CITYFOLK MONTHLY - June 2006

The northern coast of Spain is due south of Ireland, separated by a few hundred miles of the Bay of Biscay. The two maritime cultures have been in contact for hundreds of years and there is an undeniable Celtic history in Spain. The traditional music of Ireland and northern Spain are strikingly similar. Traditional musicians and bands from northern Spain, such as Llan de Cubel (pictured here) and Milladoiro, are generally grouped under the “Celtic” heading and some music scholars write of a “Celtic Iberia.”

But is this music really a distant cousin of Irish-Scottish music or a similar-sounding regional tradition that developed more-or-less independently? Historical evidence seems to support the latter interpretation, with a couple of important caveats. The first is that traditionally-oriented Spanish musicians, particularly from the northern regions of Galicia and Asturias, have indeed moved closer to the sound and feel of Irish music over the last 35 years, inspired by the explosion of Celtic recordings and touring bands. The second caveat is that no one really knows the answer to this question, which may in fact be unanswerable. So feel free to create your own theories.

The north of Spain--including the officially designated “autonomous communities” of Galicia and Asturias--has a different history and set of cultural influences from the rest of the country. Protected from foreign invasion from the south by the Cordillera Cantabrica (Cantabrian Mountains), this part of Spain was never fully conquered by the Islamic Moors that ruled--and shaped--most of the rest of the country. The orientation in the north is Atlantic rather than Mediterranean, and Galicia and Asturias display much less of an Arabic influence than the rest of Spain.

The primary melody instrument in traditional Iberian Celtic music is the bagpipe, called a gaita in Spain (pictured here). The presence of the bagpipe has led many to assume a connection with Scottish and Irish music, but the bagpipe is a well-traveled instrument, found not only in Ireland, Scotland and Spain, but also in India, many countries in eastern Europe and throughout the Islamic world. Historical records show that there were professional gaita players in Spain as early as the 1500s.

Gaita players (predominantly male until the last couple of decades) have traditionally played for dances, to accompany singers and in religious and community ceremonies. Their usual accompaniment was a snare drum (tamboril) and a bass drum (bombo). Gaiteiros also play together, generally in unison or in a vocal-like harmony of parallel thirds. Despite its traditional popularity, the gaita almost faded away during the long and brutally repressive reign of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who held power from 1939 until his death in 1975.

Franco’s death triggered a renaissance in a wide variety of Spanish traditions, customs and folkways. Galicia and Asturias gained a measure of political independence and the gaita began an amazing comeback there. The two major post-Franco gaita virtuosos that took the music onto the international stage are Carlos Nuñez from Galicia and Jose Angel Hevia from Asturias, both of whom have enjoyed massive crossover success. Both men had breakthrough albums in the late 1990s that established them as stars at home and abroad—Nuñez with A Irmindade Das Estrelas (Brotherhood of Stars) and Hevia with Tierra De Nadie (No Man’s Land).

The success of Nuñez and Hevia has inspired a dramatic resurgence in gaita playing. Today’s leading gaiteiros include José Manuel Tejedor, Xosé Manuel Budiño, and Bieito Romero; they have been joined in the last few years by the pioneering gaiteiras Susana Seivane (pictured here) and Cristina Pato.

Besides the tamboril and bombo, the gaita is also occasionally accompanied by a variety of percussion instruments including the pandeiro, a square two-sided drum usually played by female singers for self-accompaniment; the pandeireta, a large tambourine; tarrañolas, strips of wood played like bones or spoons;, and the charrasco, an odd hybrid that involves a pole, a single string and a frame on the top mounted with little cymbals.

Other instruments used in the traditional music of Galicia and Asturias include such wind instruments as a pito, which looks much like a recorder;, a requinta, a short flute; and the chifre, the local version of panpipes. Stringed instruments were not that common in the region before the late 1970s, but three instruments that do have traditional histories there include the fiddle, the Celtic harp and the zanfona (hurdy-gurdy).

Traditionally-oriented bands are a relatively recent development in Celtic Iberia, another result of the post-Franco flowering of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Two of the first bands were Fuxan os Ventos, an overtly political group that was song-oriented rather than gaita-fueled, and Milladoiro, an octet that has been called “one of the finest chamber folk groups in any tradition” by the Washington Post.

Now celebrating its 25th anniversary as a band, Milladoiro has recorded almost 20 albums and performed more than 1,000 concerts in Spain and around the world. Milladoiro included a pair of Irish tunes on its first album and has from the beginning collaborated with numerous Irish and Scottish musicians, most notably the Chieftains. Milladoiro’s promotional material proudly notes that when the Chieftains tour Spain, it is often as Milladoiro’s opening act.

The influence of Milladoiro, the Chieftains and other contemporary Irish, Scottish and Breton bands can be heard in many of the groups on the current scene. The leading Galician bands include Na Lúa, formed in 1980 and known especially for its efforts to explore the strong but long-suppressed cultural connections with neighboring Portugal; Luar na Lubre, a progressive pan-Celtic band led by gaiteiro Bieito Romero; Muxicas; Matto Congrio (formed by Carlos Nuñez in the early 1990s); Berrogüetto; Os Cempes; Chouteira; and Camerata Meiga.

Llan de Cubel, which will perform at the Cityfolk Festival in July, was formed in 1984 and is the foremost international exponent of traditional Asturian music. Named after a mountain in its home county, Llan de Cubel is perhaps the most “Celtic” of the Spanish bands, with an instrumental line-up of fiddle, accordion, guitar, bouzouki and bodhrán alongside the expected gaita. The band made its recording debut in 1985 and has five albums to its credit, the most recent of which is Un Tiempo Meyor.

The revival of traditional music started later in Asturias than in Galicia, and with less of a surviving tradition upon which to build, so there are consequently fewer bands in Asturias. Among the leading Asturian bands since the 1980s are Felpeyu, fronted by accordionist Xuan Nel Expósito; Tejedor, a family trio; Ubiña; Xaréu; and Brenga Astur.

Galicia and Asturias are also home to a long, historically rich and complex group of vocal traditions, but that’s another article for another time. The traditional instrumental music of these Atlantic regions of Spain has entered the larger body of Irish-Scottish Celtic music and it seems to be a good fit, whatever the historic record may indicate about the actual connections between the cultures. For most of us, the music is all that matters and Iberian Celtic music is fiery, engaging and exciting, and it has the additional allure of being relatively unexplored.

Initial impressions can sometimes be very revealing. Upon hearing Carlos Nuñez and his band for the first time, an American critic was joyous but dumbfounded. The sound was familiar but strangely intoxicating, he wrote, “as if some madcap bartender in Dublin had slipped a shot of Spanish wine into the stout.” Until someone comes up with a better or more succinct explanation of Iberian Celtic music, that’s not a bad place to leave it.

Each year since 2003, the Ohio Heritage Fellowships have been jointly sponsored by the Ohio Arts Council and the Ohio Folk Arts Network and presented at the Cityfolk Festival. The Fellowships are designed to recognize and honor the finest and most influential Ohio folk artists. They honor Ohio master folk and traditional artists who carry forward the folk traditions of their families and communities through practice, teaching or advocacy. This year's awardees are the Cleveland Hungarian Heritage Society--the first group ever to receive a Fellowship--bluegrass and old-time fiddler Ray Sponaugle and master instrument maker Bob White.

The Cleveland Hungarian Heritage Society, the recipient of the 2006 Ohio Heritage Fellowship in Community Leadership, was established in 1985 to document, preserve and disseminate Hungarian culture in the Cleveland area. The CHHS opened its first museum at St. Elizabeth Church in Cleveland in 1986 and has since opened museums in Richmond Heights and at the Euclid Square Mall, and has organized exhibits at the Cleveland National History Museum and other locations.

In addition to its collection and archival activities, the CHHS publishes a quarterly newsletter, has produced a video on needlework and, in its role as community advocate, vigorously protested the abrupt removal of all ethnic programming on Cleveland’s public radio station WCPN, forcing the station to return many of the programs to the airwaves. The CHHS, stands today as a successful model for community organizations serving the cultural needs of the vast immigrant population of the U.S.

Ray Sponaugle, a bluegrass fiddler who has been playing for more than 60 years, is the 2006 Ohio Heritage Fellow in Performing Arts. Sponaugle is a long-time mainstay of the bluegrass scene in northeast Ohio—indeed, he helped create that scene, playing with bands like the West Virginia Travelers in the 1950s and 1960s. A two-time winner of the Mid-American Fiddling Contest in Columbus, Sponaugle has recorded a pair of albums.

Besides his excellence as a fiddler, Sponaugle has made a significant contribution in another way. He has also been a mentor for dozens of bluegrass musicians over the years, including a young musician from Warren named Jerry Douglas, who grew up to become the most famous resophonic guitarist in the world. A Grammy Award-winning recording artist and producer, Douglas says of Ray Sponaugle, “He was an important role model for me, onstage and off. He was there for me, always giving of his time to a kid who was just trying to find a way to express himself.”

The 2006 Ohio Heritage Fellow in Material Culture, Bob White is widely recognized as being one of the finest builders in the U.S of mandolins and other stringed instruments. White is a specialist in building “F-style” mandolins, the kind played by Bill Monroe and most other bluegrass mandolinists. He’s also a highly skilled inlay artist and many of his instruments are beautifully ornamented with abalone and mother-of-pearl decorations. He even mixes his own finishes and glues, rare for a builder today.

Bob White is primarily a self-taught luthier who learned his art in the most traditional of ways—lots of trial and error. He worked for a few years at Stewart-MacDonald Banjo Company in Athens, but for the last 30 years, he has worked on his own, making and selling high-quality mandolins one at a time. White is also widely known and admired as a generous mentor who has trained and/or freely shared his time and expertise with other builders. White has long been an enthusiastic participant in the Ohio Arts Council’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program.

MATERIAL CULTURE: CAST METAL ELECTRIC GUITARS

The Rickenbacker Company is famous for guitars played by rock and roll musicians, but perhaps their greatest achievement was the very first commercially successful electric guitar-back in the early 1930’s. This is something known informally as “The Frypan”.

The guitar had become very popular by in the first quarter of the 20th century, but was limited by its relatively low volume. Many attempts were made to increase the volume. The National and Dobro resophonic guitars, which involved speaker-like cones, were a practical solution, but after a few years of popularity they were swept away by the Frypan and other electric guitars that quickly followed Rickenbacker’s new approach to amplification: a cast aluminum body and a magnetic pickup.

The Frypan was an immediate and enduring success. Even today, many players consider the Frypan to be one of the very best electric guitars ever made. It was in the company’s product line into the 1950’s and today is one of the most sought after vintage instruments, both by players and collectors. There don’t seem to be enough of them to go around, and Rick Aiello, one of the artists in “Out of the Fire: Made from Metal”, Cityfolk’s material culture exhibit this year, is doing something about it.

Inspired by the Frypan, Rick casts guitars out of aluminum, and makes his own pick ups. He will be making a guitar at the festival. You will be able to see him use a “mother”, a wooden pattern, to form the mold in sand for the instrument, melt the aluminum and pour it in the mold, and then see the “birth” of the casting when it is removed from the tightly packed sand. Of course, that is just the first part of the process of making a guitar out of metal-there is a lot of grinding, milling, inlay, and electronic work that goes into each instrument before it becomes a gem in its own right. Rick will have a number of his finished instruments on display as well, so you can see and hear the finished product.

PROFILE: ROOM WITH A VIEW

The 2006 Cityfolk Festival is just a few days away--do you have your tickets to Room With A View? This area offer the best seat in the house for the National City Main Stage, as well as amenities like umbrella tables, complimentary beverages, a cash bar, beer and wine tastings and reserved parking.

This is the third year that Cityfolk has offered Room WIth A View (RWAV), and it just keeps getting better! New this year, on-air personalities from WYSO-FM 91.3 will conduct live interviews with performers right from RWAV. In RWAV, you'll be able to listen to the interview as it happens and socialize with the artists. Another first this year are complimentary food samples from hand-picked Festival food vendors.

Choose the right View for you: Individual (1 pass), Double (2), Family (4) or Corporate (10). To purchase your View, visit www.cityfolk.org and click the ‘Buy Tickets’ button or call 937-496-3863.
Space is limited, so reserve your premier Festival seats today!

Doc Watson once remarked that no matter what kind of song Mississippi John Hurt played, it sounded “happy.” While there is a tinge of world weariness to some of the songs contained on the 2000 re-release of Mississippi John Hurt’s late 60s Vanguard recordings, titled Mississippi John Hurt: The Complete Studio Recordings, one can certainly hear the joy in these performances. Hurt’s music doesn’t conjure up what one typically imagines when they think of rural blues, due in large part to his graceful fingerpicking style which musicologists note is closer to ragtime or the style of guitar playing developed in the Southeast known as the Piedmont style. His nimble melody lines are punctuated with forceful alternating bass notes, a technique that is particularly evident and effective on songs like “Richland Woman Blues.” While not elaborate, his style reveals more complexity with repeated listening.

Hurt had first cut some tracks for the “race” label Okeh in 1928 and 1929 in Memphis and New York, but sales were modest and the Great Depression dealt a huge blow to the nascent recording industry. For the next thirty-five years he was primarily a farmer who played on weekends to earn a little extra money. That is, until his unlikely rediscovery during the American folk revival in the early '60s. While listening to his one of his Okeh recordings, “Avalon Blues,” a couple of blues collectors realized that the line “Avalon’s my hometown, always on my mind” might actually reveal his whereabouts. Because Avalon wasn’t listed on a contemporary map, they had to look at a much earlier map to locate the small Mississippi community. And despite the odds, once they found the town, they located John Hurt and convinced him to come to Washington, DC. Hurt went on to perform at the Newport Folk Festival (as pictured below by John Cooke) and the Philadelphia Folk Festival in 1963 at the tender age of 71, and was an instant crowd favorite.

The three Vanguard records contained here (Today, The Immortal Mississippi John Hurt, and Last Sessions) came about because of this epiphany. The songs on this compilation, many penned by Hurt, cover familiar blues territory--failed relationships, sexuality, folk legends, and a strong connection to place --but his lyrical fingerpicking style and gentle delivery make him a contrast to other Mississippi bluesmen like the fiery Son House. Alongside Hurt’s compositions are spirituals, like “Nearer My God to Thee,” and covers of secular songs like Jimmie Rodgers’ “Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me.”

Today when people talk about rural blues most wouldn’t mention Hurt initially, they would bring up artists like Robert Johnson and Skip James. However, Hurt’s playing heavily influenced the aforementioned Watson (as well as his son, the late Merle Watson), and for her 2003 release Soul Journey, neotraditional singer/songwriter Gillian Welch recorded a lovely, sparse version of the traditional song, “Make Me Down A Pallet on Your Floor,” that clearly uses Hurt’s version as a point of reference.

Sadly, Hurt lived only three years after his rediscovery. His fame coming so late in life there must have been times when he wondered if it was really happening. However, there is a relaxed quality to the songs here that seem to demonstrate he knew playing music is its own reward and he was delighted to have the opportunity to share it.

From time to time, stories on NPR, in the New York Times and in other places catch the eye (or ear) of the Cityfolk staff. These are stories about traditional music, handicrafts, ways of life...stories that deepen our understanding and appreciation for the folkways of the world. We will keep bringing as much of this to Dayton as we can; in the meantime, take a listen to this:

If you find a story that you'd like to share with other Cityfolk ENews readers, please send us the link and we'll put it the hopper for possible inclusion.

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