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The Mid-Week Beat: The Varied Sounds of Folk Music Today

lomax-jp-1-popup1Music is as old as civilization itself. From Day One people have been banging on drums, strumming strings and blowing through hollowed out plants, bones and whatever else they could find. Thousands of styles of music have been born from cultures all over the world. They speak to the heartbeat of the people, the environment, the times.

“Folk Music” as a genre is an attempt to classify all these varied musical cultural traditions under one over-arching banner. Most American’s think of the likes of Woody Guthrie (pictured), Pete Seeger, early Bob Dylan or Joan Baez, which was decidedly “American” folk music but, the genre continues to thrive. Many artists around the country keep the fire alive by offering their own interpretations to “folk” as a genre but modern day folk artists tend to incorporate more global influences than their predecessors in the 1950s and 60s. Which makes sense as American culture becomes increasingly multi-cultural.

This week’s Midweek Beat explores three folk acts that are currently haunting the gardens and bars, concert halls and pubs of modern day America.

Simple Gifts

simple giftsWho or what is Simple Gifts?

Simple Gifts is two women and twelve instruments that draw upon an impressive variety of ethnic folk styles. Simple Gifts is all tuned up and ready to go TONIGHT, Wednesday, May 15, for their gig in Warsaw, New York.

Get in the mood for lively Irish jigs, down home American reels, hard-driving Klezmer frailachs and haunting gypsy melodies. But it doesn’t stop there. The ladies will also be spicing it up with the distinctive rhythms of Balkan dance music, the lush sounds of Scandinavian twin fiddling, and original compositions written in traditional styles.

Combining tradition, culture and innovation, Simple Gifts creates some of the finest arrangements in folk music today. Listen closely as a swing fiddle creeps into a Romanian dance, spoons show up in an Irish reel and the concertina ventures far beyond styles considered traditional for that instrument.

Based in the hills of central Pennsylvania, Simple Gifts plays an amazing array of instruments, sounds and styles that borrow from folk traditions from around the world.


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The Mid-Week Beat: Klezmer Punk and Balkan Brass!

A few years back, with the help of bands like Gogol Bordello, Balkan Beat Box, Devotchka and Beirut, traditional Eastern European music got a, much-deserved, shot in the arm. These bands, and others, took the infectious melodies of traditional Eastern European Roma (or “gypsy”) music, klezmer and Balkan brass and infused it with modern musical influences: punk and indie rock, electronic beats and hip hop, to create a worldwide musical movement that captured the attention of the mainstream music press and took the world by storm, turning a whole new generation of music fans onto this exciting musical culture. Clubs across Europe and America boasted regular Balkan club nights and accordions, cimbaloms and tubas became common sights on rock club and festival stages.

The hype around “gypsy punk” and “Balkan beats” has calmed down in recent years but this incredible music still attracts music fans smitten with the music’s infectious, minor-key melodies and driving beats. While it seemed to be a passing phase, the movement created a viable living for traditional musicians who otherwise may not have been able to travel outside of Eastern Europe or the Balkans. Most cities in the United States now boast their own Balkan brass bands and rock clubs now feature Eastern European-influenced bands on a regular basis. You may not be reading about it in Pitchfork any more, but thanks to the massive exposure of the so-called “gypsy punk” movement, this incredible music can still pack a house full of sweaty, enthusiastic dancers regardless of their cultural heritage.

This week on the Mid-Week Beat, we feature a klezmer musician that infuses his music with a punk rock sensibility, an upcoming Balkan Night in Seattle and a legendary Macedonian brass band that is touring the U.S. in May.
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