TradCafe

There's no better way to reach our 50th episode than with the third and final member of Väsen, legendary 12-string guitarist Roger Tallroth. Roger has developed his own style, sound and tuning for playing Swedish music on the 12-string guitar and has composed some of the most popular melodies played by fiddlers around the world, including Josephine's Waltz. 

More info on Roger: http://tallroth.se/ and https://vasen.se

More info on this episode: www.tradcafe.org

Susan Watts is a brilliant trumpeter and singer who is also a fourth generation Klezmer musician and daughter of a legendary drummer who broke the paved the way for women in music. Neil caught up with Susan at her home in Philadelphia to chat about growing up in such a musical household, finding her voice on the trumpet and her ongoing work to promote women in Klezmer and female musicians in general. 

Music in this episode: Der Freiling Zeisinke (Sweet Spring) off of her album Hartsklap and Shalom Aleichem, a traditional song that welcomes in Shabbat with a melody written in 1918 by Rabbi Israel Goldfarb. 

The middle voice of Väsen, Mikael Marin brings a breadth of influences and musical influences to bear in his countermelodies and textures on the 5-string viola. In this wide ranging conversation he discusses the history of "second voice" playing in Swedish music, his own development as a classical and traditional musician and how a being passionate about your own specific culture and tradition can be common ground for connecting to traditional artists and cultures around the world.

Music: opening piece is Knust Av Sorgens Hammer (crushed by the hammer of grief) and the closing piece is a Polonesse sourced from historical archives.

More info: www.vasen.se as well as the album Sorpesoll and the archie at smus.se

Neil looks back on some of the great music created in the TradCafe episodes that came out in 2018 while looking forward to the next year of episodes.  This episode features Allison DeGroot (Ep. 44), Don Roy (Ep. 34), Soo Yeon Lyuh (Ep. 45), Kevin Henderson (Ep. 37), Hadith Bani-Adam (Ep. 26), Brittany Haas (Ep. 41), Andrea Beaton (Ep. 36) and a short preview of the music from Mikael Marin's upcoming episode. For more information on each of these, head to TradCafe.org and look them up in the archive. 

Orkney tuning, clawhammer guitar, zen banjo and everything in between. Steve Baughman is a master musician, entertainer and creative personality who is one of the most engaging performers you'll ever meet. In this episode, taped live at the Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp, Steve tells Neil about exploring his love of music while travelling the world as the son of American expats and how all that time alone with his instrument has led him to develop his unique and beautiful musical style and technique. 

Music: Rock the Cradle John (opening) and Leitrim Queen (closing)

Steve's website: www.celticguitar.com

Olov Johansson is perhaps the best known Nyckelharpa player in the world today. As one third of the Swedish power-trio Väsen he has toured the world as an ambassador for Nordic folk music for several decades now. He sat down with Neil to share his journey exploring traditional melodies and fresh collaborations all while building a unique and influential musical identity. 

Olov's website: olovjohansson.se

Väsen: vasen.se

A pioneering artist on the South Korean Haegeum, Soo Yeon Lyuh has been bringing improvisation back to a traditional instrument which hasn't done it in generations. Neil chats with her about her journey starting in Western Classical music, transitioning to the traditional music of her home and then bringing that tradition into the Western world collaborating with the Kronos quartet and teaching/studying improvisation at Mills College in Oakland, CA. 

More on Soo Yeon: www.sooyeonlyuh.com

In this episode, recorded in front of a live audience at the Sierra Fiddle Camp, clawhammer banjoist Allison de Groot shares her story of delving deep into the Appalachian Banjo tradition while growing up in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She talks about working with luminaries like Bruce Molsky and Tatiana Hargreaves and talks about her work researching the playing of great woman banjo players from the past. 

The opening tune "Wabash Blues" is from the playing of Virginian banjo player Hobart Smith but originally entered the tradition from the playing of an enslaved African musician. The set of tunes at the end starts with "Frederick's Jig" written by Allison and finishes with the classic traditional tune "Buffalo Gals".

For more about Allison check out her website: www.allisondegroot.com

A major figure in the traditional music scene of Prince Edward Island, Ward MacDonald sat down with Neil in the midst of preparing for his CD release at the Festival of Small Halls. Their conversation is wide ranging, darting between Ward's personal musical journey and the wider role of traditional arts in the modern world. 

Closing waltz in this episode: "Sweet Dreams Eloise" by Ward MacDonald for his baby daughter. 

A great player of the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle and the standard fiddle styles of his native Røros, Norway, Olav Mjelva is the third and final member of Nordic Fiddlers Bloc to be featured on the show and the third member of Sver (out of five). He takes Neil along for his journey through Norwegian traditional music from picking up the fiddle by the chance of a random childhood choice to mastering the regional style of his home town and writing some of the best new Scandinavian tunes being composed today. 

Tunes on this episode: Opening is "The Doctor" by Olav Mjelva, Closing is a traditional tune from Røros. More resources, links and info at www.tradcafe.org/blog-1

A legend of American fiddling already at a young age, Brittany Haas chats with Neil about her musical journey, from touring with Darol Anger at the age of 13 to breaking new ground in the neo-Bluegrass band Crooked Still to playing regularly with Chris Thile on his NPR show "Live From Here" (formerly Prairie Home Companion). This episode also features Brittany's answers to listener questions submitted through Patreon.

Music: opening tune is Calum Finlay and closing tune is Booth Shot Lincoln.

The next several episodes of TradCafe will come out every 2 weeks to accommodate busy summer touring schedules. Thanks for your understanding, folks! 

The Swedish third of the Nordic Fiddlers Bloc, Anders Hall sits down with Neil to talk about getting all of his gigs as a result of late night parties, living on the farm where his family has lived as far back as anyone can trace, and the intricacies and history of the Polska. 

Music in this episode: Troll Kärrings Låten, march from right where Anders' family farm is located, and Polska after Jonny Schönning. More info at http://www.tradcafe.org/blog-1/2018/5/16/episode-40-anders-hall

A preview of some of the upcoming episodes for the second half of Season 4 while we take this week off! Hear some of the music that will be featured in the next few episodes and sneak peek of who is coming up..

A great teacher and performer of Irish fiddle in the Boston area, Laurel Martin talks about her journey from taking up the instrument for the first time in her 20's and studying with the great Seamus Connolly under a master/apprentice grant to becoming a teacher herself, and taking on the "master" role in passing on and sustaining the tradition. 

In the second part of the Doug Protsik episode, Neil and Doug discuss the power of music to transcend cultural and political differences as Doug shares his experiences playing traditional music in central Asia, eastern Europe, the middle east and Africa. Doug also shares the story of Maine Fiddle Camp and what he has done to build it into a powerhouse of traditional arts in Maine. 

Music in this episode: Opening is "Ida (sweet as apple cider)" Closing is "The Tajik Two-Step" [by Doug Protsik when Old Grey Goose went to Tajikistan]

Old Grey Goose: http://www.oldgreygoose.org

Maine Fiddle Camp: http://www.mainefiddlecamp.org/

Check out these videos of Old Grey Goose's travels:

Tajikistan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG3epNYnXnc

Central Asia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYOjj9MVLqk

Trinidad and Cuba: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcOZeGZbLeE

The first in a two part episode featuring Doug Protsik, director of Maine Fiddle Camp and passionate supporter of the traditions of Maine and surrounding regions. In this episode Doug shares his early journey with music from quitting the piano as a child to rediscovering it while living in a $500 log cabin in Maine, and talks about the intertwined histories of American folk music, Jazz, fiddling and foxtrots. 

Shetland fiddling wizard Kevin Henderson talks about growing up in the Shetland Islands, where Scottish and Scandinavian culture collide and many fiddle tunes are written by the mysterious and magical Trows. Kevin opens up about the experience of making music and touring with Boys of the Lough, Fiddlers' Bid, Nordic Fiddlers Bloc and Session A9 and discusses the challenges and rewards of balancing new musical projects with fatherhood.  

Fiddler, pianist and tune writer Andrea Beaton caught up with Neil just before playing a dance at the Canadian American Club in Watertown, MA. She talks about growing up in Cape Breton as the child of Kinnon and Betty Lou Beaton, two giants of traditional music on the island and how her relationship with music changed from being embarrassed to be associated with the fiddle to recording her own albums and writing some of the most popular contemporary tunes. 

Hanz Araki is a long established Irish flute player and singer from the Pacific Northwest now based in Maine; but he is also a master of the Japanese Shakuhachi flute. He shares his wide-ranging musical journey from moving to Japan and practicing Shakuhachi 6 hrs a day with his father to touring 200 days a year across Canada playing the Irish flute. 

Franco-American fiddler Don Roy has been a central figure in Maine fiddling for decades. He joins Neil for the first episode of Season 4 to talk about learning music from his uncle (and Maine fiddling legend) Lucien Mathieu, the connections between Maine French fiddling and traditional music from New Brunswick and Cape Breton and his own creative work writing new tunes and leading the massive fiddle group Fiddlicious. 

Irish-American dancer Kevin Doyle joins Neil this episode to share his story of growing up in a strong Irish community in Providence, RI, learning to dance from his mother who emigrated from Ireland. He also tells Neil about the connections between American tap dance and Irish step dance and talks about what it was like to get the phone call saying that he was being named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Bassist of Crooked Still and CEO of Concert Window, Corey DiMario joins Neil to share his journey from completely dropping music after his sophomore year at Eastman School of Music to rediscovering his passion through the traditional music scene in Boston, going back to music school and founding one of the most distinctive bands in American folk music. 

Master Downeast fiddler Frank Ferrel is a fixture in the New England traditional music scene. He shares his musical journey with Neil: from playing banjo in Pacific Northwest bluegrass bands to falling in love with the fiddling of Gerry Robichaud and following that trail to the nexus of New England and Canadian fiddling that is Boston. Along the way he shares stories about discovering little known home-made 78's of the great Franco-American fiddler Tommy Doucet and his compatriots.  

One of the foremost exponents of Scottish Highland music and Gaelic culture around today, Allan Henderson sat down with Neil while on a solo tour of storytelling and fiddling in the Northeast US. Listen in as they discuss the current state of Gaelic, Allan's years as a member of Blazin' Fiddles and how much of an invasive species the piano accordion has been in that part of the world.

Boston based fiddler, stepdancer, singer and tune/songwriter Emerald Rae connects with Neil over their common experiences growing up around the Boston Scottish/Cape Breton scene of the 1990's and early 2000's and they delve into what it really means to become part of a culture--does one actually need to have the heritage in order to have a place in the community?

A driving force of the Scottish fiddling scene in the United States, Hanneke Cassel shares her story from discovering fiddle music through local competitions to travelling the world performing and teaching her own iconic compositions, which fuse Scottish and Cape Breton traditions with a sound all her own. She and Neil also chat about her tune writing process and what influence her travels to China and Africa have had on her music. 

One of the top traditional musicians of Senegal, Lamine Touré shares his depth of knowledge as the latest in a 1000+ year line of tradition bearers in his family. Lamine sits down with Neil to discuss how he ended up living and teaching in the Boston area while travelling the world sharing his sabar drumming, singing and dancing. 

[music in the episode: Jang (meaning "study") which speaks about the importance of studying hard in order to have a good life; and Donald Willie and his Dog, which is a Scottish pipe jig from South Uist, written by D. Morrison]

Somali peace and de-radicalization activist Hadith Bani-Adam shares his relationship with Somali traditional music and his mission to promote inclusivity, understanding and positive life choices in his community. He discusses the role Somali traditional music plays in his own original songs, his style of Oud playing and some similarities between the music of Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia and the music of Western Europe. 

Master Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser kicks off Season 3 of TradCafe, sitting down with Neil for a wide ranging conversation about the variety of approaches he has taken over the years to playing traditional Scottish music and the new horizons he is looking towards, exploring new music styles and traditions. 

www.alasdairfraser.com

Season 2 finale episode features Neil's conversation with Syrian Oud player Kinan Idnawi. Kinan talks about growing up in a musical family in Syria, pursuing the Oud at conservatory in Damascus and travelling around the world exploring the ways in which the Oud can fit in to so many different traditions and genres and building bridges between people through music. 

Fiddler and graphic designer Mariel Vandersteel joins Neil for episode 23 to share her artistic journey so far, from quitting the violin in 8th grade to discovering Irish and Scottish fiddle music, touring internationally with several bands, studying Hardanger Fiddle in Norway and her latest endeavor: going back to school for a new degree while practicing her graphic design work and still somehow making room for music. 

[Music: Return From Helsinki, by Ian Stephenson]

Guitarist and singer Stash Wyslouch is this week's featured guest. He talks with Neil about his eclectic musical journey, from the Colombian music his mother played for him growing up, to his love of heavy metal, to diving deep into old-school bluegrass and old-time recordings and finally ending up with an amalgamation of all of it in his own band. Along the way, Stash and Neil find common ground in their drive to create music that comes from their various disparate influences and Stash explains how he could only make the music he wanted to after he learned not to care so much. 

One of New England's finest guitarists, Owen Marshall joins Neil to talk about teaching himself Irish guitar while being homeschooled in Vermont, and all the places music has taken him, from local community contradances to jamming with Tuvan throat singers at a festival in Belgium. 

Greg Boardman is the founder of Maine Fiddle Camp and a captivating performer and teacher whose influence on traditional music in Maine cannot be overstated. For the twentieth episode of TradCafe, Neil and Greg met in the Trinity Church of Lewiston, Maine to talk about the search for personal identity through music, how musicians are uniquely suited to build community and Greg's cross-cultural explorations with the Somali immigrant community in town.

Quebecois guitarist and singer Yann Falquet (of the band Genticorum) joins Neil for this week's episode. In this wide ranging conversation they talk about Yann's discovery of the guitar through Rush, the similarities between Irish and Quebecois traditions, the best dumpling houses in Montreal and more! 

[Note: We apologize for background noise, technical difficulties from a still young podcast!] 

A major force in the New England music scene, Jeremiah McLane has had a significant influence on sound of contemporary folk music in the Northeast, from contradance bands to performing artists. In this episode, Neil and Jeremiah find a lot of common ground in their experiences as pianists who come to folk music with a Jazz informed perspective. Jeremiah reflects what drew him to focus on the accordion and how his creative goals have continued to shift with each new project. 

(Music credits: Sound of Sleat [Scottish pipe tune, played before conversation] and La Violette de Méne [Breton dance tune, played after conversation])

In this episode Neil is meets up with harp visionary Maeve Gilchrist to look back at what has already been an incredibly varied musical career. Maeve takes us behind the scenes in her artistic development as she moved from Scotland to the United States and continues to explore new territory for an instrument that should not be underestimated: the Celtic harp, or Clàrsach. 

Pete Rushefsky is a leading revivalist of the tsimbl--a Yiddish instrument in the same family as the hammered dulcimer. Neil visited Pete at his apartment in Brooklyn to learn about a part of the Klezmer music tradition that was nearly lost to the world. Pete shares the his approach to European Klezmer traditions--simultaneously historic/academic and freshly creative--and reflects on a musical journey that began with a blues band at a Bar Mitzvah in Rochester, NY and has led most recently to performances with Itzhak Perlman and the most iconic musicians of the Klezmer revival.

Neil and Lissa sit down in Brattleboro, VT for a conversation about Lissa's upbringing in the rich tapestry of New England fiddle music in Maine. Along the way they talk about her evolution from a student of any fiddle music she could find to an established tradition bearer with her own recognizable sound and Lissa discusses the challenges of balancing music business with creativity and family life.  

In this episode Neil chats with Boston based Uilleann piper Joey Abarta about his musical journey from California to Boston, going back to the old sources in order to find his own sound and organizing meetings of bagpipers in Tokyo Karaoke clubs.  

Moira Smiley is the lead singer of Solas, mastermind behind VOCO and a member of many other stand out groups including The Lomax Project and tUnE-yArDs. In this, the first episode of Season 2, Neil and Moira chat about her varied musical experiences and background from growing up on a farm in Vermont to studying piano in Indiana to living in California singing everything from traditional Balkan music to Irish songs to her own fiercely original material. 

Banjo wizard and inventor of the 4-finger style Greg Liszt joins Neil this week to talk about his work with iconic bands Crooked Still and the Deadly Gentlemen, his experiences starting a music career while in grad school for biology and how he brings a scientist's outlook to creativity and the banjo. 

Master Nova Scotia fiddler and pianist Troy MacGillivray tells Neil about breaking the keyboard during is first gig when he was less than 10 years old, the similarities between Cape Breton Island and the island of Fanø in Denmark, and how he finds his own personal expression in the old traditional tunes. 

Keith Murphy shares with Neil how he came from Newfoundland to Vermont while crafting a unique sound that has been a huge influence on New England traditional music. They chat about Keith's work with the iconic band Nightingale, his latest work as a solo artist and how he first got involved in a larger traditional music community while studying in Toronto. 

Genre-defying fiddle legend Darol Anger opens up about his experiences creating a new genre of music in David Grisman's quintet and how that has affected his creative output since. He and Neil also get the musical conversation going with some duo improvisations around modern Bluegrass and Irish tunes. 

Shannon Heaton, one of Boston's top Irish flute players and singers, chats with Neil about first learning Irish music from a Belgian in Nigeria, crafting a solo show and exploring new ways to present traditional music through mediums like classical composition and podcasting. 

One of the top Klezmer clarinetists in the world, Christian Dawid talks with Neil about discovering Yiddish music in postwar Germany, the vibrant Jewish music scene in Berlin and his experiences as a non-Jewish German in the Klezmer world. 

Jens Linell, percussionist with Swedish/Norwegian band Sver, sat down with Neil at the Sierra Fiddle Camp this summer. Starting with his discovery of the complexities of Swedish traditional music as a music student, Jens talks about developing his unique style of tambourine playing, performing solo concerts and how differently his creativity works depending on what instrument he's playing. 

Trailblazing cellist Natalie Haas talks about her creative process with fiddler Alasdair Fraser, how she finds musical inspiration in collaboration across the globe, and how her sister's classical violin teacher mistakenly thought that sending the girls to Valley of the Moon Fiddle Camp would keep them on the straight and narrow! All this, plus tunes from Scotland and Galicia on this week's episode of TradCafe.

Neil sits down with legendary Cape Breton fiddler Wendy MacIsaac to play a few tunes and chat about growing up on Cape Breton, working with Mary Jane Lamond and Cape Breton supergroup Beolach, and passing the traditions on to the next generation. 

Singer, fiddler, guitarist and songwriter Isa Burke talks with Neil about her trio Lula Wiles, growing up in a musical family in Maine and finding inspiration for each new song in the most unexpected places. This episode also features a song of Isa's off the new Lula Wiles album and an exclusive look behind the scenes at the writing, re-writing and recording process of that track. 

The second episode of TradCafe features visionary percussive dancer Nic Gareiss. Nic talks with Neil about finding new ways to express himself in the ways different cultures approach dance and shares the unlikely origin story of his experimental trad band This is How We Fly.

Cellist Mike Block joins Neil for the first episode of Trad Cafe. Known for his pioneering String Camp in Vero Beach, FL and his work with Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, Mike talks about how taking on new and diverse challenges—like answering Craigslist ads for rock bands in NYC and performing with Mark O'Connor—has transformed him into the multifaceted musician he is today.