Editorial: The Many Colors of Black and White

Judi Ganchrow, who has recently returned to Israel from a sabbatical, visited me a couple of months ago. We sat together in my garden and she played the dulcimer and twelve-string guitar. Among other things, she played Georgia On My Mind for me. I was surprised and greatly intrigued. I had always thought of that song as somehow black with a blues flavor. But there was Judi playing and singing it in an acoustic manner far removed from Ray Charles's version. It was very nice, and served as a portent for another experience I've just had.

Larry Brandt is well known and much beloved in Jerusalem music circles. He specializes in Jazz and plays a variety of brass instru- ments, from little pocket trumpets to Tubby the Tuba. He regularly collaborates with us in preparing AACI music nights. In May he suggested that our night in August consist of a cele- bration of Louis Armstrong's centennial. It sounded like a wonderful idea and we all agreed to it. I took it upon myself to be Larry's accompanist.

I was not very familiar with Armstrong's work, being a rocker and folkie and all. This meant I had better do some serious homework. And so, during my recent visit to America I bought two boxed sets of Armstrong's work, containing literally hundreds of recordings. Larry whittled the material down to a manageable score of songs. With this list in hand, I set to work. It was a wonderful learning experience. To say that Louis Armstrong was a Genius understates the fact by a mile. His trumpet playing is more than virtuoso. That gruff gravelly voice is so very endearing and enduring. In fact, despite or because of it, he is one of the most polished singers I have ever heard. In sum, Mr. Armstrong was a wonderful performer, whose zest and love of life and music will last for eternity. I felt very much at home with Armstrong's material. This is because the music we hear in our folk clubs and his music stems from one common source. While that prototype has split into many and varied streams, the common roots are there for all to see … and hear.

This lead me to the rather uncomfortable realization that I have not heard much black music at our folk clubs. There is not very much blues or other black traditional music. Surely, this is not a deliberate oversight. But it seems to me that we would all do well to stop and reflect once in a while that our black brothers and sisters have always provided us with a rich heritage which has done so much to make folk music what it is today. I salute them, with all my heart and soul.

Incidentally, the Louis Armstrong Celebration was a tremendous success and that is Larry's doing. I am honored to have had the opportunity to participate and play this wonderful music alongside some extremely talented musicians. Anyone who is interested in purchasing a recording of the event can contact either Carol or me.

--Larry Gamliel

Mimi Farina, nationally recognized as a member of "folk music royalty," sister of the internationally known singer/songwriter, Joan Baez, and founder of Bread & Roses, died July 18, 2001 of neuroendocrine cancer. She was 56.

Born Margarita Mimi Baez in Palo Alto, California in 1945 to a British mother and Mexican father, Mimi was raised a Quaker, which encouraged her strong social conscience and her steadfast belief in non- violence. The youngest of three daughters in a musical family, she played piano and violin as a child and later learned guitar along with her sister Joan during the folk revival of the late 1950's and early '60's. While living in Cambridge, Mass., she was part of the burgeoning folk scene around Harvard Square.

In Paris, she met Richard Farina, whom she married in 1963. They performed and composed songs that were recorded on two celebrated albums for Vanguard Records: Reflections in a Crystal Wind and Celebrations for a Gray Day. Tragically, Richard died in a motorcycle accident in 1966 on Mimi's 21st birthday.

After a time, Mimi joined the San Francisco Committee, an improvisational troupe of sociopolitical satirists. Acting with The Committee polished

Mimi's delightful sense of humor, a quality savored by her friends and colleagues. She eventually returned to her interest in songwriting and singing to record Take Heart for A&M in 1971 with Tom Jans, and began touring the following year with him as a headliner at clubs and as an opening act at concerts for various artists. She also recorded a solo album, Mimi Farina Solo, released on Rounder Records in 1986.

But Mimi was looking for something deeper, more soul satisfying than a commercial musical career. She saw the overwhelming isolation of institutionalized people who were, often forgotten by society. To meet their need for human contact, Mimi conceived the idea for Bread & Roses in 1974. Her vision then was that the warmth and human contact of live performance would be healing to audiences shut away from the outside world, and at the same time life enhancing for the performers. Her idea has since been validated by medical studies as well as the daily experience of Bread & Roses volunteer performers.

Over the years, the organization has been supported by all levels of performing artists, including national celebrities like Pete Seeger, Bonnie Raitt, Paul Winter, Odetta, Lily Tomlin, Taj Mahal, Joni Mitchell, B.B. King, Robin Williams, Huey Lewis, Boz Scaggs, Maria Muldaur, Carlos Santana, and Judy Collins, to name only a few. Pete Seeger said, "Whenever I think of Mimi, I think of the wonderful music."

(from press release on her website)

You walk in expecting another nice evening of folk music and you notice someone quietly setting his instruments out on the table like some surgeon with loving precision. It is a menagerie of drums and percussion implements begging to be activated and before you know it, you are just blown away. Was that an illusion or was he actually playing a tune by moving his hand along the inside drum skin while brushing his magic wand in intricate patterns across the face of the bodhran? That was real! Welcome Abe Doron, a special person, a special musician and a master at "decorating time."

CD companies often try to dress up folk musicians with canned-sounding drums in order to sell them to the pop-population. This is as far away ayou can get from describing what Abe does when playing with performers of any musical genre. He's not out there to show his athletic dexterity or to drown out the others. He sits with a keen sense and like a painter decorates whatever line the music takes: a bell here, a conga there, a rattler. His rhythms come in many colors and from many cultures and find their voices in at least 20 different percussive objects.

Although he grew up and studied in Mexico, he also studied Latin percussion in Columbia, South America. While studying at the London Music Institute (England) he tended bar on the side -- and it happened to be an Irish pub. That music just crept into his blood, just as drumming had captured him with a vengeance while he was still in grade school.

Before he knew it, he was auditioning for Riverdance, which was just expanding and taking off. Abe's hands and soul spoke the truth and being neither Irish nor an "official" Irish musician, he was still taken on and next thing, he was on the road performing with them. Fate smiled upon him when he picked up the bodhran and Tommy Hayes began giving pointers. Abe didn't know it at the time, but

Abe Doron

Tommy was a driving force for the previous 30 years in developing this instrument's potential. It is not an ancient instrument and its possibilities are still being explored by the likes of Abe and Robbie Harris.

Don't miss Abe performing on bodhran and some surprising percussion instruments with the highly emotional Irish band Evergreen, and on their new album which is to appear this fall. And you'll hear Irish and beyond as he melds into the richly varied music of Ada Moriel and Diane Kaplan with bongos, congas and more. In fact, Abe plays in five different bands, of differing moods and genres! He has a broad appreciation for all kinds of music and the capacity to interact and grow within them. Here you'll catch him on more familiar drumkits and drums, as well as his more exotic percussions.

Growth and creativity are key elements to Abe's music. When he was around 20 he figured he knew just about all there was to know about drumming and was easily earning money doing that. At 30, in all his modesty, he realizes he knows maybe 1% of what there is to know about his musical passion, and he is patiently waiting to devour the other 99%, bit by bit. Crossing cultural music borders, exploring the dynamics of the particular instrument he's touching, responding to his own brain's rhythms and intuitions, creating a bigger picture in interaction with other artists, contemplating each potential note and how much to give it -- in all of these corners lurk his opportunities and challenges.

As part of his amicable musical expression, he also gives private lessons and runs workshops with interested folk of all ages. He has developed a special technique for teaching, wherein people often get that Eureka! experience for what it's all about after several lessons. He also emphasizes the value of practice and notes that it took him maybe 2-3 months on the bodhran until it began to sound like something.

--judi ganchrow

I grew up on King Avenue in Yonkers, N.Y., the only Jewish family on a block of Irish and Italians. We had pubs with names like O'Brians or Flannigan's in the neighborhood … with all that incredible music. It had been brewing for years, until this July when I boarded a plane for Dublin and then on to the South Sligo Summer School of Irish Traditional Music and Dance in Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo.

Tubbercurry is described in the Lonely Planet guide- book as "Quiet, off-the- beaten-track ... comes alive around mid-July when the weeklong S. Sligo Summer School takes place." Quite true! For eight days an international crowd of musicians and dancers come to town. The Garda (police) direct traffic as parents drop off their offspring. Other enthusiasts descend upon the town center every morning from various outlying B&B’s and the private camping area set up for school participants. The friendly Garda also have to contend with the late night sessions in the pubs which went on till the wee hours of the morning. They seemed to enjoy the scene as much as everyone else and bent the rules a little regarding pub closing hours.

The official opening took place on July 15th at Killoran's, which functions as a combined restaurant, pub, tourist office, and travel agent. It was followed by a reception and session. Later on, impromptu sessions which had already gotten underway in the afternoon, continued in the local pubs lining the town's main street. A Ceili Mor for dancers with music by the Matt Cunningham Ceili Band drew crowds, and set dancing went on till 1 AM.

Classes and workshops were offered for both beginners and experienced players, singers and dancers. You could sign up for uileann pipes, bodhran, harp, fiddle concertina, tin whistle, traditional singing, sean nos singing and more. A limited number of instruments were available at a nominal charge. Classes ran from 10 AM to 1 PM Monday through Saturday. Lectures were scheduled in the afternoons for those able to stay awake following the morning after the night before. Recitals were held in the early evenings before the pub sessions got into full swing. These gave the audience a chance to taste the fruit of the various classes and to hear some of the workshop teachers on stage.

I enrolled in the traditional singing class (in English) taught by local singer Mai Hernon. Don't ask her for notation or the key because she doesn't read music and is even baffled by a pitchpipe. However, she "gave" us many of her songs that had been "given" to her by other traditional singers. We listened and taped her renditions and explanations. Afterwards we sang together "till we got the air of it" and then tried verses on our own, experimenting with ornamentation. The class was an eclectic bunch from the US, Australia, France, Norway and of course, Ireland. A group of local teenage girls and the young son of singer Colm O'Donell added some youthful spice to the group. I'm not sure how it happened but I found myself on stage singing solo on recital night. I had the whole class doing harmonies for me on the chorus of Wild Mountain Thyme. What a high! It was recorded along with the other performances for posterity.

The singing sessions, which took place nightly in the backroom of the Kings Inn pub were a highlight for me. Two closed doors separating us from the "other" session going on up front. Joe Corscadoen, John Normandy, Colm O'Donnell and numerous other locals joined the circle for the late night gatherings. One person "led," weaving upbeat and slow airs into a colorful tapestry, giving everyone a chance to participate. I might add here that all songs were done a capella. When I tried to leave a bit early at 1:30 AM Friday night I was called back and persuaded to stay till the very end. I must have fallen into bed around 3:30 AM that night (morning)!

On Saturday, July 21^st, everyone dispersed and I left Crookawn House, my home for the week, to travel and see the sights of the Emerald Isle. I had a welcome ride to Galway with an English couple on their way down south. From there I began touring along the western coast with a friend from Sde Boker. We ferried out to Inisheer, the smallest of the Aran Islands, to catch a glimpse of Ireland's past. We ended up in Dublin where I happily found a note from Ariela Orion on my hostel door! Together we enjoyed some good traditional music before I left Erin and she headed off to Scotland.

Right now, I've got a wealth of new material to keep me busy for a while. Next summer? I hope to be back in Tubbercurry. Thanks go to Bracha Ben-Avraham for helping me get it together. Visit the S. Sligo Summer School Website

Email: southsligosummer school@i.com

--Laurie Ornstein

Israel FolkStuff Society (I.F.S.) is a regiamuta (No. 58-0363406)

1. The preservation and dissemination of the live performance of folk arts, especially music, with special emphasis on English-language traditions and their global roots, as well as the evolution of these traditions into a Hebrew/Israeli context.

2. To serve as an umbrella organization for the various folk groups throughout Israel in terms of information exchange concerning folk art events in various regions, as well as helping arrange performance tours for representatives of this folk tradition coming from abroad.

3. To record, and/or broad- cast local and regional performances where

possible, and to assist and cooperate with regional organizations to develop and foster an appreciation for all such cultural events.

Welcome back to all our summer travelers.

Happy Birthday to: Sara Baron, Yuval Berger, Hal Wrobel, Don Jennings, Jack Lecker, Eli Marcus, Hadar Matmon (65^th), Ed Strasbourger, Debora Whetstone

NOT TRAD ADS - fee is NIS 10 (NIS 5 for members).

**SHELLEY ELLEN - guitarlessons, also available for performances (03) 674-5356. **Jill Rogoff's THE CELTIC CRADLE and ACROSS THE NARROW SEAS (ALC 129) are available on cassette. Tel/Fax (02) 679-0410.

**SUZALEH'S SILK ART - Glassed and Framed, modestly sized and modestly priced, door signs, mazal tovs, etc. Handmade by Sue Tourkin-Komet (02) 676-3346.

DISCLAIMER: FolkNotes is the official publication of the Israel FolkStuff Society. Views are those of the writers, not necessarily those of IFS.

FolkNotes and all of the articles, photographs and material contained therein

are, unless otherwise noted, copyrighted by IFS 2001.

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FolkNotes Staff: Sherry Whetstone, Larry Gamliel, Carol Fuchs, Cecile Panzer