Past Programs
Strings - 2010
Way Out West: <em>The Effects of Weather</em>
15/05/2010
The Effects of Weather shows the musically benign effects of multicultural Melbourne; the sextet's original music is a surprising, but natural, unforced combination of ' Vietnamese, African & jazz'. Peter Knight leads Way Out West, which soon tours widely through both of Australia's biggest islands.
Peter Knight mostly plays trumpet, Dung Nguyen plays dan tranh, dan nguyet & modified electric guitars, Paul Williamson plays various saxes & flute, Howard Cairns plays double bass, Ray Pereira plays many different things percussive & Rajiv Jayaweera mostly plays a drum-kit.
Way Out West's myspace site:
http://www.myspace.com/wayoutwestmelbourne
The above has videos & live-linked details of a very extensive tour; it begins in Hobart on May 20 & concludes on the Gold Coast on June 20
Peter Knight's site: http://www.peterknightmusic.com
You can read a revealing, 2007-vintage interview with Peter, here:
http://www.jazz.org.au/features/218?regions%5BRegion%5D=&;
Kroke: <em>Out of Sight</em>
02/05/2010
Out of Sight is haunting, it draws on ancient roots, but is new, original, definitely not just 'klezmer, tweaked'. It's the new album from Kroke ( Cracow/Krakow, in Yiddish ) - a singular Polish trio whose admirers & occasional collaborators include Nigel Kennedy.
Formed in 1992 Kroke is a trio of lifelong friends. All are classically trained, graduates of the Music Academy of Cracow. None is bound by notions of 'genre'.
Tomasz Kukurba is primarily a viola player, Jerzy Bawol an accordionist & Tomasz Lato a double bassist.
Kroke seek to create 'a sound heretofore unknown to Jewish music', but which 'should be understood and felt as the quintessence of ancient Jewish culture ... as living proof for its unbroken existence' ... and as an invitation to all humanity to contemplate what it means 'to be a human being'.
Kroke official site, in English:
http://www.kroke.krakow.pl/html_en/main_en.html
More biographical/background information here:
http://www.oriente.de/e/kroke.htm
Lauren MacColl: <em>Strewn with Ribbons</em>
28/02/2010
In December 2004 an 18-year-old Scottish fiddler gained a discerning audience's 'pin-drop attention' & won BBC2's Young Folk Award. Five years later, Lauren MacColl's originals do not suffer in comparison to the ancient airs that she also plays exquisitely on Strewn with Ribbons.
Lauren's MacCollective is a trio with guitarist Barry Reid & pianist Mhairi Hall.
Their guests ( well deployed, sparingly ) are Chris Stout on viola, cellist Su A Lee & Donald Shaw on harmonium & accordion.
Lauren MacColl official site:
http://www.laurenmaccoll.co.uk
Andy Baylor: <em>Possum Stole the Pumpkin</em>
06/02/2010
Andy Baylor did not even know who the Cajuns were when he fell in love with their music in 1978, in Melbourne. The love is now deeper and much better informed; Lafayette, Louisiana is where Andy wrote most of his exuberant, fiddle-centric, Cajun-accented Possum Stole the Pumpkin.
Andy Baylor official site:
http://www.andybaylor.com.au/index.php
Its Andys Rave prompt will lead you to various articles by Andy.
Particularly apropos are his Cajun Music & his Louisiana Journal...Excerpt.
This is a well-linked place for more about Cajun music:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajun_music
