It?s been some years since we?ve sponsored a Sampler of some of our many talented performers. Come wrap up the holiday season with this lineup on Saturday, January 9:
Bruce Sagan
Bruce Sagan can tell you all about algorithms, derivatives, vectors and functions. He can also tell you about Scandinavian dance music, Norwegian hardingfele, nyckelharpa (Swedish keyed fiddle), and gudulka (Bulgarian rebec). Bruce has directed and taught at a number of music and dance camps, and performed across the US, in Europe and Australia. The award-winning fiddler of Swedish music has also played Balkan music ?- especially on gudulka -- since the 1970?s. Temporarily living in the Washington area, he?s been performing with the Balkan band Lyuti Chushki, and in Scandinavian-music ensembles. He has two CDs, Spelstundarna (with Andrea Hoag & Larry Robinson) and With Friends (with Brad Battey, Nan Nelson & Chris Reitz).
The Jones Family
Chuck and Brenda Jones had to work hard to get 9-year-old Chenoa to join them onstage for a folk song at a church talent show. After four more years of harmonizing on car trips, they talked her into it again. When a friend offered to produce a CD for them, they polished their repertoire of traditional English and American songs, shanties, gospel, and selections by Stephen Foster, Richard Thompson, and other recent writers. Recently, Chenoa has been performing solo and in various groups as Chenoa Clark. The two Jones family CDs, Unquiet and From Earth to Heaven, on Shambling Gate Records, received excellent reviews -? but they all decided to keep their day gigs. Bring your singing voice!
Bill Mayhew
If you?ve visited the storytelling stage at any number of festivals in this area, you?ve likely heard Bill Mayhew. For about 30 years, he?s been telling stories in public for all ages and places ? colleges, campfires, the Voice of America, the Kennedy Center, birthday parties, the White House Easter Egg Roll, and our Washington Folk Festival. He?s run a cable television show devoted to storytelling, and lectures on the subject. He tells folk tales from around the world mostly, and ghost stories, sad stories, and classics such as Beowulf and Odysseus -- but mostly he likes funny ones. Bill has released a cassette, D.Crockett, the Cyclops & Me and a CD, Maren & the Bears & Me.
Gypsy Meltdown
As heard at Glen Echo and on their CD Unleashed, Gypsy Meltdown weaves together old and new melodies from New England, Appalachia, and the British Isles. The trio each studied music as kids. Colleen Reed stayed with classical flute until she collided with contra dancing at Glen Echo about 15 years ago and learned a whole new repertoire. Kathy Kerr had quit violin, but took it up again after attending a fiddle contest and thinking ?I could do that.? In a string band in Lansing, MI, before moving here, she quickly became a Glen Echo regular. From a musical family, Keith Gillis played all sorts of music until physics took over his life in college and after. Falling in with an old-time band at National Institute of Standards and Technology led to the contra scene at Glen Echo, and he too became a regular and open band member. Get ready to dance!
The Sampler will be at 8 pm on Saturday, January 9, 2010 at the Washington Ethical Society Auditorium, 7750 16th St., NW, Washington, DC 20012. General admission is $15; it?s free for members of the Folklore Society of Greater Washington. For further information, see www.fsgw.org.
