Episode 059 - feat. String Planet, Bowfire, Cantes do Meu Cante, Charlie Daniels & Dolly Parton

String Planet - "Love for Three Oranges"
Bowfire - "Fiddler in the Hood"
Cantes do Meu Cante - "Meus Senhores"
Charlie Daniels & Dolly Parton - "Daddy's Old Fiddle"

http://bowed.org/059/059a.mp3

Hello everyone,

Starting off this show is the quirky viola and Chapman stick duo String Planet. This is what happens when two oft-neglected instruments get to take the lead. Self-described as Bela Fleck meets Prokofiev meets Esquivel (an apt description), these guys are a lot of fun.

Bowfire is a Canadian performing group featuring the work of roughly a dozen string artists of multiple genres playing together for a show that incorporates dance, theater, and performance art. They take their show on a tour of North America starting this April - check their website for local theater locations.

Cantes do Meu Cante is a Portuguese group featuring the cello of Susana Santos (also a member of Archybak who was featured earlier on this program). This group is a mix of traditional and classical musicians playing together for an eclectic mix of Portuguese music. Gorgeous vocal harmonies, multi-layered guitars, and a warm cello that just sings.

Closing out the show is probably the most famous country western fiddler alive today: Charlie Daniels. This cut is from his new disc entitled Deuces and features Dolly Parton on vocals (who also wrote the song).

Support for this episode of Bowed Radio is provided by The Creative Strings Workshop, an intense educational experience for string players. The 2008 Workshop is happening June 30th thru July 6th. Learn more and register at www.christianhowes.com.

Bowed Radio is also made possible in part by Nepenthe Music and Publishing, neo-expressionism for the 21st century, presenting the archival CD Human Being Live at the Zodiac 1968. Information available at www.nepenthemusic.com. .

Mark Allender, producer-host
web: www.bowed.org
email: string@bowed.org
phone: 330-781-4387
skype: mark.allender

Episode 025 - feat. Upton Trio, David Kempers, George Gao

The Upton Trio - "Electromagnetism"
David Kempers - Danse Macabre
George Gao - "Crying by the River"

recorded at the Peninsula Library, Peninsula, OH

http://bowed.org/025/025.mp3

Hi everybody -- feeling better

The Upton Trio is a group out of South Carolina led by violnist and composer Mary Lee Taylor. Her broad compositional style with this trio is both programmatic and impressionistic. Not too reserved to get dangerous when the occasion arises, yet not too cerebral to enjoy a sweet melody. This tune is from their recent release Transformations.

David Kempers is a Cleveland-based violinist whose latest project Electronic Symphonica explores the violin in a wide variety of styles, from electric violin rock operas to multi-tracked renderings of classical scores. The selection featured on this show is one of the latter - a recording of Saint-Saens' "Dance Macabre." He acheived the effect of a 32-member string orchestra by multi-tracking his violin in various tunings 32 times -- then added the solo line on top.

And finally on the show is George Gao, an erhu player based in Toronto. Gao performs many of the traditional Chinese works on the erhu, but often backs them up with a Western-tinged accompaniment. This piece is a take on the traditional Chinese piece "Crying by the River."

Enjoy the show!!

Mark
string@bowed.org