“A melody is just a melody.  The cultural information is in the details.”

-David Greely at The Fiddle Club of the World, February 24, 2012

I’ve been thinking about this quote a lot this week.  David was talking about learning to play cajun fiddle of one of the masters. 

I'm trying to do something similar. 

I’m taking Chicago Blues Harp III with the legendary Joe Filisko at the Old Town School of Folk Music.  This is my third session taking the class and it’s challenging me as a player in ways I thought was not possible in a group class setting.  

I’ve been thing about the David Greely quote because I believe that hearing, and then re-creating the details is one of the most challenging things a student can aim for.  

I listen and listen and listen to the recordings from class.  I know that I sound different from Joe, but why?  Is it my breath?  Is it how I’m holding the harmonica?  Am I doing something different with my tongue.  Of course the answer is YES TO ALL, but I’m not sure what to change.  It can be quite frustrating.  How do I practice efficiently?  What is the important cultural information that Joe is trying to pass along to me? When will I sound like that?

I’m sure that in time, I’ll know.  But for now, I’ll keep trying to be cool and not get too frustrated. And I’ll just keep working; developing my ear and my music.

Here is a short sample of what I’m aiming for.  The piece I’m working on is called Chicago Blues Solo - 7.  The focus of the piece is the "shuffle vamp".  The first track is Joe playing a bit of it.  The second track is me playing it after about a week of practice.  We’ll see how close I can get by next week. 

I finally got to spend some time with Trio Ollín outside of the regular jams and classes where our paths crossed.  I went to their workshop on Sunday, and although my hand was still kind of busted up, I decided to bring my banjo.  This is a song that I learned from them.  It’s called Las Virginias, and was written by someone in México for the state of Virginia.  I was only able to stay for a little bit, which was disappointing, but I had a great time when I was there.  I hope I can catch up with them soon in México City.

I’ll write some more about Trio Ollín later, but I did want to say that they were visiting artists from México City.  They were in residency at the Old Town School of Folk Music for two weeks.  They are from a school called Centro Cultural Ollín Yolitzli, in México City.  I actually got to visit there on my trip to México with other representatives from the Old Town School.

But I couldn’t stay very long at the workshop because the Young Stracke All-Stars had a gig at the Lincoln Restaurant.  We were the supporting act for my friend Skip’s band, Strictly Jug Nuts.  This was an awesome gig.  The crowd was really into it and I think we were a great fit to play with Strictly Jug Nuts.  I hope we get to play there again, soon.

Saturday continued what is proving to be one of the most musical months of my life.  It stared with he regular schedule of classes and the Saturday Open Jam at the Armitage building of the Old Town School of Folk Music.  It’s November and there’s been a lot going one.  We might have been a little tired at the jam but we still got in a few rousing dances and welcomed Ariel, the newest fiddle teacher.

November 20 was also the night of the Old Town School of Folk Music Open House.  This is the second year of the event and is proving to be a highlight of the year.  There were over 50 free classes and jams. 

Lindsay and I hosted the Community Jam, which was kind of like the Gather-All or the Saturday jam, but really different at the same time.     Lindsay brings so much in terms of songs for singers.  She has a great ability to get people involved who aren’t playing an instrument.

I also invited some kids from my group guitar classes to lead some tunes and they all did great.  Those tunes were Blue Suede Shoes, Bile ‘em Cabbage Down, Shortnin’ Bread, Old Joe Clark and Snake Baked a Hoe Cake.  Lindsay lead a great song about a yodeling mountain man, The Welcome Table and a bluesy version of Old John the Rabbit that gets everybody “skit-skating” and “a-do-do-doing” along.

Maria lead a beginning fiddle class and Jonas co-hosted a room with some other teachers where students could try out a bunch of different instruments.  Jonas’ jug band also played on the main stage.  But I missed all of that because . . .

After the Community Jam I headed downtown to the House of Blues for the ¡ REVOLUCIÓN! Centennial Concert: Chicago Celebrates 100 Years of the Mexican Revolution.  This concert was an awesome surprise.  I missed all of the visiting acts like Mariachi de Real Guadalajara and my friends in Trio Ollín, but I got there just in time to catch the first set by Sones de México, who are great and are teachers at the Old Town School of Folk Music.  It was so cool to see them up on the big stage at the House of Blues.

The second set by Sones was the one to catch.  It featured a composition that Victor Pichardo, the groups musical director, and a huge influence on my interest in Mexican music, wrote inspired by the revolution.  It was very theatrical with a ton of dancing from the Mexican Folkloric Dance Company of Chicago, Mexican Dance Ensemble, and Ballet Folklórico Nacional de Victor Soria, an appearance of Emiliano Zapata and a ton of music by Sones backed by two vocalists, the Irish  Music School of Chicago and Victor García & the Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble Horn Section. 



The music was fantastic.  It reminded me of third stream music, which is the name given to music that is a mix between classical and jazz.  But instead of jazz, it was folk music.  What an incredible, powerful sound.



My most treasured moment was hearing Guillermo Velázquez & Los Leones de la Sierra de Xichú.  Maria had told me of the legend of Guillermo.  I didn’t understand a word he said, but it didn’t matter.  The passion is what came through.  He played the lllorana like Neil Young plays the electric guitar and you couldn’t help but cheer at the end of his stanzas.  When the concert was over many people stayed chanting “¡Guillermo!  ¡Gillermo!”  Eventually he did come out and great some of his fans.  I was very glad to say, “Gracias” and shake his hand.



The night ended and I was happy to be as wore out as I was.  Sunday was going to be a big day, too, and I was so glad that even with all the excitement I was still able to fall sleep.

Hasta manaña,

Jason

¡Eso!

This concert has been on my calendar forever!  Cimarrón is one of my favorite bands.  They play joropo.  Joropo is music that originates in the plains region of Colombia and Venezuela.

Cimarrón is a very important band in my musical development.  It was the fall of 2002 and I had just started working in the shop of the Old Town School of Folk Music.  The store was given a promotional copy of an album called Sí, Soy Llanero: Joropo Music from the Orinoco Plains of Colombia (you can listen to it there).  Cimmarrón is the band on the album.  Eight years later I still listen to this CD all the time.  I can't remember if it was given to me or if I just took it, but it was one of the first CDs of music from South America that I had ever heard.  It was my first step in an interest in the music and culture of Colombia, which is an interest that continues to grow. 

The band is made up of cuatro, arpa llanera (harp of the plains), bandola, bajo, maracas, cajón and a tamor (drum) which rests on it's side kind of like a dunun drum from West Africa.  The songs are super-fact, with the cuatro taking lead, rhythmic and harmonic responsibility.  They said during the concert that the cuatro is the most important instrument in joropo music.

I think I want to get a cuatro and learn to play it.  It's similar to a ukulele and jarana. 

A couple things that I like about joropo are the speed of the songs, the strength of the vocals, the incredible rhythms of the maracas and the percussive use of the harp. 

I also love the dancing.  It's very percussive and reminds me of zapateado from Veracruz, but has a different kind of kick to it.  The dancers in Cimerrón are incredible.  I've never heard percussive dance that fast before! 

Here is a video that represents their music pretty well.

Another thing I like about the music is the singing.  It's super passionate and the words come flying out of the singers mouths quicker than I can hear them.  From translations that I have read, most of the songs are about the life some the men raising cattle on the plains or about the animals on the plains.