Old Town School at the Dakhla Festival 2009: Folk Diplomacy in Morroco

So these are some very cool videos by my friend Nashma Carrera formerly of the Old Town School of Folk Music

featuring Chris Walz (also from the Old Town) on the banjo. This is from a trip to the Dakhla Festival in Morroco

funded by the MacArthur Foundation to build a relationship between the Old Town and the Casablanca Music

Conservatory along with finding new groups to bring to the school for their ongoing world music series. This is a

French/Morrocan band, I cant really tell you the name, but they are really cool. If you like these Nashma has a lot more really awsome

that I didn't post here but you should definitely check out.

Chicago Folk and Roots Fest

So not last weekend but the weekend before it was the Chicago Folk and Roots Festival, put on every year in Lincoln Circle by the Old Town School of Folk Music. This year was my first time going and only caught a bit of it, but it was a very good time. To start off with the food there was not bad by any means, yes you could get corn dogs and funnel cake but you could also get vegan tacos, African sausage, and some other interesting stuff that caught my eye that currently I cannot remember. The festival was composed of a main stage for larger acts, a stage for the school staff to play at, a gazebo for jam sessions, a dance tent, and a "nuestra musica" tent which was made to display some aspects of the research that the Smithsonian Institute had done on the Latin American community in Chicago with the help of the Old Town School, and its very own instrument petting zoo (no f'n joke).

The music was pretty interesting, I spent a bit of time at the staff tent trying to meet some faculty to interview for my research on the school, but I also witnessed a surprisingly virtuosic Grateful Dead jam at the gazebo, as well as a few shows at the main stage most notably Curley Taylor and the Zydeco Trouble and the Watcha Clan. The Zydeco trouble is, you guessed it a zydeco band from Louisiana. They were quite funky, and definitely down with The Summer of Soul, cause they pulled out some nasty James Brown and Sam Cooke covers.

Also there was this very interesting French-Algerian band fronted by a sephardic Jewish woman. Their music combined North African roots with drum and bass, that painted a pretty cool atmosphere among the setting sun of the festival. I managed to capture a video of part of a song I found interesting, it was a rendition of the famous poem by Israeli poet Hannah Senesh, Aylee Aylee.

Overall the most refreshing aspect of the festival was that, as opposed to the Wells St. Art Fair earlier this summer, I was able to enjoy myself without being elbow to elbow with wasted young professionals. The music was an eclectic mix of folk, rock, roots, soul (they had a jam at the gazebo); Comparable to in talent, but with less choices, which I can deal with, and if I wanted to be dancing or picnic-ing I had my choice without having to sacrifice being able to hear. Which is always a good thing.

אלי, אלי, שלא יגמר לעולם

החול והים

רישרוש של המים

ברק השמים

תפילת האדם

Chicago Folk Revival Legend: John Prine

Often there are times - the rainy afternoons, the frustrated evenings, the end of long stagnant weeks or months- when there is just that honest consoling sound we are drawn to. For people this can be anything from Black Flag to Britney Spears, but I think you could guess neither of those examples do much for me in any situation. For me this musical voice is that of John Prine. Coming from the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago during the urban folk revival of the 1960's historically speaking he sits alongside such historic figures as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Tom Rush, Phil Ochs and many others.

I remember the first time I heard John Prine. It was on a two disc anthology that is still in my mothers car. The first time I heard it I thought it was a type of cliche Americana. An overly simple old-timey sound that would never really garner too much respect in my ears. It was about sometime last year when I gave him a second chance. By this time I was a more seasoned appreciator of folk and bluegrass, and in my second listening instead of finding pedestrian melodies and typical progressions I found something else.

Though the melodic material is not much that warrants accolades; between the deft guitar picking (see Souvenirs), softhearted lyrics, and honest performances John Prine has become one of my favorite folk voices. I find his sound is both tender yet coarse enough to make the music feel approachable and not lofted in production, pop sentiment, or lyrical abstraction. I love his sound and the songs he writes. I find it funny that I didn't appreciate it at first, but that is one of the mysteries of taste and critical intuition, that as I have gotten older I would say the standards for what I listen to have not been lowered but I find myself asking different things from my music. I think when I was younger I was probably (as often happens in youth) I had preconceived notions of what music I listened to was supposed to sound like or do to me (think of how you as a child thought of vegetables, and if you don't like vegetables these days you better chickity check yo-self before you wreck your self, for real), asking for melodies to take me somewhere exciting and new Now, with Prine at least, I ask for his music to take me to something consoling and familiar. Perhaps its the accumulation of memory, or a newfound appreciation of the past. Either way John Prine is one of those many artists that I have grown to love, and as usual I am glad I looked past my youthful dispersions and gave him another chance.

Donald and Lydia - John Prine

Souvenirs - John Prine

America The Playlist

So I started this blog in part kind of intending it to be an off shoot of a project on Folk music I have been working on for my honors thesis. Semantics and discourse aside, I have been listening to a lot of different types of music native to this here great land and would like to share with you a sweet playlist that I think is representative of the general quality and diversity of music connected to (and some part of) that old American sound that to many sounds just archaic and weird. Those people are clearly wrong. Well, not really, but I do feel that considering the deep impact a lot of those recordings (like the Anthology of American Folk Music) have had on the modern musical landscape, that point is a little moot or so they say. Plus I think it is time to fully admit, these days a lot of new music is just sounds tired to me, too many synthesizers and too impersonal. Like, I get it, your in a band, am I supposed be impressed or something or just accept you playing your instrument like a cold fish? JK JK... As per-usual this playlist is a little of the familiar and a little of the unfamiliar, anyway I hope you enjoy it.

The Playlist

Beams of Heaven 2:43 Rosetta Tharpe

Come Back to Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard John Prine Prime Prine

The Fugitive 2:58 Merle Haggard The Definitive Collection

this land is your land 4:31 Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings Naturally

Cold Rain & Snow 6:44 Grateful Dead Dick's Picks Volume 5 (Disc 1)

Lonesome and a Long Way From Home 3:56 Delaney & Bonnie & Friends Motel Shot

Sugar Man 3:48 Sixto Rodriguez Cold Fact

You Ain't Goin' Nowhere 2:43 Bob Dylan The Basement Tapes (CD 2) 1

Spike Driver Blues 3:17 Mississippi John Hurt Anthology Of American Folk Music, Vol. 3B:

When You Got A Good Friend 2:40 Robert Johnson King of the Delta Blues Singers Blues

Little Martha 2:07 The Allman Brothers Band Eat A Peach

Drifting Too Far From The Shore 4:54 Jerry Garcia, David Grisman & Tony Rice The Pizza Tapes

The Unwelcome Guest 5:06 Billy Bragg & Wilco Mermaid Avenue

House of the rising sun 5:45 Dave Van Ronk Just Dave Van Ronk

It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry 4:09 Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited

Is This Enough 4:48 Roadbirds Live in the Wilde

Georgia Stomp 2:48 Andrew & Jim Baxter Anthology Of American Folk Music, Vol. 2A: