Tag: folk

REVIEW: DakhaBrakha

Ella Larsen Leave a comment

7:30pm • Friday, Nov. 3, 2023 • Hill Auditorium

Seeing DakhaBrakha last Friday night at Hill Auditorium was a unique musical experience. DakhaBrakha is a Ukrainian folk-punk quartet composed of artists Marko Galanevych, Olena Tsybulska, Iryna Kovalenko, Nina Garenetska, that blends genres and sounds to create a musical signature which the band refers to as “ethno-chaos.” Their work derives from and pays tribute to Ukrainian folk music while existing in its own space of reinvention and joyful experimentation. Friday’s performance was dedicated to the bravery and resilience of the Ukrainian people, a message which the band conveyed through both their music and the visual representations which played behind them as they performed. 

The performance followed a soft narrative arc, moving from a serious depiction of Ukraine in the midst of war to a hopeful glimpse at what a post-war Ukraine might look like. At first, the tone was almost solemn. The great destruction and loss faced by the Ukrainian people were juxtaposed with the resilience and vibrance of the culture and nation that empower them to continue fighting. Animations created by Ukrainian artists depicted stylized warriors swirling around the band as they performed, or eagles transforming into warplanes as they flew across the stage. For me, the most powerful imagery was during a song dedicated to those who are fighting for Ukraine’s freedom. The song featured a compilation of videos depicting dozens of Ukrainian soldiers in what seemed like small moments of lightness: smiling for the camera, laughing together, putting up peace signs and throwing their arms around one another. The last few songs looked forward into a future where Ukraine has peace and freedom. As the artists put it, after the winter comes spring, which they captured in a beautiful song that opened with startlingly realistic bird calls. 

This was my first time listening to music with Ukrainian roots, which made the concert particularly exciting for me. The range of vocalizations employed by the artists was fascinating, and paired with their complicated, unfamiliar harmonies, I found myself completely absorbed in the aural experience of the performance. The song “Vynnaya Ya” exemplified this range: I loved how Galanevych’s voice bounced between growling bass and high, trumpet-like scatting. 

In conclusion, I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to see this spectacular group perform in Ann Arbor, and admire DakhaBrakha’s commitment to uplifting Ukrainian voices and culture. 

REVIEW: Jay Peng Zhang and Terry Tsang

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As part of the U-M Fall 2023 Festival of Asian Music, Terry Tsang and Jay Peng Zhang came to the Keene Theater in East Quad on Tuesday, October 24.

Terry Tsang is a choreographer primarily working in Hong Kong. I was expecting him to perform, but instead, he gave a presentation because his work centers around exploring the human body through nudity and human desires, a concept that was inspired by simply walking down the street. Tsang wanted to know if we could truly understand someone through their body alone and if the body speaks the truth, as verbal communication leaves room for dishonesty. He showed us a couple of videos of his choreographies that expressed his interpretation of what love means, incorporating the gestures of making love that gradually transformed into an animalistic representation of sex since animals are designed to survive through reproduction. The dancers were completely nude but wore strange and purposefully unsettling masks that completely hid their faces; in fact, during the Q&A session at the end, an audience member described the dancing as creepy.

Jay Peng Zhang on the other hand did give a live performance and sang the folk songs of various ethnic groups in China, such as the Tujia ethnic group from the Western Hunan Province. His singing was accompanied by only one person, who played a drum set muted by cloth and other percussive items, like large pots; but rather than an accompaniment, the percussion sounded like a response to his singing and movements because of its continuous resonance instead of emphasized beats. Zhang sang with a powerful voice, and his breath control and crescendoes were incredible; however, he moved his fingers very daintily, creating a beautiful and interesting contrast.

Zhang explained how he didn’t want to give the audience a flashy performance but rather a meaningful and interactive experience to renew and rebuild old rituals, as over time they’ve lost their meaning “like artifacts in a museum,” performed only as a tourist attraction. To him, folk songs and their intended rituals don’t signify religion, but instead are a way to release stress and help keep our hearts peaceful and balanced.

The most memorable song Zhang sang was one traditionally sung by women left behind at home by their lovers who left to earn money. The girls would sing the song to a river because they believed the water would carry their emotions to another place, and when their lover saw the water, he could feel her love. Zhang asked the audience to accompany his singing by collectively becoming “a group of water” by enunciating syllables that represented flowing waves. The amazing part is how the audience naturally added dynamics to the space created through Zhang’s gentle dance.

REVIEW: Wallis Bird at the Ark

Ella Larsen Leave a comment

8:00pm • Thursday, January 19, 2023 • The Ark

I was so glad I braved the pouring rain last Thursday night to experience Wallis Bird and Marielle Kraft on the stage of the Ark. Songs were sung. Banter was bantered. No fewer than 10 guitar strings were broken (6 unintentionally, 4 intentionally).

Kraft opened the show with a small selection of her recent music. Her pared-down instrumentals and simple, crisp pop tunes provided a nice foil to Bird’s main act. I was particularly fond of “Second Coffee” and thought that “We Were Never Friends,” featuring audience participation during the chorus, was a great closer to hype everyone up for the main act. 

If Kraft’s opening set was simple, Bird’s was eclectic, featuring an intense, intricate mix of a capella, guitar, synth, and piano. She opened with “Home,” sung a capella, approaching and retreating the microphone while she bantered with us, seeming to work up her confidence. Luckily for us, that confidence arrived, and she turned up the volume with several higher-energy songs, including the anti-establishment anthem “That’s What Life is For.”

My favorite of the night was one I’m not certain is recorded, which she introduced simply as a bit of “technofolk” which she said she wrote to emulate her partner in Berlin, a house musician. She introduced the song by asking the audience to keep the beat by snapping, stomping their feet, clapping–anything that would make some noise. As she added layers of guitar and synth, the atmosphere in the Ark strained to emulate a pulsing nightclub, a sound perhaps not in its usual auditory repertoire. In her other songs, she jammed on her guitar, continually snapping strings and casting the guitar aside to be quickly restrung in time for the next song.

Throughout the performance Bird was in high spirits and engaged with the audience, at one point asking an audience-member to sing a song she wasn’t familiar with so she could pretend to imitate it, promising him free t-shirts in exchange for his sportsmanship. When Bird was called back to the stage for an encore, none of her guitars were left with all their strings, so she called her backup vocalists/crew up to the stage to sing another impromptu a capella song, which if I remember correctly was “In Dictum.”

I was impressed with both Bird’s musicianship and her stage presence, simultaneously self-deprecating and full of swagger. If she makes another trip to the Ark from across the pond, I will certainly put in my best effort to attend.

REVIEW: Lily Talmers at The Ark

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Classic folk music venue, The Ark, welcomed Lily Talmers and friends to the stage this past Sunday for a performance that was all I expected it to be and more. Their Midwest tour had three earlier shows in Michigan before landing here in Ann Arbor, and will continue on with six more shows, eventually ending in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Opener John Cushing started the night off beautifully, gathering the larger band, including Talmers, on stage in just his second song. Not only was this a group of talented musicians, but also clearly a group of friends who loved and supported one another. Together, the band cultivated a space of comfort and familiarity that the audience easily leaned into.

Talmers and Cushing brought along with them from Brooklyn Aidan Scrimgeour on the keys and Aiden Cafferty on bass. With them joined Ann Arbor’s David Ward (drums), Ben Green (trumpet), and string quartet of Lauren Pulcipher (violin), Julia Knowles (Cello), Courtney Lubin (violin), and Madeline Warner (viola). The group was in constant conversation with each other and the audience, both in words and in the music they played. Talmers’s voice floated through the space in that haunting and clear tone that we know and love about her, making sure to give space and credit where it was due to each one of her bandmates. Her family, old classmates, students, and some people who she had never met had come together to cultivate this space; it is not an overstatement to say each person felt essential to the experience. 

As someone who loves Talmers’s music, I had to bring something physical home with me — a double CD with her latest two albums: Hope is the Whore I Go To and My Mortal Wound. I feel so fortunate to have seen this group live; as much as I love listening to her music on Spotify, there is something so grand about seeing Talmers and the full band of strings and horns all in the same space. Each instrument seem to transform the music in a new way. The simplicity of just Talmers and her guitar felt extremely vulnerable and delicate; as more instruments joined, there was a soothing strength in the culmination of sound.

It would be a mistake not to go listen to Talmers if given the chance — her kindness, passion, and love is as breathtaking as her music. I also highly recommend going to see a show at The Ark — it is an intimate space here in Ann Arbor and completely non-profit. Words do not do either justice so, please please please, go immerse yourself in this experience in any way you can.

PREVIEW: Trace Bundy

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Dubbed “Acoustic Ninja” by fans, Bundy crafts intricate guitar arrangements of popular songs and original compositions using harmonics, looping, and multiple capos. His dazzling techniques have taken him across 28 countries and garnered over 45 million views on Youtube. Back for his mini Midwest tour, the seasoned performer will be playing at The Ark this Saturday!

With a nickname like Acoustic Ninja, I felt compelled to dig deeper into his story. Outside of classical music, I love following fingerstyle guitar and the likes of Sungha Jung, Ichika Nito, Tim Henson, and Yvette Young. To my surprise, I found out that a young Sungha Jung had opened several of Bundy’s shows in Korea and toured with him in the US back in 2009 (check out their Billie Jean arrangement!). 

Fingerstyle guitar is not tied to a single genre of music and is mainly distinguished by plucking the strings with all five fingers rather than with a pick. Bundy has a personal bio on his website describing how he discovered a love for music theory and was shaped by the up-and-coming wave of musicians developing this complex playing style. I could definitely relate to the excitement fingerstyle brings, as there is so much space for innovation and experimentation. It has gained even more popularity in recent years, with younger guitarists like Marcin Patrzalek on America’s Got Talent receiving widespread attention. I look forward to seeing what Bundy brings to the table, especially since he once acted as a mentor figure for one of my guitar inspirations.

Join me to see Trace Bundy live at The Ark this Saturday, October 8th @8PM! 

Event info: https://theark.org/event/trace-bundy-221008/

REVIEW: Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You

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If the music of Big Thief was a physical place, it would be a campfire nestled in a mossy forest, friends cozying up around the flame and reminiscing on bittersweet memories. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, the American band’s fifth studio album, is the same campfire at dawn while the world sleeps, embers flickering, the sky brightening over a peaceful horizon. After conjuring this mental image, I came to realize that the cover itself is a sketchy drawing of animals around a campfire— a pure reflection of the album’s commitment to simple and authentic emotion. As the nature imagery suggests, the sonic world of the indie-folk act is anything but industrial. Even their more experimental songs are rooted in traditional folk, avoiding the mass-produced synthetic sound of modern pop. This genuine touch is what brings Big Thief’s masterful work to life.

DNWMIBIY feels more in touch with the band’s true voice than Big Thief’s 2016 album Masterpiece. The folky guitar evokes images of my youth, of rainy-day hikes in little red rain boots and curiously watching bugs move across the ground. Big Thief explores themes of adolescence, particularly the growing pains of becoming older and finding yourself face-to-face with an emotional reality no longer shrouded by naivety. Adrianne Lenker— who released successful solo music that leans toward a more delicate feminine sound— pours her heart into the vocals, her wavering voice expressing rawness that doesn’t have to be screamed to be felt. “Change” is a particularly resonant track and one of the most popular on the album; lyrically, “Change” has the same transcendent feeling as classic poetry. Like a gentle lullaby, Lenker sings:

“Change like the sky, like the leaves, like a butterfly, death, like a door to a place we’ve never been before”.

The album dives fearlessly into experiments as the album progresses, with spunky lyrics and textured sounds that stray from the calm earthy feel but still stick to the sense of adolescence. Adrianne Lenker’s songwriting is similar to a child’s wild and carelessly joyous thought process. It feels loose, freeing, and successfully exploratory. “Spud Infinity” carries on nature imagery to shout a gleefully unified message:

“One peculiar organism aren’t we all together?
Everybody steps on ants
Everybody eats the plants
Everybody knows to dance, even with just one finger”

Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You is an honest tale of unbridled feeling. Adrianne Lenker’s gentle voice echoes unconditional hope, admiration, and longing; it’s a love letter to the natural wonders of human existence and human expression, packaged in a homey atmosphere. If you’re an outdoorsy person, a folk-music-listener, an indie-music-enjoyer, or simply someone who wants to dig under the chaos of daily life to reconnect with your natural emotions, give this album a listen. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You by Big Thief is available now on Spotify, Apple Music, or another music streaming platform of your choice.