Alela Diane is a young singer songwriter from Nevada City, California now living in Portland, Oregon. She is usually associated with Mariee Sioux, another Nevada City native, or with English singer Vashti Bunyan. While she has now changed over a more Folk-Rock sound with her third album, Alela Diane used to put forward the almost […]
Folk
Daniel Martin Moore: In the cool of the day
Daniel Martin Moore is a Kentucky-born singer songwriter who grew up immersed in the Southern Baptists’ musical traditions of spirituals, hymns, gospel and choir music. In 2011, the musician set out to record In the cool of the day, a collection introducing a personal and fresh take on several of these old spiritual songs remembered from childhood, […]
Seosaimhín Ní Bheaglaoich: Cailín na nUrla Donn
Seosaimhín Ní Bheaglaoich is a traditional singer from the Corca Dhuibhne area of West Kerry (Ireland) and performs here a fine example of a macaronic song (with lyrics both in English and Gaelic). Whereas similar pieces or sean-nós songs are usually unaccompanied or sparsely arranged, this rendition of Cailín na nUrla Donn (the brown-haired woman) gets an almost […]
Susanna Wallumrød: Who by fire
Released in 2011 on the ECM record label, If Grief Could Wait is a remarkable cross-genre recording featuring indie pop and jazz Norwegian singer Susanna Wallumrød, Swiss Baroque harp player Giovanna Pessi, Italian nyckelharpa (the Swedish keyed fiddle) player Marco Ambrosini and Swiss-based viola de gamba player Jane Achtman. Concentrating primarily on a repertoire of 17th century songs […]
Dave Brubeck: Piano Blues
Dave Brubeck (1920-2012) will of course be remembered as a brilliant musical explorer, a virtuoso improviser, a prolific composer with a fondness for odd time signatures and a great ambassador for jazz music in general. Yet, Dave Brubeck still regarded himself simply as “a composer who plays the piano”. The pianist is also often quoted as saying: One of […]
Sufjan Stevens: Coventry Carol
On the back of 42 songs over the five volumes of Songs for Christmas (2006), Indie Folk singer Sufjan Stevens released last month Silver and Gold: Songs for Christmas – Vol. 6-10, adding 58 more songs to the collection. Like the previous opus, Silver and Gold is a miscellany of old carols, hymns and new songs. The […]
