.

 

Still in November, though…

 

The DMcF Acoustic Band will be at Bedworth Folk Festival

from Fri-Sun 27-29^th Nov making several appearances over the weekend.

Have a great festive season! - Cheers - The McF crew

Sharp in Appalachia

From a work in progress, by Karl Dallas

Mrs Mary Sands shifted uncomfortably in her truckle bed. She was heavily pregnant, near her time, with another wee one to join the nine already sleeping together in a big box bed nearby. She thought of the two strangers who’d come to the village over the hills from Marshall, the frail, beak-nosed Englishman and his maidenly companion, Maud she called herself. A strange pair. No wonder some folk wondered if they were German spies, wandering around the mountains with their notebooks.

But that Mister Sharp was so educating, his speech so old-fashioned and all, that Maud with her big hat to keep off the sun. She’d had to go into Marshall to buy some new things, her old ones being stolen on the train and all. Wicked people there were in the world.

How many lovesongs had she given him? Must be nigh a score. He’d liked her Lord Lovel. It was a wonderful thing, to be able to catch the old airs on paper like that. It looked more like spider scratchings to her when he showed her the notebook, but then he’d sung it over, and she could hear the old song, almost as if she was singing it herself, though his voice was not so rough as hers, being a city-bred man and all.

He’d given her five dollars for the children, which was kind of him. He made a point of saying it wasn’t payment for the songs. Said they were beyond price, which was true.

Mrs Gosnell come over this day to sing as well. No, check the moon is nearly down, must be yesterday now. Gave him two songs. She don’t know as many as me, but she’s good enough, the way she do them. And that fiddler, Mister Mitchell Wallin, he played him some tunes, but I think they were a bit wild for Mister Sharp, he were shaking his head and cursing to himself, seemed like, scribbling in his book and then crossing it all out and starting over.

He’s no singer, that Mitch, but he has a few good ’uns, and Mister Sharp noted them down all the same. Think my Broken Token’s better nor his, though, a lovely lovesong, the two parted lovers joined together by a silver dollar split and shared between ’em. His ain’t a patch on mine, though I do say it myself.

Wonder if he’s asleep yet, over to Miss Fish’s at the school settlement house? He’ll be jolting over the hill in the two-mule buggy to White Rock tomorrow, a hard journey for a man as frail as he, needs a good night’s sleep. But city folk don’t keep God’s time like country people, to bed at dusk and up with the dawn. Most like he’d be still waking.

He was. Cecil Sharp was on Miss Fish’s verandah, smoking his pipe before turning in. The night was quiet, here where you could hardly hear yourself think for the two-note piping of the red cardinals during the day. Must be past midnight.

That Mrs Sands was a fine young woman, well 45 I think she said, but not so worn out as some of these mountain girls, with a fine crop of songs. She’d promised three more for this day. That old fiddler was a bad singer, though I got four from him. It was hard to make head nor tail of his fiddling, though, the battered old instrument held low on his chest, the bow scraping away over the metal strings ringing out like cracked churchbells, the unstopped ones droning along like bagpipes.

A far cry from the English Morris.

And a long way, here in Appalachia, from the Western Front, where most of his dancers were while he stood on a southern verandah, taking the night air before turning in.

People said it was dangerous, up here in the mountains, but it must be far worse to be on the Somme, like Butterworth and Lucas, huddling in a trench with the German shells coming over, fighting hand-to-hand for a yard of land. And the North Carolina hills might be raw and rough, but the people were gentle, raising their hats and extending a friendly hand when your paths crossed, pleased to share their old lovesongs with you: “But surely you will tarry with us for the night.”

The youngsters enjoy the old songs as much as the older people, which is different from England, where the youngsters scorn their parents’ culture. They’ve been cut off from the world here for several centuries, and the railroads and wireless haven’t got here yet. It’ll happen, soon enough.

And the missionaries have a lot to answer for, the way they are imprisoning their voices in those dull, Presbyterian Yankee hymn tunes. They’ve invited us to join with them Sunday night, but we’ll try to excuse ourselves. Still, it would be hard to do this work without their help.

That Miss Edith Fish is a nice enough old dear, not half so prim and proper as she looks, a hard old thing. It’s good she’s teaching them to read and write. But their theology is hard to take. A pity they can’t leave them to their country ways, which have endured for centuries.

You can’t separate out the songs from their lives. They’re not entertainment, something more central. That old lady, shaking her head when she forgot the words: "Oh, if only I were driving the cows home I could sing it at once."

That boy, creeping in to listen when I was noting them down, and then launching into the song when the old lady fumbled over the words. And appreciating them: "I always like to go where there is sweet music." How old was he? Fifteen? No, less.

He moved back to the bedroom Miss Fish had set up for him, wincing as he put his weight on his foot. Doctor Packhard was coming to look at it, which was just as well, since there’d be some walking later, when the mountain tracks got too much for the jolt-waggon, and we had to follow behind as the two mules struggled in the mud. Aptly named.

He winced again. Still, it was better than the gout, just a bit of a strain, when he turned his ankle on the rocky part of the road. He’d walked 14 miles on it, that day, which can’t have done it much good.

Another hot night, though there was a touch of thunder in the air. It was the same all over America, apparently, a real heatwave. Some rain might cool it down a bit, and Maud can get out her oilskins. She’d had to buy them in Marshall, but they didn’t sell umbrellas. Didn’t seem to understand what they were for.

No fear of floods, up here in the mountains, but it had been bad down in the valley, apparently. Six people drowned when the river broke its banks.

That woman poling her punt across the waters, still muddy from the floods. Gaunt features, though handsome, probably in her thirties, but looked older.

The bed creaked as he got into it. In hers, the other side of the curtain that veiled them from each other, Maud heard him settle down to sleep. He should take better care of himself, she thought, as she turned on to her side.

It seemed scarcely seconds before she was woken by the rooster crowing nearby, the sun burning down bright and hard, from a sky like burnished sapphire.

Gaza heart benefit, Nov 29

I am organising a benefit at the Bradford Playhouse (290 seats) on Nov 29 to raise funds for Palestine International Medical Aid to help buy a cardiac bypass machine for Gaza with the necessary pumps, tubing and oxygenators worth 160,000 Euros. An advanced payment of 64000 Euros has already been raised and paid. It is estimated that 300 cases of cardiothoracic surgery per year are needed in Gaza. Sending these patients abroad is not a viable option due to crossing closure, expenses, safety of transfer and family inconvenience and hardship. I wonder if you or anyone you are in contact with might be able and willing to perform at this benefit. If not 1. Could you donate autographed CDs, songbooks, DVDs etc to be auctioned at the event? 2. Do you know any other artists who might be willing to take part?
------------

Go well.
Karl Dallas
See the video of me singing my version of Willie Nelson's Peaceful Solution: http://willienelsonpri.com/peace/3624/a-peaceful-solution-karl-dallas.html

Programme and tickets for Raise Your Banners, Nov 6-8, Bradford

For more details see www.raiseyourbanners.org

 A fantastic line up. Buy before the end of October for a bargain price

"Weekend Saver"

Entry to all events at St Peter's House, Bradford Cathedral

and Bradford Resource Centre

£40 if purchased before 31^st October

£45.00 from 1^st November / on the door

 

Single Concert Tickets all in Blue Hall St Peter's House

Friday night, Nov 6 Chumbawamba, Bleeding Hearts, Tracey Curtis, Gary Kaye

£15.00 from 1^st November / on the door

£12.50 if purchased before 31^st October

 

Saturday afternoon, Nov 7

Turning Silence into Song:  Leon Rosselson Birthday Concert Leon Rosselson, Roy Bailey, Frankie Armstrong, Sandra Kerr, Martin Carthy, Janet Russell

£12.50 from 1^st November / on the door

£10.00 if purchased before 31^st October

 

Saturday night, Nov 7 Alun Parry, The General Will's repertoire of political song and satire

£12.50 from 1^st November / on the door

£10.00 if purchased before 31^st October

 

Sunday afternoon, Nov 8

Claire Mooney, Hall Brothers, Sex Patels, Imani Hekima

£10.00 from 1^st November / on the door

£8.00 if purchased before 31^st October

 

 

Saturday afternoon, Nov 7 (1 pm) and evening (7.30 pm) in Bradford Cathedral

Concerts by Political and Community Choirs and Singing Groups

£5 each

Please send cheques made payable to "Raise Your Banners" with your details to:

 Sam Jackson, Raise Your Banners

c/o Bradford Resource Centre 17-21 Chapel Street Bradford BD1 5DT

 

 

 

 

 

Judging soldiers' songs

It's not often that a High Court judge makes informed pronouncements on folk matters, but then The Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Sedley is no ordinary judge. People who were around when he published The Seeds of Love (1967), a learned examination of the erotic songs collected by Cecil Sharp at a time when all the publishged versions had been "cleaned up", and may also remember how, when a young law student, he was involved in trying to channel the royalties from traditional songs into a fund for collectors, will probably be interested to read a recent pronouncement by the judge on soldiers' songs.

An article in The London Review of Books had reviewed a book on Winston Churchill's war career, and Sedley wrote to the magazine to comment:

How shall we think about Churchill?

From Stephen Sedley

Bernard Porter is surely right to doubt Carlo D’Este’s assertion that Churchill (or any other individual, come to that) ‘was the first to introduce marching songs’ (LRB, 27 August). Marching songs must have been around for as long as troops have been required to march in step. William III’s troops marched in 1688 to ‘Lillibulero’, and it is likely that the New Model Army did so before them: the tune, of uncertain origin, had been widely popular, with an anti-papist lyric, since 1641. In America, the Union armies marched to ‘John Brown’s Body’, and both sides marched to their own versions of George Root’s ‘The Battle-Cry of Freedom’. The Confederate troops’ adoption of the traditional song ‘Green Grows the Laurel’ as a marching song is probably the origin of the Mexican sobriquet ‘gringo’.

As to the First World War, in which Churchill served from 1915 to 1916, Eric Partridge’s anthology The Long Trail starts with a section of 33 songs ‘predominantly sung on the march’, followed by another 17 ‘sung on the march, but more often in billets and estaminets’. None can conceivably have been the work of an officer. Not one of them is aggressive or triumphalist or even hortatory. Most were sung to hymn tunes or were parodies of popular songs. They range from the blank resignation of ‘We’re here because we’re here’ (to the tune of ‘Auld Lang Syne’), through ‘We are Fred Karno’s army’ (to the tune of ‘The Church’s One Foundation’), to the bitter tabulation of privilege and rank in ‘The Old Barbed Wire’. The latter (‘If you want to find the quarter-bloke, I know where he is – miles and miles behind the line … If you want to find the CO I know where he is – down in the deep dugouts … If you want the old battalion, I know where they are – hanging on the old barbed wire’) is the story of Churchill’s war, with his private bath and boiler being towed around behind him.

Anyone who remembers Joan Littlewood’s Oh! What a Lovely War will remember ‘When this lousy war is over’, sung to the tune of ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’. Partridge’s version, which he lists as a marching song, starts ‘When this blasted war is over’. But in 1966 I recorded the song from a Kentish traveller, Joe Cooper, who had fought in the trenches, had survived two gas attacks (‘it rolled towards you like the early mist in the hopfields’), had found himself homeless and jobless on demobilisation, and had married a Romany woman and gone on the road. The version Joe remembered began ‘When this wicked war is over’.

Stephen Sedley
London WC1

Demon Barbers Oct-Nov gigs

Host:	The Demon Barbers
Type:	Music/Arts - Performance
Network:	Global
Price:	Plese visit the venue's website

Start Time:	Friday, October 9, 2009 at 8:00pm
End Time:	Monday, November 30, 2009 at 11:00pm
Location:	England

Description

The Roadshow's had a great festival season and are continung the fun through October and November....catch them at venue near you!

9th Oct - Sage Gateshead
http://www.thesagegateshead.org
0191 443 4661

10th Oct - Derby Traditional Folk Music & Arts Festival
http://www.prpromotions.org.uk
01773 853428

11th Oct - The Met, Bury
http://themet.biz
0161 761 2216

13th Oct - The Brindley, Runcorn
http://www.thebrindley.org.uk
0151 907 8360

16th Oct - Exeter Corn Exchange
http://www.exeter.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3056
01392 665866

17th Oct - The Mick Jagger Centre, Dartford
http://www.themickjaggercentre.com
01322 29 11 01

31st Oct - Holmfirth Halloween Party!
http://www.picturedrome.net
01484 689759

21st Nov - Victoria Theatre, Settle
http://www.settlevictoriatheatre.co.uk
01729 825718

: - )

20,000 sing "Hazppy birthday" on Pete Seeger's 90th

On the day of his 90th birthday, May 3, 1919, both John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen pointed to Pete Seeger’s courage, toughness and cultural greatness for standing up to the ultra-right wing and helping to lead, for more than 6 decades, the movement for peace and democracy.

Pete Seeger’s Madison Square Garden birthday bash opened with Native Americans talking and singing their traditional songs. But, their message just wasn’t a cultural presentation. They pointed to the injustices for miners in the Southwest.

Mellencamp then continued the opening of the Madison Square Garden event with some introductory comments concerning the Seeger song, “If I Had a Hammer.” He said that that song was written and released in 1949, the year that the right wing escalated their attempt to destroy Seeger by redbaiting him. That was 60 years ago. Springsteen chose for his one song his not often heard “Song of Tom Joad,” from the album of the same name. Bruce, always on the cutting edge, brought the economic crisis to the Garden. He, of course, being the most current and political of the assembled speakers made reference to Seeger’s steadfastness and not letting the “bastards” getting him. His album, “the Seeger Sessions,” is a great piece of history.

Springsteen talked about Seeger’s and his trip to Washington, D.C. for the inaugural songfest prior to January 20th. He pointed to Seeger’s insistence to put the original words of Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” back into the song when it is sung. And, he did.

This was truly an amazing evening; getting started with Mellencamp around 5:15pm and finishing with, “Good Night Irene” about 10:00PM. Organizers of the event moved the starting time to 5pm from 7pm, knowing the potential length.

In between they’re some amazing combinations of singers.

Del McCrory, the great blue grass singer, joined the many individual and group singers and performers including: Emmy Lou Harris, Tom Paxton, Joan Baez and Rambling Jack Elliott.

Norman Lear read a congratulatory letter from President Barak Obama.*

Pete sang the very old song “Amazing Grace” which was written by a captain of a slave ship. It contained is original words from the 19th Century. That ship’s captain, as Seeger relayed, stopped doing that job, became a minister and joined his wife in the anti-slavery movement in England.

On another historical note, Springsteen also reported that on his trip with Seeger, they discussed the great song “We Shall Overcome.” Bruce reported to the 20,000 that the song was originally a labor organizing song before it was adopted by the civil rights movement. Bruce new how to put the class struggle at the forefront with diminishing either struggle. .

Taj Mahal, Richie Havens, Toshi Regan and other civil rights singers joined in throughout the evening. The McGarrigle Sisters with the Wainwright Family members gave the audience some memorable songs.

Even the Preservation Dixie Land Jazz Band was there to back up many of the performers.

Congressman John Hall from West Chester County, an accomplished folk singer, joined in a few times.

The highly popular rock singer, Dave Mathews, came and sang “Rye Whiskey.” He told the crowd that his mother took him to hear Pete Seeger at an early age. He was raised around Croton, NY. At the conclusion of his song, he gave Pete a rousing, double fisted in the air, Happy Birthday.

While the audience heard authentic versions of Amazing Grace and This Land is Your Land, they were subjected to a sanitized version of “The International” with the words “working class” removed. Billy Bragg, the British folk/rocksinger, authored this version with Pete, sang this version.

All in all, it was a truly amazing evening. In 2009, just a year after finishing 30 years of Reagan/Bush/Gingrich/Bush rule, 20,000 people paid rather high ticket prices to celebrate Pete Seeger’s birthday.

All proceeds of the evening went to the Clearwater effort to clean up the Hudson River.

In that regard Arlo Guthrie was the evening’s most ardent and effective promoter of the Clearwater efforts. His words and voice put the whole evening in perspective when he placed Pete along side his father, Woody. Those were magical words for many in the audience.

The evening was mostly about Pete’s civil rights and labor history. His internationalism where he brought the Spanish Civil War to the U.S. peace and justice movement; his decades support for socialist countries; his demand for justice for Cuba and in the Middle East were unfortunately missing. Pete’s is one political performer who is able to bring all parties to the table in places like the Middle East. Let’s hope he continues those important missions.

Toshi Seeger, Pete’s wife and Peggy Seeger, Pete’s sister were honored. Peggy Seeger appeared and talked of their relationship.

Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Peter’s grandson, clearly played an important musical and administrative role in this amazing evening.

The audience was not aware that longtime Seeger friend and world wide known Cuban singer, Silvio Rodrigues was invited to the USA and the Garden to help Pete celebrate his birthday. But, the State Department denied his entry. Here is the letter that he sent.

May 3, 2009

Admired and beloved Maestro Pete Seeger:

In these moments the tribute concert that dozens of singers are justly offering you is being celebrated. Passing through my mind are some of the times that I have had the privilege of enjoying your talent, which has seduced multitudes. I remember you in Havana, singing in solidarity along with the Sound Experimentation Group;

I remember you in that tour that was dedicated to Victor Jara, through several cities in Italy; and I am also reliving that frosty night in February 1980 in which, responding to your call, we traveled from New York to Poughkeepsie and we listened to your "Snow, Snow," the masterwork of someone asking questions of a winter landscape.

I tried to come back to be with you today, but, as you well know, I was not allowed to get there by those who do not want the US and Cuba to get together, to sing to each other, to talk to each other, to understand each other. They are the ones who think that the world is divided into the powerful and the weak; the ones who only appreciate those who are rich and strong. They are the ones who do not forgive us for the fact that, even though we are small, we have decided to live standing up on our feet. Reality cries out that these brutes must be getting fewer and fewer in number, but somehow that minority still rules and gives the orders. Some of them saw danger in the idea that we would meet and that a simple act of brotherhood would symbolize two neighbor peoples who can agree in song and in affection.

But not just me, dear Pete: all my worthy and no doubt improvable people admire you, respect you, and celebrate your honorable nine decades defending social justice, peace, and culture. Here no one sees you as a danger, but as an extraordinary friend whom we are not allowed to embrace as freely as we would like. That is why not just I, but all of this Cuba that loves you, blockaded still by the abusers, is at your side now singing your prophetic `We Shall Overcome' and the `Guantanamera' of our Martí.

A kiss for Toshi and a big hug for you from Silvio Rodriguez Dominguez

Archie Green has died

US collector of industrial folklore, Archie Green, has died.
You can read a full obituary HERE.

Chango - Che of the accordion

Chango Spasiuk (Leeds Wardrobe, February 25)

The Argentinian accordionist, Horacio "Chango" ("the kid") Spasiuk, doesn't play the tango.
The tango, he explains via a helpful translator in the audience, is city music, but his is based on the chamamé country tradition of the Misiones, up in the north-eastern region of Argentina, bordering on Brazil.
But while his playing is quite different from the orquesta tipica which emanated from the Rioplatense working class urban areas of Buenos Aires in the first decade of the twentieth century, its rural origins don't mean it is unsophisticated. In fact, in its own terms, it is as innovative as the nuevo tango of the late bandéonista master,
Ástor Piazzolla.
His influences may be traced to his own cosmopolitan background, the Criollo and Guarani sounds of the border region where he was born, but especially the polkas he inherited from his Ukranian grandparents.
On stage he displays a charismatic persona, though never leaving his stool, his face lifted up in ecstasy and responding with infectious glee to the playing of his three equally virtuosic band-members. In his complete absorption in his music, he reminded me of no one so much as the rock guitarist, Carlos Santana.
Or, if you prefer, he radiates the power of an accordion-playing Che Guevara.

During a current US tour he is at Carnegie Hall, New York, on March 27.

For more information, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chango_Spasiuk

• Click HERE to order Chango Spasiuk CDs from Amazon UK
  
  
• Click HERE to order Chango Spasiuk CDs from Amazon US
  

Rory McLeod wants a tongue sandwich from you

Rory McLeod UK Roots – Soul-Singer- Rhythmic Tapdancing - Songmaker

- Percussive Storyteller, Multi-instrumentalist. Best live act:  BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2002, Texas harmonica champion 1981.

 

 

Rory McLeod's epic song 'London kisses' is some 7-8 minutes long. He is inviting JPEG format pictures (no larger than 50Kb) of "people kissing, affectionately,  hungrily kissing, pecking kisses,  grandma kisses, baby kisses,  clumsy kisses, smoorikins, smoothie, snogging,  giving a smacker, canadian tonsil hockey, Beso, beyos,  pogues, pogs, wenching, Suhss, kissannes,  posh, abmows, maahch, moonumberry,  Yeorpas, Pash, a tongue sandwich" to be part of a collection of 'kissing' images, for a video to go with the song. Pictorial contributions should be emailed to him at kissingphotos@rorymcleod.com.

 

Rory's MAY 2009 UK tour, so far....

 

Saturday May 2 Wath Festival,  3.15pm,

Montgomery Hall,

Church Street,

Wath upon Dearn,

Rotherham,

South Yorkshire.

 

Tuesday  May 5,   8pm. Paisley Scotland,

The Old Library,

9 High Barholm,

Kilbarchan

PA 10 2EF

Box office 01505 706070

 

Saturday  May  9 Kirkby stephen   

The Acoustic Tea Room

The Masonic Hall

North Road,

Kirkby Stephen

BOX OFFICE 017683 72123

 

Friday May 15    Leicester   

The Musician 21.00

Clyde street,

 LE1 2DE

Box office 07970 529 760

 

Saturday   May 16 knockerdown   

Bearded theory Festival

Bradley Nook Farm Estate,

Hulland Ward,

Derbyshire,

DE6 3EL

Tel 07824 611628

 

Sunday   May  17 Stourbridge   

Katies Fest

Katie Fitzgeralds,

187 Enville Street,

Wollaston,

Stourbridge

Box office 01384 374410

 

Monday  May 18 Essex

Burnham on Crouch.

Barge Innisfree

West Quay

Essex CM0 8AS

01621 783332

 

Tuesday  May 19

Leigh on Sea . 8pm.

The Ship

HOY AT ANCHOR Folk Club.

New Road,

Leigh on Sea,

Essex, SS9 2EA

01702 27 982

 

Thursday  May 21 Southampton   

Talking Heads

320 Portswood Road,

Southampton,

Hampshire

SO17 1TD

07714 760104

 

Friday  May 22 Brighton   

Prince Albert

48 Trafalgar Street,

Brighton

East Sussex,

BN1 4ED

 

Saturday  May 23 London   

Hammersmith Irish Cultural Centre

Blacks Road,

Hammersmith,

London

W6 9DT

0208 563 8232

 

Monday May 25

Bluebell Inn,

Near Saffron Walden

Essex.

01799599199

 

Wednesday  May 27 Tewkesbury

The Roses Theatre,

Sun Street,

Tewksbury.

Gloucestershire GL20 5NX

 

Thursday May 28 8.pm. Kendal   

Brewery Arts Centre,

High Gate Kendal,

Box Office 01539 730257

__________________________________________

 

More tour dates June-September 2009 to be confirmed and announced.

See www.rorymcleod.com.

 

To book Rory in the UK and Europe  please Contact:

Andy Cooper

Mob: +44(0)7825 512 168 Tel: +44(0)1332 384518

andy@tomtommusic.co.uk.

• Click HERE to order Rory McLeod CDs from Amazon US
  
  
• Click HERE to order Rory McLeod CDs from Amazon UK
  

FOLK MUSIC NEWS FROM SUSSEX

FOLK AT THE ROYAL OAK
Station Street, Lewes
Enquiries:- (01273) 478124 or 881316
Email tinvic@globalnet.co.uk.
Every Thursday 8.pm PROMPT START
For the four Thursdays in May, we will be having a season of Irish performers and each are outstanding performers bring different aspects of the rich tradition of that country.
Mar 26 * £6.00 * LEON ROSSELSON

This year Leon will be celebrating fifty years of singing his challenging, thoughtful, provocative songs. His performances are a delight.

Apl 2 * £5.00 * JIM BAINBRIDGE

A real one-off character. Jim's songs come from a wide range of sources and represent a unique approach to the tradition. He is also a great melodeon player

Apl 9 * £5.00 * MATT QUINN & TOM MOORE

Matt is a superb young multi-instrumentalist and singer who honed his skills at the Royal Oak. Tonight, he is joined by an even younger musician, the amazing fiddler, Tom Moore.

Apl 16 * £5.00 * HAZEL AND EMILY ASKEW

These sisters are two of the finest young performers on the scene. Fiddle and melodeon duets and lovely singing

Apl 23 * £5.00 * CHRIS FOSTER
One of the finest singers and most thoughtful inventive guitar accompanists of English folk songs. On tour from his new home in Iceland.

Apl 30 * £6.00 * THE PALINKA BAND

A young female quartet from Hungary and Transylvania bring us their interpretation of this very rich cultural heritage.

May 7 * £5.00 * CON FADA Ó DRISCEOIL *** Irish Season ***

One of Ireland's foremost comic song writers in the traditional style in recent decades and a very fine button accordion player

May 14 * £5.00 * KEVIN & ELLEN MITCHELL *** Irish Season ***

Two of Britain's finest singers of traditional songs. Kevin is from Derry and Ellen is from Glasgow

May 21 * £5.00 * OLIVER MULLIGAN & BRENDAN McAULEY *** Irish Season ***

Oliver, originally from County Monaghan, is a much respected singer of mainly Irish traditional songs, most in English and a few in Irish Gaelic. Tonight he is joined by a very fine uillean piper.

May 28 KATHLEEN O' SULLIVAN & BILLY TEARE *** Irish Season ***

A welcome return for Kathleen, the lead singer with "The London Lasses", one of the finest singers around, tonight in the company of one of Ireland's leading story tellers

In July, we will be presenting one of our most ambitious nights ever when we present THE MAGNOLIA SISTERS from Eunice in Louisiana with Jane Vidrine, Anya Burgess, Lisa Reed, and Ann Savoy

Our Future Guests will also include:-

TONY HALL *  JERRY EPSTEIN & RALPH BODINGTON * SPIERS, SHEPHEARD & WATSON * MICHAEL MARRA *DAVE RUCH * DICK GAUGHAN * RATTLE ON THE STOVEPIPE

Our websites are at

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~tinvic  and

http://www.myspace.com/royaloakfolklewes

FOLK AT THE ROYAL OAK ON "MYSPACE"
Our MYSPACE profile enables us to profile sample tracks of coming guests as well as show photos and biographies of coming guests. It is at http://www.myspace.com/royaloakfolklewes
Currently on our MYSPACE we have the following tracks by coming guests:-
Leon Rosselson - "Jumbo The Elephant" - (March 26th)
Jim Bainbridge - "East End Girls" - (April 2nd)
The Askew Sisters - "The Old Virginia Lowlands" - (April 16th)
Chris Foster - "The Banks of Newfoundland" - (April 23rd)

After each gig the songs will drop off to be replaced with another by an
upcoming guest.

In addition there are videos by each of the following coming guest artists:-
LEON ROSSELSON - March 26
THE ASKEW SISTERS - April 16
CHRIS FOSTER - April 23
TONY HALL - June 11
DAVE RUCH - October 22

***********
3] SUSSEX FOLK GUIDE WEBSITE - UPDATED
For all the listings of folk music, song club, dances, festivals in and
around Sussex, have a look at http://whatson.brighton.co.uk/folk
This site all always kept updated with the latest events.
***********
THE FOLK DIARY
Most of the listings on the Sussex Folk Guide website are taken from the
paper magazine, THE FOLK DIARY. To obtain copies of this free magazine as it is published,
please send SAE's to Vic Smith at the address below.
It is also the address to send album review copies to.  Potential
advertisers are also asked to contact Vic for a statement of our advertising
rates.

Please contact

JIM MARSHALL 01273 559750 jimars@globalnet.co.uk

Or

VIC SMITH 01273 478124 tinvic@globalnet.co.uk
**********
THE FOLK DIARY ON LINE
THE FOLK DIARY is available on-line at
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~tinvic/fd.htm You will need Adobe ACROBAT
READER to read the pages. The size of each page is given by each page
link and the content of each page is indicated. The following issue is now
on-line and is listed here with the content of each page:-

ISSUE No. 235 Febuary - March 2009
Page 1 (1679kb) Folk at the Hawth Crawley, Luca's music lessons, Folk Camps, Beacon Tunbridge Wells (Mons), Barber & Taylor at Open House Brighton
Page 2 (1290kb) Piggies Open Mic Uckfield (Tues), Sussex Folk Association, Lamb Eastbourne (Wednesdays), Electric Voices presentations, Spyboy presentations
Page 3 (828kb) Lewes Saturday Club, Royal Oak Lewes (Thurs) - Advertising rates and copy dates
Page 4 (1306kb)Gary's Music Club Coolham (Sats), Vince's fiddles, Barry Murphy banjos, White Horse Bodle St. Green (Mons). Willows Folk Club Arundel (Weds)
Page 5 (1346kb) Spinning Jenny Dance Band, Seaford Folk Club (Fris), Hove Folk Club (Fris), Mid-Sussex Folk Singers (Weds)
Page 6 (1314kb) Brighton Acoustic Sessions (Mons), SEFAN Conference, North Brighton singarounds (Suns & Weds), Rude Mechanicals (Weds). Meltdown Ceilidhs (Sats), Cellarfolk Brighton (Tues), Fee calls Ceilidhs, Six Bells Chiddingly (Tues)
Page 7 (887kb) Broadstairs Folk Week, Brighton Folk & Blues Club, Hobgoblin Music
Page 8 (2068kb) Acoustic Sussex presentations, Horsham folk club (Suns)

**********

LEWES WORKSHOPS AT THE ELEPHANT & CASTLE
The workshops last a full Saturday or Sunday and the tutor performs at the
club in the evening. The programme for 2009 will be:-
March 28        Tom McConville Fiddle

April 25          Craig Morgan Robson Way through the Woods

April 26          Craig Morgan Robson Vocal harmony

June 6          Kerr /Fagan /Harbron Fiddle /Bouzouki /Concertina

June 7          Kerr Fagan /Harbron Vocal harmony/Winter MS tunes

July 11           Will Duke Scan Tester's tunes

July 18          Bonnie Shaljean    Harp

Sept 12         Tommy Peoples Fiddle

Sept 19          Jeff Warner Song accompaniment

Oct 10            Tim Edey    Melodeon

Nov 14          Vicki Swan  Scottish smallpipes

Nov 21           Tom & Barbara Brown Ballad forum

Dec 5             Billy Teare Storytelling

Dec 5             Kathleen O'Sullivan Irish song

The website for more details is
http://www.lewesarmsfolkclub.org/LAFC/workshps.html or contact Valmai
Goodyear on (01273) 476757 or email ValmaiGoodyear@aol.com

********

NEW MONTHLY SESSION IN LEWES

After a gap of several years, Sunday afternoon tune and song sessions will be returning to the bar of the Royal Oak in Station Street in Lewes. These will be on the last Sunday of the month from 3.30 - 5.30pm. starting on March 29th. They will be run by Vic & Tina Smith.

********
OTHER REGULAR SESSIONS IN THE LEWES/BRIGHTON AREA
Bryan Creer has taken on the task of detailing these, but has made changes to the way this is presented. Here is what he says:-
I have given free rein to my inner geek and written a new version of the Sessions page that works out the date of the next of each session (except
for the weekly ones where it seemed a bit pointless).  This was inspired by the uselessness of "Fortnightly counting from 3rd October 2006".
I think it probably works almost all of the time (maybe).  Would you like to change any references you make to it to
http://www.lewesarmsfolkclub.org/LAFC/Sessions.php
Cheers
Bryan
Have a look and if there are any you think that Bryan has missed - contact him on Bryancreer@aol.com

Look out for a return of an old favourite. The free monthly Sunday afternoon sessions at the Royal Oak in Station Street are going to be revived in March. More details of this in next month's newsletter.

<><><>><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
...And  if you are ever looking for a good barn dance band, look no further than THE SUSSEX PISTOLS - though you should get in quickly -  available
dates for 2009 are being snapped up quickly.
Contact Tina on 01273 478124 or email her at tinasmith226@yahoo.co.uk  to book the band. The band's website is at
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~tinvic/pistols.htm and they have a MYSPACE profile as well athttp://www.myspace.com/thesussexpistols

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