As a traditional musician schooled primarily in the Celtic tradition, I am fond of traditional themes and devices for communicating messages. On our home island right now there is a sometimes fierce debate occurring about the future of the Crown lands, that involves the possibility of creating a national park. Today I was thinking about the complexities of the debate, and how it has seemed to me that those leading the opposition to the park are speaking on the one hand out of a concern for protecting something dear about our Island, but it has felt a little off to …
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From “Smart Flesh” the new album from Rhoda Island band The Low Anthem comes a beautiful collection of tunes, led by Ghost Woman Blues.
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In this video piano soloist Maria Joao Pires is confronted with a nasty situation. As the conductor begins the piece of music they are to play, she discovers that it is not the piece she prepared. She has left her music at home Imagine that. Undaunted, she engages in a short conversation with the conductor who encourages her to play it any way – she played it last season, she knows the piece well. Pires digs ddep – you can see it in her face – and conjures up Mozart’s D minor concerto form the depths of her mastery. There …
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From Montreal band Little Scream, have a listen to The Heron and the Fox, a gentle tune sung with smoky voiced longing.
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My friend Alan Stewart reports on a meeting he had with Pete Seeger: An Encounter With a Guy With a Big and Bobbing Adam’s Apple. Included in the article is a new verse for Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.”