Irish-American dancer Kevin Doyle joins Neil this episode to share his story of growing up in a strong Irish community in Providence, RI, learning to dance from his mother who emigrated from Ireland. He also tells Neil about the connections between American tap dance and Irish step dance and talks about what it was like to get the phone call saying that he was being named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Bassist of Crooked Still and CEO of Concert Window, Corey DiMario joins Neil to share his journey from completely dropping music after his sophomore year at Eastman School of Music to rediscovering his passion through the traditional music scene in Boston, going back to music school and founding one of the most distinctive bands in American folk music.
Master Downeast fiddler Frank Ferrel is a fixture in the New England traditional music scene. He shares his musical journey with Neil: from playing banjo in Pacific Northwest bluegrass bands to falling in love with the fiddling of Gerry Robichaud and following that trail to the nexus of New England and Canadian fiddling that is Boston. Along the way he shares stories about discovering little known home-made 78's of the great Franco-American fiddler Tommy Doucet and his compatriots.
One of the foremost exponents of Scottish Highland music and Gaelic culture around today, Allan Henderson sat down with Neil while on a solo tour of storytelling and fiddling in the Northeast US. Listen in as they discuss the current state of Gaelic, Allan's years as a member of Blazin' Fiddles and how much of an invasive species the piano accordion has been in that part of the world.
Boston based fiddler, stepdancer, singer and tune/songwriter Emerald Rae connects with Neil over their common experiences growing up around the Boston Scottish/Cape Breton scene of the 1990's and early 2000's and they delve into what it really means to become part of a culture--does one actually need to have the heritage in order to have a place in the community?
A driving force of the Scottish fiddling scene in the United States, Hanneke Cassel shares her story from discovering fiddle music through local competitions to travelling the world performing and teaching her own iconic compositions, which fuse Scottish and Cape Breton traditions with a sound all her own. She and Neil also chat about her tune writing process and what influence her travels to China and Africa have had on her music.
One of the top traditional musicians of Senegal, Lamine Touré shares his depth of knowledge as the latest in a 1000+ year line of tradition bearers in his family. Lamine sits down with Neil to discuss how he ended up living and teaching in the Boston area while travelling the world sharing his sabar drumming, singing and dancing.
[music in the episode: Jang (meaning "study") which speaks about the importance of studying hard in order to have a good life; and Donald Willie and his Dog, which is a Scottish pipe jig from South Uist, written by D. Morrison]
Somali peace and de-radicalization activist Hadith Bani-Adam shares his relationship with Somali traditional music and his mission to promote inclusivity, understanding and positive life choices in his community. He discusses the role Somali traditional music plays in his own original songs, his style of Oud playing and some similarities between the music of Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia and the music of Western Europe.
Master Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser kicks off Season 3 of TradCafe, sitting down with Neil for a wide ranging conversation about the variety of approaches he has taken over the years to playing traditional Scottish music and the new horizons he is looking towards, exploring new music styles and traditions.
Season 2 finale episode features Neil's conversation with Syrian Oud player Kinan Idnawi. Kinan talks about growing up in a musical family in Syria, pursuing the Oud at conservatory in Damascus and travelling around the world exploring the ways in which the Oud can fit in to so many different traditions and genres and building bridges between people through music.
Fiddler and graphic designer Mariel Vandersteel joins Neil for episode 23 to share her artistic journey so far, from quitting the violin in 8th grade to discovering Irish and Scottish fiddle music, touring internationally with several bands, studying Hardanger Fiddle in Norway and her latest endeavor: going back to school for a new degree while practicing her graphic design work and still somehow making room for music.
[Music: Return From Helsinki, by Ian Stephenson]
Guitarist and singer Stash Wyslouch is this week's featured guest. He talks with Neil about his eclectic musical journey, from the Colombian music his mother played for him growing up, to his love of heavy metal, to diving deep into old-school bluegrass and old-time recordings and finally ending up with an amalgamation of all of it in his own band. Along the way, Stash and Neil find common ground in their drive to create music that comes from their various disparate influences and Stash explains how he could only make the music he wanted to after he learned not to care so much.
One of New England's finest guitarists, Owen Marshall joins Neil to talk about teaching himself Irish guitar while being homeschooled in Vermont, and all the places music has taken him, from local community contradances to jamming with Tuvan throat singers at a festival in Belgium.
Greg Boardman is the founder of Maine Fiddle Camp and a captivating performer and teacher whose influence on traditional music in Maine cannot be overstated. For the twentieth episode of TradCafe, Neil and Greg met in the Trinity Church of Lewiston, Maine to talk about the search for personal identity through music, how musicians are uniquely suited to build community and Greg's cross-cultural explorations with the Somali immigrant community in town.
Quebecois guitarist and singer Yann Falquet (of the band Genticorum) joins Neil for this week's episode. In this wide ranging conversation they talk about Yann's discovery of the guitar through Rush, the similarities between Irish and Quebecois traditions, the best dumpling houses in Montreal and more!
[Note: We apologize for background noise, technical difficulties from a still young podcast!]
A major force in the New England music scene, Jeremiah McLane has had a significant influence on sound of contemporary folk music in the Northeast, from contradance bands to performing artists. In this episode, Neil and Jeremiah find a lot of common ground in their experiences as pianists who come to folk music with a Jazz informed perspective. Jeremiah reflects what drew him to focus on the accordion and how his creative goals have continued to shift with each new project.
(Music credits: Sound of Sleat [Scottish pipe tune, played before conversation] and La Violette de Méne [Breton dance tune, played after conversation])
In this episode Neil is meets up with harp visionary Maeve Gilchrist to look back at what has already been an incredibly varied musical career. Maeve takes us behind the scenes in her artistic development as she moved from Scotland to the United States and continues to explore new territory for an instrument that should not be underestimated: the Celtic harp, or Clàrsach.
Pete Rushefsky is a leading revivalist of the tsimbl--a Yiddish instrument in the same family as the hammered dulcimer. Neil visited Pete at his apartment in Brooklyn to learn about a part of the Klezmer music tradition that was nearly lost to the world. Pete shares the his approach to European Klezmer traditions--simultaneously historic/academic and freshly creative--and reflects on a musical journey that began with a blues band at a Bar Mitzvah in Rochester, NY and has led most recently to performances with Itzhak Perlman and the most iconic musicians of the Klezmer revival.
Neil and Lissa sit down in Brattleboro, VT for a conversation about Lissa's upbringing in the rich tapestry of New England fiddle music in Maine. Along the way they talk about her evolution from a student of any fiddle music she could find to an established tradition bearer with her own recognizable sound and Lissa discusses the challenges of balancing music business with creativity and family life.
In this episode Neil chats with Boston based Uilleann piper Joey Abarta about his musical journey from California to Boston, going back to the old sources in order to find his own sound and organizing meetings of bagpipers in Tokyo Karaoke clubs.
Moira Smiley is the lead singer of Solas, mastermind behind VOCO and a member of many other stand out groups including The Lomax Project and tUnE-yArDs. In this, the first episode of Season 2, Neil and Moira chat about her varied musical experiences and background from growing up on a farm in Vermont to studying piano in Indiana to living in California singing everything from traditional Balkan music to Irish songs to her own fiercely original material.