Folk Ball, 2009

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program of shameless self-promotion to bring you..., ummm..., more shameless self-promotion, I guess.

Folk Ball 2009 is rapidly approaching and, if you live anywhere near Madison, WI, or need an excuse to visit, the weekend of 1/23 - 1/25 would be a very good time.

Folk Ball runs from Friday, 1/23 through Sunday, 1/25, but, if all you care about is "when will Ed be playing?", then Saturday, 1/24 is the date to put on your calendar. Early in the evening (second on the list of bands), I will be playing with Veseliyka, who play traditional Bulgarian music. Finishing off the evening, I'll be playing with The Reptile Palace Orchestra, who play, ummm, traditional music in a non-traditional manner. Also on the schedule for Saturday night are Orkestar Bez Ime and Sloboda, both of which are worth the price of admission all on their own.

Just because I'm plugging Saturday night for my own personal reasons, don't think that it won't be worth your while to attend Friday night's dance concert, too. On Friday you can groove to the sounds of Tri Brodovchedki, Cajun Strangers, Yid Vicious and Izvor Orchestra in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. All of them rock. Seriously. Or, if your tastes take you elsewhere, there will be contra dancing to the music of Duck For The Oyster in Tripp Commons. But that's not all! There will also be a Hungarian Tanchaz (village-style "dance-house") with music by Százska in the Beefeaters room of the Memorial Union.

But, wait! That's not all. In addition to the Friday and Saturday night dance parties, there will be workshops on Bulgarian/Balkan dance by Yves Moreau, Cross-step waltz by Jeannette Watts, Métis Traditional Dance by Dennis Grove, Serbian Folkdance by Michael Malich, Family dance with Duck For The Oyster, African Drumming with Eku Emmanuel & Atimevu Drum &
Dance, West African Dance with Abu Muhammed with Atimevu Drum & Dance, and A Capella Singing with Tri Bratovchedki & Friends.

Admission is free, although it is through generous donations that this event is made possible. Come on down and dance your brains out.

Here is a clip of The Reptile Palace Orchestra playing at last year's Folk Ball:

The Reptile Palace Orchestra @ Folk Ball 2008

Folk Ball 2008 has come and gone. Here's a video of The Reptile Palace Orchestra's first two numbers. I'm the guy in the hat on the right. First is "The Enchanted Reptile Palace" by RPO cellist and songwriter extraordinaire Seth Blair. Seth sings along with Anna Purnell. Second is a song the name of which, embarrasingly, I don't know, but folkdancers around the country refer to as "The Turkish Hora." The audio quality isn't great, but it captures the atmosphere pretty well. More about the whole event soon.

Veseliyka & The Reptile Palace Orchestra @ Folk Ball 2008

I've been remiss in getting this up in a timely manner. Luminiferous Ether already has a good post up, so this may be redundant to you, my loyal reader, but, if you can manage it, get your butt on down to the Memorial Union for Folk Ball 2008, (Friday, 1/25 - Sunday 1/27.) I'll be playing with two different groups this year. Friday night (9:00 p.m.) with Veseliyka, a village-style, all acoustic balkan band, and Saturday night (sometime after 11:00 p.m.) with the Reptile Palace Orchestra, a high octane, eclectic electric ethnic group. Dance and singing workshops throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday, and dance parties Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Of course, there is also the opportunity to buy stuff, from music to "ethnic" clothing.

Folk Ball is a very cool event. People come from all over the midwest and beyond, it's very family-friendly (although there is an occasional sourpuss - there's at least one in every crowd) and it's just cool. Live music and dancing until the wee hours, no alcohol is served on the premises (although you can go downstairs for beer if you're so inclined, and some of the crowd is) so the people in attendance aren't the type who have getting drunk and stupid as their primary goal.

I already mentioned the two groups I'll be playing with, but I also heartily recommend Madison's Yid Vicious, Milwaukee's Izvor and Sloboda as well as the Twin Cities' Orkestar Bez Ime. I'm not too familiar with the other groups on the schedule, but I imagine they'll be worth checking out, too. Regardless, it is a rare event that offers so much good music and for free, at that (donations are encouraged.) For a full schedule, check here.

In true village style, the boundaries between bands will get kind of fuzzy. I'll be playing with two groups, reed player Greg Smith is a member of both RPO and Yid Vicious. David Kantor and Yuliyan Yordanov will be playing with Veseliyka as well as doing a duo performance on Saturday. And, of course, you can expect to see a lot of Harley Schoville (drummer and percussionist for Izvor and Sloboda) and his brother, Robert (drummer and percussionist for The Reptile Palace Orchestra). It has become something of a Folk Ball tradition for the Schoville Brothers to play percussion together in all three groups. The Schoville Brothers make a truly monstrous percussion duo; it's worth the price of admission by itself. Harley will also be filling in for Yid Vicious on Friday.

Anyway, Folk Ball is a true community gathering and celebration in the very best sense. I always enjoy it, at least.

Veseliyka @ Folklore Village

Somehow, I seem to have become a member of yet another band, at least temporarily. The name of the group is Veseliyka and they play traditional balkan music. Balkan music is, to me, some of the most exciting music in the world and it is a joy to have the opportunity to play this music in yet another band (The Reptile Palace Orchestra has a lot of balkan music in its repertoire, although RPO tends to "reptilize" most everything we do) and to play it on a different instrument. Veseliyka consists of David Kantor (gajda and kaval), Yulian Yordanov (vocals and tupan) and me (tambura.) David is an excellent musician and Yuli is a former professional dancer and dance instructor from Bulgaria who can also play a mean accordian and is a superb vocalist. The instrument I'm playing with this group, the tambura, is an instrument I had never played before. I must be insane. I don't know, exactly, the history of how they came to ask me to play with them, but they were in need of a tambura player for an imminent show at Folklore Village's annual Christmas Festival in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. I suspect I wasn't their first choice. Probably, they would have preferred Biff Blumfumgagnge, string player extraordinaire of the Reptile Palace Orchestra, The Gomers and numerous others. I believe they asked a few other people as well, including my brother Bill. Bill suggested that I would be a good candidate if they were looking for someone who could pick up an unfamiliar stringed instrument and learn a bunch of songs in a hurry. I decided it would be worth a try. I had about three weeks to practice the songs prior to the performance on December 29. On the night of the show, my mood was dampened a bit due to the fact that my family was not allowed to accompany me, the event having sold out. (I have been involved in very few gigs where my family was not welcome to attend, usually at no cost [we were prepared to pay for their admission on this one.] Families of musicians and other performers sacrifice a great deal. In addition to the time spent at actual gigs, there are countless hours spent at rehearsals, practicing, etc. With very few exceptions, it's sort of an unwritten rule in musical circles that performers often bring family members with them, and they are treated like any other guest. Add this to the fact that my family and I have been involved, on and off, with FV for over thirty years, and I have to say that there were some harsh words spoken in our house about the whole business. There is much more that could be written about this particular issue, but for now, I'll just say I may have had somewhat of a bad attitude during much of the festivities.)

Folklore Village had brought Yves Moreau to teach Bulgarian dances for the day and we had sent him a list of the songs we were going to play so he could teach dances to go with them if he thought that that would be the thing to do. I must admit I felt like somewhat of an impostor playing an instrument I didn't really know how to play in the lofty presence of Mr. Moreau. (Of course, I often feel like an impostor when I play. I just pretend I'm a real musician and nobody seems to know any different, so what the heck.) After the dinner, the folksy speeches and the cute skits, it was time to play. Lo and behold, people danced. And they thought we were great. I really enjoyed playing and, when we finished, the applause was quite loud and enthusiastic. Hah! Fooled 'em again! It looks like I will have at least one more opportunity to play with Veseliyka. Look for us at the Madison Folk Ball on January 25, 2008 at the Memorial Union on the University of Wisconsin campus! If you have the chance, check it out - the Folk Ball is a wonderful event which I have attended every year for the last ten years or so.