Berkeley Old Time Music SPRING SITUATION
Sunday April 7, 2019
Noon to 4 pm:
Old time Open House - FREE
Freight and Salvage
2020 Addison St, Berkeley
Schedule subject to change (Revised April 5 2019)
CONCERTS IN THE SHOWROOM:
12:30 pm The Easy Winners – Nick Robinson and Zac Salem – perform ragtime era music on mandolin, guitar and vocals. With songs, rags, waltzes, polkas and more, the Easy Winners transport you 100 years back to the birth of American popular music from diverse cultures.
1:00 pm The New Vintage Revelers play music that harkens back to the roots of bluegrass. Dan Warrick (banjo/guitar), Harry Liedstrand (fiddle), and Paul Kotapish (mandolin/guitar) entertain with rollicking dance tunes and venerable songs, ballads, and blues from rural America.
1:30 pm The Free Little Birds, hailing from San Francisco, sing songs about birds, flowers, weather, and everything nice. With crisp two and three part harmonies in the style of the Carter Family, the members-with roots from California all the way to Ohio, and an age range of over 40 years-bring old time and bluegrass music to life. Bill Foss and Martha Hawthorne, veterans of the Bay Area music scene, are known for their groups the Knuckle Knockers, Duo Pizzicato, and the Bernal Hillbillies. Lila Goehring has been a part of the Loud Ladies Foot Patrol and has had traditional music in her head since birth.
2:00 pm The Fazal Ahmadyar Ensemble shares the ancient tones of Afghanistan with voice, harmonium and tabla.
Fazal Ahmadyar plays harmonium and is a singer songwriter. At an early age, he performed Afghan folk songs he learned from his family in Kohistan and Kabul. He later played music at gatherings with musicians Zahir Howaida, Kabir Howaida and Ahmad Zahir in the 1960’s.
Said Hashemi (tabla) has been playing percussion since 1982, first studying classical Indian tabla and later with Ustad Asif. He can be found playing percussion with numerous Afghan and American musicians, playing tabla, dhol, doira, congas, shoulder drum and jazz drums.
Ruby Mountain is an interdisciplinary artist and producer. She grew up performing Afghan music and dance with her family in the Bay Area. She enjoys sharing the beauty of Afghan music and dance and carrying on her family's cultural tradition. You can find her solo music at rubymountainmusic.com
2:30 pm Jubilee (Aerie Walker on cello, Tuki Walker on fiddle and vocals, Miles Quale on fiddle and vocals, and Teo Quale on mandolin and vocals) consists of some of the top young award-winning acoustic musicians on the scene today. Known for their relentless groove and breathtaking improvisation, they bring a fresh approach to traditional bluegrass, old-time, and even work their genre-bending magic on a little jazz and funk. Jubilee has performed at a range of great venues including the CBA Father's Day Bluegrass Festival, Berkeley’s Freight and Salvage, and the IBMA’s World of Bluegrass in Raleigh, NC.
Hosted Jams (in the lobby unless noted otherwise)
Noon-1pm Youth bluegrass jam, cosponsored by the California Bluegrass Association.
1pm Dinah & Noah Stroe
1pm Intro to Oldtime Jams Jam - Robin Fischer & Rowan McCallister (upstairs)
2pm Leslie Keir
2pm Mexican fiddle music & songs - La Familia Peña-Govea (upstairs)
2pm Cajun jam - Agi Ban & Mark Marcin (upstairs)
3pm Stringband blues & jugband music - Jailhouse String Band
Room for more jams in the building, and outside!
Workshops Upstairs:
Noon-1pm
* Songs to inspire! Sing along with the Free Little Birds (Martha, Lila, Bill) leading some old and new songs you’ll hear on picket lines and climate justice marches. Repertoire from union coal miners to the Brooklyn Peace Poets and the Sunrise Movement for a Green New Deal.
* From Ireland to Appalachia & beyond - David Brown
Many tunes played by oldtime and bluegrass musicians trace their origins to the British Isles. We'll listen to audio recordings of Irish, Scottish, Canadian, and oldtime musicians, and examine how the tunes were changed and adapted in the New World.
1pm-2pm
* Intro to Oldtime Jams Jam - Robin Fischer & Rowan McCallister (Bearcat Duo)
Join Manning Music teachers Robin Fischer and Rowan McCallister for a special edition of their monthly "Intro to Old Time Jams Jam"! We'll be focusing on playing standard tunes in G, D, and A, and getting comfortable with how old time jams operate. Bring your instrument and any questions you have about getting started playing in old time jams. Please be willing and ready to tune your fiddle away from GDAE.
Here's the tunes we'll be playing: GDAE: Seneca Square Dance, Lazy John, Josie-o; ADAE: Angeline the Baker, Western Country/Susananna Gal, Sugar Hill; AEAE: Old Joe Clark, Booth, Cluck Old Hen
* Afghan music & dance - Fazal Ahmadyar Ensemble
Afghan music is at the heart of its people. It tells stories in small villages, is created within families, and classically performed. The Fazal Ahmadyar Ensemble shares the ancient tones of Afghanistan with voice, harmonium and tabla. We will teach a participatory Afghan village song as well as two traditional songs that include movement.
* Banjo workshop - Jordan Ruyle
2pm-3pm
* Songs & ballads - Get Sad to Get Glad
An Old Time Cry Off with Katelyn Kimmons (of Undone in Sorrow)
Share your saddest songs and ballads. Or just come and listen. Saddest song wins a sad, sad prize.
* Mexican fiddle music - Learn to play and sing rancheras, polkas, valses, sones and more from the repertoire of La Familia Peña-Govea (Miguel Govea, Susan Peña, and Cecilia Peña-Govea). All instruments welcome!
* Cajun jam - Agi Ban & Mark Marcin (of The Midnite Ramblers)
3pm-4pm
* Fiddle workshop - Harry Liedstrand
* Cello rhythm workshop - Aerie Walker (Jubilee)
* Ragtime mandolin workshop - Nick Robinson & Zac Salem (Easy Winners)
The ragtime era (1897-1917) coincided with the growth of the banjo, mandolin and guitar movement. We will talk about sources for learning rags, cakewalks and other period music on mandolin and guitar. We will also teach a ragtime era arrangement for two mandolins and guitar. Sheet music provided, but also open to ear players.
Kids Activities
Noon-1pm: Youth bluegrass jam
Unfortunately, the "Build An Instrument" workshop for kids and families with Stewart Port (luthier and instigator of the Tin Can Banjo Project), has been cancelled this year. See pictures from 2011 here.