The Whole Music Experience

 Songs from Terre Rouge  Hailing from Prince Edward Island and the Magdalene Islands (off Quebec's coast), twin sisters Pastelle and Emmanuelle LeBlanc along with Pascal Miousse, better known as Vishtèn cook up a musical stew of Acadian, Cajun, Quebecois, and Celtic influences that get the feet tapping. The three muli-instrumentalists perform double, triple, and even quadruple duty on their latest album, Terre Rouge named after the red earth of Canada's Maritime islands. The album features love songs with surprisingly happy conclusions, as well as, stories about blizzards, comical tales, and homages to the islands. Album release date is July 10, 2015 in the US.   Whole Music Experience: When and how did Vishtèn form? I read that Pascal is from Magdalen Islands and you’re from Prince Edward Island? (Your trio is the second band I’ve heard from PEI--Gadelle was the first). Pastelle LeBlanc: Emmanuelle (LeBlanc), and I founded Vishtèn in 2000 with a fiddler ...

Native American / World   Tony Duncan Native Son   Canyon Records I had one of those days where I feel wound up and it doesn’t help that I have been consuming raw chocolate.   So listening to Apache/Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara flutist Tony Duncan’s third album with Canyon Records and I believe his second solo album, Native Son , comes as a relaxing godsend.   When you listen to numerous Native American flute recordings you begin to identify subtle and not so subtle differences and signatures of the many gifted flutists.   Some Native American flutists possess playfulness while others lean heavily into the ethereal realm and others provoke healing tears to flow.   Duncan combines all of those qualities in his playing, which if it was a wine, we would also call it full bodied and robust--not bad for a young musician. I survived a stressful summer in 2011 in part listening to Estan-Bah (acoustic guitar, Native American flute, Native American...

World   Newpoli   Tempo Antico   Beartones     My first impressions of the Italian Tarantata folkloric tradition came from grainy video footage of Italian women spinning in a trance caused by the bite of a tarantula spider. I experienced my second impression of Tarantata when Alessandra Belloni’s Dance of the Ancient Spider (Sounds True) showed up in my mailbox in 2006.   At that point, I gleaned the wisdom of the true purpose of this ancient ritualistic dance and the rousing songs that accompanied the frenzied dance (to heal women’s sexual issues and repression).   While the dance and songs explore healing components, you can also find the tradition presented as folkloric music in concerts and on recordings.   The founding members of Newpoli explored their Italian culture after arriving in the US to study jazz at Berklee College of Music.   On their third recording Tempo Antico , the musicians travel as far ba...

Last night I turned on On Point Radio (NPR) and was pleasantly surprised to hear a segment on traditional music from Central Africa and Bali. Here's the link: http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/02/the-hum-of-life The field recordings aired on the show are worth a visit to the above link.

The Wailin' Jennys 40 Days Jericho Beach Records Firecracker Red House Records I landed a regular writing gig in the Skagit Valley in Washington, covering the arts. I am currently writing an article on the Canadian folk-bluegrass trio, The Wailin' Jennys. I received the trio's two CDs as part of my research and what I will say is that I have not been blown away by this kind of musical beauty and strength since I listened to the Beatles' harmonies as a young child or when I first witnessed Lo'Jo in concert at WOMAD USA in 1998. Two thirds of the Jennys' current lineup hail from Winnipeg--the silky vocals of Ruth Moody and Nicky Mehta carry tinges of the prairies. Their voices wander like tumbleweeds across a desert or like the birds that they sing about on their CDs, "Arlington" (40 Days) and former alto member Annabelle Chvostek's "Swallow" (Firecracker), soar like minstrels on the wind. The third voice of the group has be...